Charles Ray
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1891-03-15
Day of Death
1943-11-23 (52 years old)
Place of Birth
Jacksonville, Illinois, USA
Charles Ray
Biography
From Wikipedia
Charles Edgar Ray (March 15, 1891 – November 23, 1943) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. Ray rose to fame during the mid-1910s portraying young wholesome hicks in silent comedy films.
Ray was born in Jacksonville, Illinois and moved to Springfield as a child where he attended elementary school. He then moved to Arizona for a time before finally relocating to Los Angeles where he finished his education. He initially began his career on the stage before working for director Thomas H. Ince as a film extra in December 1912. He appeared in several bit parts before moving on to supporting roles. Ray's break came in 1915 when he appeared opposite Frank Keenan in the historical war drama The Coward.
Ray's popularity increased after appearing in a series of films which cast him in juvenile roles, primarily young hicks or "country bumpkins" that foiled the plans of thieves or con men. In March 1917, he signed with Paramount Pictures and resumed working with director Thomas H. Ince. By 1920, he was earning a reported $11,000 a week. Around this time, he left Paramount after studio head Adolph Zukor refused to give him a pay raise. Zukor later wrote in his autobiography The Public Is Never Wrong, that Ray's ego had gotten out of hand and that Ray "...was headed for trouble and did not care to be with him when he found it." After leaving Paramount, Ray formed his own production company, Charles Ray Productions, and also used his fortune to purchase a studio in Los Angeles where he began producing and shooting his own films.
On November 23, 1943, Ray died of a mouth and throat infection at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles for which he had been hospitalized six weeks prior.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Charles Ray has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6355 Hollywood Boulevard.
Acting
(1961)
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
as Self (archive footage)
(1943)
Slightly Dangerous
as Opera patron (uncredited)
(1942)
Mrs. Miniver
as Man getting on Bus (uncredited)
(1942)
Rio Rita
as Hotel Guest (uncredited)
(1942)
The Mad Martindales
as Barbershop Customer (uncredited)
(1941)
Appointment for Love
as Butler (uncredited)
(1941)
The Man Who Lost Himself
as (uncredited)
(1941)
The Lady from Cheyenne
as Bit Role
(1936)
Hollywood Boulevard
as Charlie Smith - Assistant Director
(1935)
Welcome Home
as Andrew Carr
(1935)
Just My Luck
as Homer Crow
(1934)
School for Girls
as Duke
(1934)
Ladies Should Listen
as Henri, the porter
(1934)
By Your Leave
as Leonard Purcell
(1934)
Ticket to a Crime
as Courtney Mallory
(1934)
The Camera Speaks
as Self (archive footage)
(1931)
The House That Shadows Built
as (archive footage)
(1931)
Stars of Yesterday
as Self
(1928)
The Garden of Eden
as Richard Dupont
(1927)
Vanity
as Lt. Lloyd Van Courtland
(1927)
Getting Gertie's Garter
as Ken Walrick
(1927)
The American
as Bill Smith
(1926)
Paris
as Jerry
(1926)
Sweet Adeline
as Ben Wilson
(1926)
The Fire Brigade
as Terry O'Neil
(1926)
The Auction Block
as Bob Wharton
(1925)
Percy
as Percival Rogeen
(1925)
Bright Lights
as Tom Corbin
(1924)
Dynamite Smith
as Gladstone Smith
(1923)
The Courtship of Miles Standish
as John Alden
(1923)
The Girl I Loved
as John Middleton
(1922)
The Deuce of Spades
as Amos
(1922)
A Tailor-Made Man
as John Paul Bart
(1922)
Gas, Oil and Water
as George Oliver Watson
(1921)
The Old Swimmin' Hole
as Ezra Hull
(1920)
Homer Comes Home
as Homer Cavender
(1920)
45 Minutes from Broadway
as Kid Burns
(1920)
A Village Sleuth
as William Wells
(1920)
Alarm Clock Andy
as Andrew Gray
(1920)
An Old Fashioned Boy
as David Warrington
(1920)
Paris Green
as Luther Green
(1919)
Bill Henry
as Bill Henry Jenkins
(1919)
Greased Lightning
as Andy Fletcher
(1919)
The Girl Dodger
as Cuthbert Trotman
(1919)
The Busher
as Ben Harding
(1919)
The Sheriff's Son
as Royal Beaudry
(1919)
The Egg Crate Wallop
as Jim Kelly
(1919)
Hay Foot, Straw Foot
as Ulysses S. Grant Briggs
(1918)
String Beans
as Toby Watkins
(1918)
Playing the Game
as Larry Prentiss
(1918)
The Family Skeleton
as Billy Bates
(1918)
The Hired Man
as Ezry Hollins
(1918)
The Claws of the Hun
as John Stanton
(1918)
The Law of the North
as Alain de Montcalm
(1918)
His Own Home Town
as Jimmy Duncan
(1918)
Staking His Life
as Frank Hamilton
(1918)
A Nine O'Clock Town
as David Clary
(1917)
The Weaker Sex
as Jack Harding
(1917)
The Son of His Father
as Gordon Carbhoy
(1917)
Back of the Man
as Larry Thomas
(1917)
Sudden Jim
as James Ashe, Jr.
(1917)
The Clodhopper
as Everett Nelson
(1917)
His Mother's Boy
as Matthew Denton
(1917)
The Pinch Hitter
as Joel Parker
(1917)
The Millionaire Vagrant
as Steven Du Peyster
(1916)
Peggy
as Colin Cameron
(1916)
Home
as Bob Wheaton
(1916)
Plain Jane
as Mr. 'John Sophomore Adams'
(1916)
The Dividend
as Frank Steele
(1916)
The Wolf Woman
as Rex Walden
(1916)
The Deserter
as Lieutenant Parker
(1916)
(1915)
The Coward
as Frank Winslow
(1915)
The Forbidden Adventure
as Cecil Weatherby
(1915)
The Cup of Life
as John Ward
(1915)
The Grudge
as Dick Wayne
(1915)
The Renegade
as Captain Marley
(1915)
The Lure of Woman
as Captain Lane
(1915)
The Conversion of Frosty Blake
as Reverend Horace Brightray
(1915)
In the Tennessee Hills
as Jim Carson
(1914)
The Gangsters and the Girl
as Detective John Stone
(1913)
The Quakeress
as John Hart - the Schoolmaster
(1913)
The Boomerang
as Lt. Calhoun
(1913)
The Transgressor
as Jim
(1913)
The Grey Sentinel
as Hal Peters
(1913)
Old Mammy's Secret Code
as David
(1913)
Crew
(1922)
Gas, Oil and Water
Director
(1922)
The Deuce of Spades
Director
(1922)
A Tailor-Made Man
Producer
(1914)