Trivia of Charles Bronson

 Trivia of Charles Bronson (3 November 1921 - 30 August 2003)

*His birth name was Charles Dennis Buchinsky. Buchinsky's parents came from Lithuania made him did not speak any English at home during his childhood in Pennsylvania.When he grow up , his accent still strong enough to make his comrades think he was a foreigner.Besides English and Lithuanian, he could also speak Russian and Greek.

*Young Buchinsky worked in the mines until enlisting in the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 during World War II.He served in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, and in 1945 as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress aerial gunner with the Guam-based 61st Bombardment Squadron within the 39th Bombardment Group, which conducted combat missions against the Japanese home islands.He flew 25 missions and received a Purple Heart for wounds received in battle.

*Buchinsky had always been interested in the arts. After serving in the Army during World War II, he found himself in Atlantic City doing odd jobs. One acting troupe invited him to paint scenery for them; Buchinsky found he enjoyed performing more. His first film role, in 1951’s You’re in the Navy Now, was landed, he said, because he was the only actor who could burp on demand.In his early career, credits listed him as Charles Buchinsky.

*When Buchinsky was starting out, Senator Joseph McCarthy was preoccupied with rooting out Communists in Hollywood. Fearing his Lithuanian name would provide ammunition for accusations, he took on the name Bronson after driving with friend Steve McQueen, who pointed to a “Bronson” street sign and shouted to him that it would be perfect.

*Even though he was known for being very introverted on film sets, Bronson did befriend the legendary actor Steve McQueen. The two men starred in three films together : Never Do Few (1959), The Great Escape (1960), and The Magnificent Seven (1963).

*Charles Bronson and his second wife Jill Ireland were first introduced in 1963 when Bronson was filming The Great Escape. Interestingly, they were introduced by Ireland’s then-husband and Bronson’s then-co-star David McCallum. Bronson, who was already head over heels for Ireland, even jokingly told McCallum "I'm going to marry your wife". Turns out it wasn't a joke!.They married in 1968, the same year that they first appeared in the film Villa Rides together. Bronson and Ireland were deeply in love and remained together until 1990 when Ireland lost her long battle with cancer.

*While Bronson was a bona fide movie star in the States for a portion of his career, he was a megastar in other countries. Italian moviegoers called him “Il Brutto” (The Ugly One) and in France he was one of cinema's “monstres sacrés (sacred monster or more casually, a national treasure).” His movies would often earn more in other territories than they would in North America. In Japan, a publicist once said, his name appeared on a sign over a block long.