Charles Edward Rogers

 Charles Edward Rogers (August 13, 1904 – April 21, 1999).

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. In 1968, he appeared as himself in an episode of Petticoat Junction entitled "Wings". (The episode was in direct reference to the silent movie.) 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. Rogers was also the third husband of Mary Pickford, whom he married in 1937 (they remained together until her death in 1979). 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. Buddy Rogers died in Rancho Mirage, California, in 1999 at the age of 94 of natural causes. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cathedral City, CA.