Charles Ray
Known for: Acting
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.
Filmography
Film
Mrs. Miniver
Man getting on Bus (uncredited)
1942
Film
Smudge
Stephen Stanton
1922
Film
Rio Rita
Hotel Guest (uncredited)
1942
Film
Appointment for Love
Butler (uncredited)
1941
Film
Vanity
Lt. Lloyd Van Courtland
1927
Film
The Count of Ten
Johnny McKinney
1928
Film
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Self (archive footage)
1961
Film
The House That Shadows Built
(archive footage)
1931
Film
The Sheriff's Son
Royal Beaudry
1919
Film
The Garden of Eden
Richard Dupont
1928
Film
Scrap Iron
John Steel
1921
Film
The Man Who Lost Himself
(uncredited)
1941
Film
Getting Gertie's Garter
Ken Walrick
1927
Film
Slightly Dangerous
Opera patron (uncredited)
1943
Film
The Lady from Cheyenne
Bit Role
1941
Film
Hollywood Boulevard
Charlie Smith - Assistant Director
1936
Film
A Tailor-Made Man
John Paul Bart
1922
Film
Peaceful Valley
Hosiah Howe
1920
Film
School for Girls
Duke
1934
Film
The Courtship of Miles Standish
John Alden
1923
Film
The Son of His Father
Gordon Carbhoy
1917
Film
A Corner in Colleens
Richard Taylor
1916
Film
Skinner's Dress Suit
1917
The Cup of Life
John Ward
1915
Film
The Old Swimmin' Hole
Ezra Hull
1921
Film
Home
Bob Wheaton
1916
Film
His Mother's Boy
Matthew Denton
1917
His Own Home Town
Jimmy Duncan
1918
Film
45 Minutes from Broadway
Kid Burns
1920
Film
Ticket to a Crime
Courtney Mallory
1934
Film
The Girl I Loved
John Middleton
1923
Film
An Old Fashioned Boy
David Warrington
1920
Film
The Claws of the Hun
John Stanton
1918
The City of Darkness
Donald Warner - the Governor's Brother
1914
Film
By Your Leave
Leonard Purcell
1934
Film
A Nine O'Clock Town
David Clary
1918
Film
Ladies Should Listen
Henri
1934
For Her Brother's Sake
John Frye - the Brother
1914
Film
Old Mammy's Secret Code
David
1913
Film
The Law of the North
Alain de Montcalm
1918
Film
Homer Comes Home
Homer Cavender
1920
Film
The Conversion of Frosty Blake
Reverend Horace Brightray
1915
Film
Crooked Straight
Ben Trimble
1919
The Lure of Woman
Captain Lane
1915
Film
The Honorable Algy
The Honorable Algy
1916
Film
Two Minutes to Go
Chester Burnett
1921
Film
Hay Foot, Straw Foot
Ulysses S. Grant Briggs
1919
Film
The Gangsters and the Girl
Detective John Stone
1914
Film
Gas, Oil and Water
George Oliver Watson
1922
Film
The Egg Crate Wallop
Jim Kelly
1919
Film
The Deuce of Spades
Amos
1922
Film
The Mad Martindales
Barbershop Customer (uncredited)
1942
Film
Alias Julius Caesar
Billy Barnes
1922
Film
The Wolf Woman
Rex Walden
1916
The Grey Sentinel
Hal Peters
1913
Film
The Fire Brigade
Terry O'Neil
1926
For Mother's Sake
Jim
1913
Film
Back of the Man
Larry Thomas
1917
Film
In the Tennessee Hills
Jim Carson
1915
Film
The Dividend
Frank Steele
1916
Film
Some Pun'kins
Lem Blossom
1925
Film
Nobody's Widow
Honorable John Clayton
1927
Film
The Quakeress
John Hart - the Schoolmaster
1913
Film
The Coward
Frank Winslow
1915
Film
The Busher
Ben Harding
1919
Film
Welcome Home
Andrew Carr
1935
Film
Red Hot Dollars
Tod Burke
1919
Film
Stars of Yesterday
Self
1931
Film
The Auction Block
Bob Wharton
1926
Film
Just My Luck
Homer Crow
1935
Film
The Camera Speaks
Self (archive footage)
1934
Film
Paris
Jerry
1926
Film
Percy
Percival Rogeen
1925
Film
Peggy
Colin Cameron
1916
Film
The Buried Past
Tom Winters - the Lover
1913
Film
Playing the Game
Larry Prentiss
1918
Film
The Clodhopper
Everett Nelson
1917
Film
Greased Lightning
Andy Fletcher
1919
Film
Sweet Adeline
Ben Wilson
1926
Film
The Pinch Hitter
Joel Parker
1917
Film
A Village Sleuth
William Wells
1920
Film
The Weaker Sex
Jack Harding
1917
Film
Bright Lights
Tom Corbin
1925
Film
Dynamite Smith
Gladstone Smith
1924
Staking His Life
Frank Hamilton
1918
Film
The Hired Man
Ezry Hollins
1918
Film
Honor Thy Name
1916
Film
String Beans
Toby Watkins
1918
Film
The Deserter
Lieutenant Parker
1916
Film
The Millionaire Vagrant
Steven Du Peyster
1917
Film
The American
Bill Smith
1927
Film
Bill Henry
Bill Henry Jenkins
1919
Film
Plain Jane
Mr. 'John Sophomore Adams'
1916
The Transgressor
Jim
1913
Film
Alarm Clock Andy
Andrew Gray
1920
Film
The Girl Dodger
Cuthbert Trotman
1919
Film
Paris Green
Luther Green
1920
Film
The Boomerang
Lt. Calhoun
1913
The Forbidden Adventure
Cecil Weatherby
1915
Film
The Grudge
Dick Wayne
1915
Film
The Renegade
Captain Marley
1915
Film
The Family Skeleton
Billy Bates
1918
Film
Sudden Jim
James Ashe, Jr.
1917