
Charles Ray
Born March 15, 1891 · Jacksonville, Illinois, USA
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.
Notable Appearances
More Movies

The House That Shadows Built

The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

The Man Who Lost Himself

Appointment for Love

The Garden of Eden

The Lady from Cheyenne

Vanity

The Count of Ten

School for Girls

Getting Gertie's Garter

Ticket to a Crime

A Tailor-Made Man

Hollywood Boulevard

The Sheriff's Son

Peaceful Valley

Skinner's Dress Suit

Home

A Corner in Colleens

The Claws of the Hun

The Courtship of Miles Standish

A Nine O'Clock Town

An Old Fashioned Boy

The Old Swimmin' Hole

Crooked Straight

Scrap Iron

Ladies Should Listen

The Son of His Father

45 Minutes from Broadway

The Girl I Loved

His Mother's Boy

The Fire Brigade

The Mad Martindales

The Conversion of Frosty Blake

Old Mammy's Secret Code

Alias Julius Caesar

Homer Comes Home

The Law of the North

By Your Leave

Hay Foot, Straw Foot

Gas, Oil and Water

Two Minutes to Go

Stars of Yesterday

The Egg Crate Wallop

The Honorable Algy

In the Tennessee Hills

Welcome Home

The Deuce of Spades

The Coward

Percy

The Wolf Woman

The Gangsters and the Girl

Some Pun'kins

Paris

The Weaker Sex

Red Hot Dollars

Back of the Man

The Girl Dodger

The Buried Past

The Auction Block

Just My Luck

The Busher

The American

Sweet Adeline

Playing the Game

The Dividend

The Camera Speaks

Peggy

Nobody's Widow

The Pinch Hitter

A Village Sleuth

Honor Thy Name

The Family Skeleton

Bill Henry

The Clodhopper

Bright Lights

The Deserter

Plain Jane

String Beans

Greased Lightning

Paris Green

The Hired Man

Dynamite Smith

The Millionaire Vagrant

The Boomerang

The Renegade

Sudden Jim

The Grudge

Alarm Clock Andy




