Buddy Rogers (actor)

Charles Rogers
in the film Wings (1927)
Born	Charles Edward Rogers (1904-08-13)August 13, 1904 Olathe, Kansas, U.S.
Died	April 21, 1999(1999-04-21) (aged 94) Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor/Musician
Years active	1926–99
Spouse(s)	Mary Pickford (m. 1937–79) (her death) Beverly Ricondo (m. 1981–99) (his death)

Charles Edward “Buddy” Rogers (August 13, 1904 – April 21, 1999) was an American actor and jazz musician.

Life and career

Early years

Rogers with The Twin Stars radio program, 1937.

Rogers was born to Maude and Bert Henry Rogers in Olathe, Kansas. He studied at the University of Kansas where he became an active member of Phi Kappa Psi. In the mid-1920s he began acting professionally in Hollywood films. A talented trombonist skilled on several other musical instruments, Rogers performed with his own jazz band in motion pictures and on radio. During World War II, he served in the United States Navy as a flight training instructor.

According to American Dance Bands On Record and Film (1915-1942), compiled by Richard J. Johnson and Bernard H. Shirley (Rustbooks Publishing, 2010), Rogers was not a bandleader in the normal use of the term. Instead, he was a film actor who fronted a band for publicity purposes. His later bands were organized by Milt Shaw. In 1930, he recorded 2 records for Columbia as a solo singer with a small jazz band accompanying. In 1932, he signed with Victor and recorded 4 sweet dance band records. In 1938, He signed with Vocalion and recorded 6 swing records (see below).

Career

Nicknamed "Buddy", his most remembered performance in film was opposite Clara Bow in the 1927 Academy Award winning Wings, the first film ever honored as Best Picture. Respected by his peers for his work in film and for his humanitarianism, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Rogers in 1986 with The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Rogers has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6135 Hollywood Blvd.

A longtime resident and benefactor of California's Coachella Valley, Rogers was honored by having named after him a children's symphony orchestra that he and second wife, Beverley Ricondo, a real estate agent he married in 1981, helped found. A street in Cathedral City, California is named after him as well. ^{[citation needed]}

In 1993, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.^[1]

Personal life

At the 1988 Academy Awards

In 1937, Rogers became the third husband of silent film legend Mary Pickford, a woman twelve years his senior. The couple adopted two children—Roxanne (born 1944, adopted in 1944) and Ronald Charles (born 1937, adopted in 1943)—and remained married for 42 years until Pickford's death in 1979. ^{[citation needed]}

Death

Rogers died in Rancho Mirage, California, in 1999 at the age of 94 of natural causes, and was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Cathedral City, near Palm Springs.^[2]

Filmography

Discography

as Charles "Buddy" Rogers (America's Boy Friend)

• February 27, 1930 & March 4, 1930
  • (I'd like to be) A Bee In Your Boudoir/My Future Just Passed (Columbia 2193-D)
• March 4, 1930
  • Any Time's The Time To Fall In Love/(Up On Top Of A Rainbow) Sweepin' The Clouds Away (Columbia 2143-D)

as Buddy Rogers and his California Cavaliers

• April 18, 1932
  • You Fascinate Me/Hello,Gorgeous (Victor 24001)
• May 11, 1932
  • In My Hideaway/Happy-Go-Lucky You (And Broken-Hearted Me) (Victor 24015)
• May 18, 1932
  • I Beg Your Pardon, Mademoiselle/With My Sweetie In The Moonlight (Victor 24031)
  • Please Handle With Care/Ask Yourself Who Loves You (Victor 24049)

as Buddy Rogers and his Famous Swing Band

(vocals by Buddy Rogers, except Bob Hannon# or Joe Mooney@, or Elizabeth Tilton$)

• April 15, 1938
  • Lovelight In The Starlight#/This Time It's Real# (Vocalion 4058)
  • Moonshine Over Kentucky (v/BR)/Little Lady Make-Believe# (Vocalion 4071)
• June 29, 1938
  • Figaro#/Meet The Beat Of My Heart# (Vocalion 4227)
  • Happy As A Lark (v/BR)/The Sunny Side Of Things@ (Vocalion 4240)
• September 17, 1938
  • You Can't Be Mine (And Someone Else's Too)$/While A Cigarette Was Burning$ (Vocalion 4408)
  • This Is Madness (To Love Like This)#/Rainbow 'Round The Moon (instrumental) (Vocalion 4422)

References

• "Charles Rogers Biography". filmreference. 2008. Retrieved January 8, 2009. 
• Van Gelder, Lawrence (April 23, 1999). "Buddy Rogers, Star of 'Wings' And Band Leader, Dies at 94". New York Times. Retrieved August 30, 2012. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charles Rogers.

• Charles Rogers at the Internet Broadway Database
• Charles Rogers at the Internet Movie Database
• Photographs and bibliography