Charles Ray
Acting • Born 1891-03-15 – Died 1943-11-23
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.
Filmography
102 credits
The Wolf Woman
Movie • 1916
Rex Walden
The Family Skeleton
Movie • 1918
Billy Bates
Sweet Adeline
Movie • 1926
Ben Wilson
Welcome Home
Movie • 1935
Andrew Carr
Playing the Game
Movie • 1918
Larry Prentiss
Percy
Movie • 1925
Percival Rogeen
The Conversion of Frosty Blake
Movie • 1915
Reverend Horace Brightray
The Grudge
Movie • 1915
Dick Wayne
Staking His Life
Movie • 1918
Frank Hamilton
The Sheriff's Son
Movie • 1919
Royal Beaudry
Stars of Yesterday
Movie • 1931
Self
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Movie • 1961
Self (archive footage)
Old Mammy's Secret Code
Movie • 1913
David
The Boomerang
Movie • 1913
Lt. Calhoun
The Transgressor
Movie • 1913
Jim
For Mother's Sake
Movie • 1913
Jim
The Renegade
Movie • 1915
Captain Marley
The Gangsters and the Girl
Movie • 1914
Detective John Stone
The Cup of Life
Movie • 1915
John Ward
Honor Thy Name
Movie • 1916
Home
Movie • 1916
Bob Wheaton
The Forbidden Adventure
Movie • 1915
Cecil Weatherby
The Weaker Sex
Movie • 1917
Jack Harding
The Courtship of Miles Standish
Movie • 1923
John Alden
45 Minutes from Broadway
Movie • 1920
Kid Burns
The Camera Speaks
Movie • 1934
Self (archive footage)
Mrs. Miniver
Movie • 1942
Man getting on Bus (uncredited)
The Son of His Father
Movie • 1917
Gordon Carbhoy
The Fire Brigade
Movie • 1926
Terry O'Neil
The Coward
Movie • 1915
Frank Winslow
Just My Luck
Movie • 1935
Homer Crow
By Your Leave
Movie • 1934
Leonard Purcell
Ticket to a Crime
Movie • 1934
Courtney Mallory
Getting Gertie's Garter
Movie • 1927
Ken Walrick
The House That Shadows Built
Movie • 1931
(archive footage)
The Claws of the Hun
Movie • 1918
John Stanton
Gas, Oil and Water
Movie • 1922
George Oliver Watson
The Grey Sentinel
Movie • 1913
Hal Peters
The Dividend
Movie • 1916
Frank Steele
The Busher
Movie • 1919
Ben Harding
Vanity
Movie • 1927
Lt. Lloyd Van Courtland
The Garden of Eden
Movie • 1928
Richard Dupont
The Auction Block
Movie • 1926
Bob Wharton
His Own Home Town
Movie • 1918
Jimmy Duncan
String Beans
Movie • 1918
Toby Watkins
Sudden Jim
Movie • 1917
James Ashe, Jr.
The Hired Man
Movie • 1918
Ezry Hollins
The Millionaire Vagrant
Movie • 1917
Steven Du Peyster
Hollywood Boulevard
Movie • 1936
Charlie Smith - Assistant Director
The Lady from Cheyenne
Movie • 1941
Bit Role
The Clodhopper
Movie • 1917
Everett Nelson
The Quakeress
Movie • 1913
John Hart - the Schoolmaster
The Lure of Woman
Movie • 1915
Captain Lane
Ladies Should Listen
Movie • 1934
Henri, the porter
The Man Who Lost Himself
Movie • 1941
(uncredited)
Slightly Dangerous
Movie • 1943
Opera patron (uncredited)
The Deuce of Spades
Movie • 1922
Amos
The American
Movie • 1927
Bill Smith
Bright Lights
Movie • 1925
Tom Corbin
Back of the Man
Movie • 1917
Larry Thomas
Plain Jane
Movie • 1916
Mr. 'John Sophomore Adams'
A Village Sleuth
Movie • 1920
William Wells
In the Tennessee Hills
Movie • 1915
Jim Carson
Homer Comes Home
Movie • 1920
Homer Cavender
An Old Fashioned Boy
Movie • 1920
David Warrington
Alarm Clock Andy
Movie • 1920
Andrew Gray
The Pinch Hitter
Movie • 1917
Joel Parker
Bill Henry
Movie • 1919
Bill Henry Jenkins
His Mother's Boy
Movie • 1917
Matthew Denton
Rio Rita
Movie • 1942
Hotel Guest (uncredited)
Greased Lightning
Movie • 1919
Andy Fletcher
Paris Green
Movie • 1920
Luther Green
Peggy
Movie • 1916
Colin Cameron
Paris
Movie • 1926
Jerry
School for Girls
Movie • 1934
Duke
Appointment for Love
Movie • 1941
Butler (uncredited)
The Deserter
Movie • 1916
Lieutenant Parker
A Tailor-Made Man
Movie • 1922
John Paul Bart
Hay Foot, Straw Foot
Movie • 1919
Ulysses S. Grant Briggs
The Old Swimmin' Hole
Movie • 1921
Ezra Hull
The Egg Crate Wallop
Movie • 1919
Jim Kelly
Dynamite Smith
Movie • 1924
Gladstone Smith
The Girl I Loved
Movie • 1923
John Middleton
The Mad Martindales
Movie • 1942
Barbershop Customer (uncredited)
A Nine O'Clock Town
Movie • 1918
David Clary
The Girl Dodger
Movie • 1919
Cuthbert Trotman
The Law of the North
Movie • 1918
Alain de Montcalm
Nobody's Widow
Movie • 1927
Honorable John Clayton
Scrap Iron
Movie • 1921
John Steel
The City of Darkness
Movie • 1914
Donald Warner - the Governor's Brother
For Her Brother's Sake
Movie • 1914
John Frye - the Brother
The Honorable Algy
Movie • 1916
The Honorable Algy
The Buried Past
Movie • 1913
Tom Winters - the Lover
Two Minutes to Go
Movie • 1921
Chester Burnett
Some Pun'kins
Movie • 1925
Lem Blossom
Alias Julius Caesar
Movie • 1922
Billy Barnes
Peaceful Valley
Movie • 1920
Hosiah Howe
A Corner in Colleens
Movie • 1916
Richard Taylor
Skinner's Dress Suit
Movie • 1917
The Count of Ten
Movie • 1928
Johnny McKinney
Crooked Straight
Movie • 1919
Ben Trimble
Red Hot Dollars
Movie • 1919
Tod Burke