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

Mrs. Miniver

Rio Rita

The Mad Martindales

Slightly Dangerous

The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

The Garden of Eden

Welcome Home

School for Girls

All Movies (102)

• The Legend of Rudolph Valentino1961 · as Self (archive footage)
• Slightly Dangerous1943 · as Opera patron (uncredited)
• Mrs. Miniver1942 · as Man getting on Bus (uncredited)
• The Mad Martindales1942 · as Barbershop Customer (uncredited)
• Rio Rita1942 · as Hotel Guest (uncredited)
• Appointment for Love1941 · as Butler (uncredited)
• The Lady from Cheyenne1941 · as Bit Role
• The Man Who Lost Himself1941 · as (uncredited)
• Hollywood Boulevard1936 · as Charlie Smith - Assistant Director
• Just My Luck1935 · as Homer Crow
• Welcome Home1935 · as Andrew Carr
• Ticket to a Crime1934 · as Courtney Mallory
• By Your Leave1934 · as Leonard Purcell
• The Camera Speaks1934 · as Self (archive footage)
• Ladies Should Listen1934 · as Henri, the porter
• School for Girls1934 · as Duke
• Stars of Yesterday1931 · as Self
• The House That Shadows Built1931 · as (archive footage)
• The Count of Ten1928 · as Johnny McKinney
• The Garden of Eden1928 · as Richard Dupont
• Vanity1927 · as Lt. Lloyd Van Courtland
• Getting Gertie's Garter1927 · as Ken Walrick
• Nobody's Widow1927 · as Honorable John Clayton
• The American1927 · as Bill Smith
• The Fire Brigade1926 · as Terry O'Neil
• The Auction Block1926 · as Bob Wharton
• Paris1926 · as Jerry
• Sweet Adeline1926 · as Ben Wilson
• Bright Lights1925 · as Tom Corbin
• Some Pun'kins1925 · as Lem Blossom
• Percy1925 · as Percival Rogeen
• Dynamite Smith1924 · as Gladstone Smith
• The Courtship of Miles Standish1923 · as John Alden
• The Girl I Loved1923 · as John Middleton
• A Tailor-Made Man1922 · as John Paul Bart
• Alias Julius Caesar1922 · as Billy Barnes
• The Deuce of Spades1922 · as Amos
• Gas, Oil and Water1922 · as George Oliver Watson
• Two Minutes to Go1921 · as Chester Burnett
• Scrap Iron1921 · as John Steel
• The Old Swimmin' Hole1921 · as Ezra Hull
• An Old Fashioned Boy1920 · as David Warrington
• Peaceful Valley1920 · as Hosiah Howe
• A Village Sleuth1920 · as William Wells
• 45 Minutes from Broadway1920 · as Kid Burns
• Homer Comes Home1920 · as Homer Cavender
• Paris Green1920 · as Luther Green
• Alarm Clock Andy1920 · as Andrew Gray
• Red Hot Dollars1919 · as Tod Burke
• Crooked Straight1919 · as Ben Trimble
• The Egg Crate Wallop1919 · as Jim Kelly
• Bill Henry1919 · as Bill Henry Jenkins
• Hay Foot, Straw Foot1919 · as Ulysses S. Grant Briggs
• The Busher1919 · as Ben Harding
• Greased Lightning1919 · as Andy Fletcher
• The Sheriff's Son1919 · as Royal Beaudry
• The Girl Dodger1919 · as Cuthbert Trotman
• String Beans1918 · as Toby Watkins
• The Law of the North1918 · as Alain de Montcalm
• A Nine O'Clock Town1918 · as David Clary
• The Claws of the Hun1918 · as John Stanton
• His Own Home Town1918 · as Jimmy Duncan
• Playing the Game1918 · as Larry Prentiss
• The Family Skeleton1918 · as Billy Bates
• The Hired Man1918 · as Ezry Hollins
• Staking His Life1918 · as Frank Hamilton
• His Mother's Boy1917 · as Matthew Denton
• The Son of His Father1917 · as Gordon Carbhoy
• Sudden Jim1917 · as James Ashe, Jr.
• The Clodhopper1917 · as Everett Nelson
• The Millionaire Vagrant1917 · as Steven Du Peyster
• The Pinch Hitter1917 · as Joel Parker
• Back of the Man1917 · as Larry Thomas
• Skinner's Dress Suit1917
• The Weaker Sex1917 · as Jack Harding
• The Honorable Algy1916 · as The Honorable Algy
• A Corner in Colleens1916 · as Richard Taylor
• Plain Jane1916 · as Mr. 'John Sophomore Adams'
• The Wolf Woman1916 · as Rex Walden
• Home1916 · as Bob Wheaton
• Honor Thy Name1916
• The Deserter1916 · as Lieutenant Parker
• The Dividend1916 · as Frank Steele
• Peggy1916 · as Colin Cameron
• The Forbidden Adventure1915 · as Cecil Weatherby
• The Coward1915 · as Frank Winslow
• The Lure of Woman1915 · as Captain Lane
• The Conversion of Frosty Blake1915 · as Reverend Horace Brightray
• The Renegade1915 · as Captain Marley
• The Cup of Life1915 · as John Ward
• The Grudge1915 · as Dick Wayne
• In the Tennessee Hills1915 · as Jim Carson
• The City of Darkness1914 · as Donald Warner - the Governor's Brother
• The Gangsters and the Girl1914 · as Detective John Stone
• For Her Brother's Sake1914 · as John Frye - the Brother
• The Buried Past1913 · as Tom Winters - the Lover
• For Mother's Sake1913 · as Jim
• The Quakeress1913 · as John Hart - the Schoolmaster
• Old Mammy's Secret Code1913 · as David
• The Transgressor1913 · as Jim
• The Boomerang1913 · as Lt. Calhoun
• The Grey Sentinel1913 · as Hal Peters