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.
Known For
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)
The Lady from Cheyenne
as Bit Role
(1941)
Appointment for Love
as Butler (uncredited)
(1941)
The Man Who Lost Himself
as (uncredited)
(1936)
Hollywood Boulevard
as Charlie Smith - Assistant Director
(1935)
Welcome Home
as Andrew Carr
(1935)
Just My Luck
as Homer Crow
(1934)
Ladies Should Listen
as Henri, the porter
(1934)
By Your Leave
as Leonard Purcell
(1934)
Ticket to a Crime
as Courtney Mallory
(1934)
School for Girls
as Duke
(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)
The American
as Bill Smith
(1927)
Getting Gertie's Garter
as Ken Walrick
(1927)
Nobody's Widow
as Honorable John Clayton
(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)
Bright Lights
as Tom Corbin
(1925)
Percy
as Percival Rogeen
(1924)
Dynamite Smith
as Gladstone Smith
(1923)
The Courtship of Miles Standish
as John Alden
(1923)
The Girl I Loved
as John Middleton
(1922)
A Tailor-Made Man
as John Paul Bart
(1922)
The Deuce of Spades
as Amos
(1922)
Gas, Oil and Water
as George Oliver Watson
(1921)
The Old Swimmin' Hole
as Ezra Hull
(1920)
An Old Fashioned Boy
as David Warrington
(1920)
45 Minutes from Broadway
as Kid Burns
(1920)
A Village Sleuth
as William Wells
(1920)
Homer Comes Home
as Homer Cavender
(1920)
Paris Green
as Luther Green
(1920)
Alarm Clock Andy
as Andrew Gray
(1919)
The Egg Crate Wallop
as Jim Kelly
(1919)
The Sheriff's Son
as Royal Beaudry
(1919)
Hay Foot, Straw Foot
as Ulysses S. Grant Briggs
(1919)
The Busher
as Ben Harding
(1919)
Greased Lightning
as Andy Fletcher
(1919)
The Girl Dodger
as Cuthbert Trotman
(1919)
Bill Henry
as Bill Henry Jenkins
(1918)
The Law of the North
as Alain de Montcalm
(1918)
A Nine O'Clock Town
as David Clary
(1918)
String Beans
as Toby Watkins
(1918)
Playing the Game
as Larry Prentiss
(1918)
The Hired Man
as Ezry Hollins
(1918)
The Claws of the Hun
as John Stanton
(1918)
Staking His Life
as Frank Hamilton
(1918)
His Own Home Town
as Jimmy Duncan
(1918)
The Family Skeleton
as Billy Bates
(1917)
The Weaker Sex
as Jack Harding
(1917)
His Mother's Boy
as Matthew Denton
(1917)
Sudden Jim
as James Ashe, Jr.
(1917)
The Pinch Hitter
as Joel Parker
(1917)
The Clodhopper
as Everett Nelson
(1917)
Back of the Man
as Larry Thomas
(1917)
The Son of His Father
as Gordon Carbhoy
(1917)
The Millionaire Vagrant
as Steven Du Peyster
(1916)
The Wolf Woman
as Rex Walden
(1916)
Peggy
as Colin Cameron
(1916)
Home
as Bob Wheaton
(1916)
(1916)
The Dividend
as Frank Steele
(1916)
Plain Jane
as Mr. 'John Sophomore Adams'
(1916)
The Deserter
as Lieutenant Parker
(1915)
The Coward
as Frank Winslow
(1915)
The Conversion of Frosty Blake
as Reverend Horace Brightray
(1915)
The Grudge
as Dick Wayne
(1915)
The Cup of Life
as John Ward
(1915)
In the Tennessee Hills
as Jim Carson
(1915)
The Renegade
as Captain Marley
(1915)
The Forbidden Adventure
as Cecil Weatherby
(1915)
The Lure of Woman
as Captain Lane
(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)
Old Mammy's Secret Code
as David
(1913)
The Transgressor
as Jim
(1913)
The Grey Sentinel
as Hal Peters
(1913)
Crew
(1922)
Gas, Oil and Water
Director
(1922)
The Deuce of Spades
Director
(1922)
A Tailor-Made Man
Producer
(1914)