09-01-2003, 12:27 AM
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#2 (permalink)
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Blood + Fire
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CHARLES BRONSON passes away...
This from imdb.com...
Quote:
Charles Bronson: 1921-2003
CNN is reporting that actor Charles Bronson, the puma-faced tough guy, best known for his early supporting roles in films such as The Magnificent Seven and the later Death Wish series, died Saturday (8/30) of complications from pneumonia in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 81. Bronson was one of fifteen children growing up in Philadelphia and seemed destined to join his Lithuanian father and brothers as a coal-miner until World War II broke out. After the war, Bronson used his G.I. Bill to study acting. He played henchman in several films which included one of his few comedic turns as an enforcer who gets beaten up by Katharine Hepburn in Pat and Mike. Bronson then gained fame as the solid team member in The Magnificent Seven, as Bernado, the gunslinger idolized by the peasants' sons, The Great Escape as Danny 'The Tunnel King' Velinski and as Joseph T. Wladislaw, one of The Dirty Dozen. Bronson had a series of films, including Adieu l'ami, which made him immensely popular in Europe in the latter part of the '60s and culminated with Once Upon a Time in the West. Marquee status in the States, however, would have to wait for Bronson until 1974's Death Wish. The vigilante film spawned four sequels of declining quality. Bronson also starred in cult favorites such as Mr. Majestyk and The White Buffalo. He was married three times, including to Jill Ireland (he shared the screen with her 16 times), from 1968 until her death in 1990 from breast cancer. He is survived by his wife, Kim Weeks, six children, and two grandchildren.
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I've ridiculed Bronson films at large for their cheesiness and over the top action sequences but there's no denying the fact that Bronson was THE MAN of action movies. It's truly sad to hear that he has passed away. |
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