Charles Bronson

 Charles Bronson, born Charles Dennis Buchinsky (November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003)

In 1943, Bronson enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and served as an aerial gunner in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, and in 1945 as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress crewman with the 39th Bombardment Group based on Guam. Bronson flew 25 missions and received a Purple Heart for wounds received in battle. Later, he starred in films such as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the Death Wish series. He was often cast in the role of a police officer, gunfighter, or vigilante in revenge-oriented plot lines. He had long collaborations with film directors Michael Winner and J. Lee Thompson. In 1965, he was featured as Major Wolenski in Battle of the Bulge. Bronson was married three times, his second wife was actress Jill Ireland, whom he was married to from 1968 until her death from breast cancer in 1990. His health deteriorated in later years, and he retired from acting after undergoing hip-replacement surgery in 1998. He suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his final years. Charles Bronson died of pneumonia at age 81, and is interred at Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor, Vermont.