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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.
Birth Name
Charles Edgar Alfred Ray
Born
Sunday, 15 March 1891
Died
Tuesday, 23 November 1943
Actor Filmography
Title | Character | Year |
---|
An American Romance | Graduation Ceremony Attendee | 1944 |
Slightly Dangerous | Opera Patron | 1943 |
Tennessee Johnson | Senator | 1942 |
The Postman Didn't Ring | Juror | 1942 |
Mrs. Miniver | Man getting on Bus | 1942 |
The Mad Martindales | Barbershop Customer | 1942 |
Sunday Punch | Reporter | 1942 |
Rio Rita | Hotel Guest | 1942 |
The Vanishing Virginian | Courtroom Spectator | 1942 |
Harvard, Here I Come! | Reporter | 1941 |
Actor Filmography
Title | Character | Year |
---|
An American Romance | Graduation Ceremony Attendee | 1944 |
Slightly Dangerous | Opera Patron | 1943 |
Tennessee Johnson | Senator | 1942 |
The Postman Didn't Ring | Juror | 1942 |
Mrs. Miniver | Man getting on Bus | 1942 |
The Mad Martindales | Barbershop Customer | 1942 |
Sunday Punch | Reporter | 1942 |
Rio Rita | Hotel Guest | 1942 |
The Vanishing Virginian | Courtroom Spectator | 1942 |
Harvard, Here I Come! | Reporter | 1941 |
Appointment for Love | Butler | 1941 |
Married Bachelor | Man in Lounge Room Getting Bagpipes | 1941 |
A Yank in the R.A.F. | American Business Executive | 1941 |
We Go Fast | Courtroom Spectator | 1941 |
Hurry, Charlie, Hurry | Newspaper Photographer | 1941 |
The Lady from Cheyenne | Bit Role | 1941 |
A Little Bit of Heaven | Uncle Wes | 1940 |
Hollywood Boulevard | Charlie Smith - Assistant Director | 1936 |
Just My Luck | Homer Crow | 1935 |
Welcome Home | Andrew Carr | 1935 |
Ticket to a Crime | Courtney Mallory | 1934 |
By Your Leave | Leonard Purcell | 1934 |
The Camera Speaks | Himself (archive footage) / (archive footage) | 1934 |
Ladies Should Listen | Henri, the porter / Henri - House Porter | 1934 |
School for Girls | Duke | 1934 |
March of the Movies | Self - film clip | 1933 |
Stolen by Gypsies or Beer and Bicycles | Elmer Updike | 1933 |
The Bride's Bereavement; or, the Snake in the Grass | Richard | 1932 |
The House That Shadows Built | (archive footage) | 1931 |
The Count of Ten | Johnny McKinney | 1928 |
The Garden of Eden | Richard Dupont | 1928 |
Vanity | Lt. Lloyd Van Courtland | 1927 |
Getting Gertie's Garter | Ken Walrick | 1927 |
The Fire Brigade | Terry O'Neil | 1926 |
The Auction Block | Bob Wharton | 1926 |
Some Pun'kins | Lem Blossom | 1925 |
Percy | Percival Rogeen | 1925 |
Scrap Iron | John Steel | 1924 |
The Courtship of Myles Standish | John Alden | 1923 |
Robin Hood | Extra | 1922 |
A Tailor-Made Man | John Paul Bart | 1922 |
The Barnstormer | Joel | 1922 |
Gas, Oil and Water | George Oliver Watson | 1922 |
Alias Julius Caesar | Billy Barnes | 1922 |
R.S.V.P. | Richard Morgan | 1921 |
Two Minutes to Go | Chester Burnett | 1921 |
The Old Swimmin' Hole | Ezra Hull | 1921 |
Nineteen and Phyllis | Andrew Jackson Cavanaugh | 1920 |
An Old Fashioned Boy | David Warrington | 1920 |
Peaceful Valley | Hosiah Howe | 1920 |
The Village Sleuth | William Wells | 1920 |
Homer Comes Home | Homer Cavender | 1920 |
Paris Green | Luther Green | 1920 |
Alarm Clock Andy | Andrew Gray | 1920 |
Red Hot Dollars | Tod Burke | 1919 |
Crooked Straight | Ben Trimble | 1919 |
The Egg Crate Wallop | Jim Kelly | 1919 |
Bill Henry | Bill Henry Jenkins | 1919 |
Hay Foot, Straw Foot | Ulysses S. Grant Briggs | 1919 |
The Busher | Ben Harding | 1919 |
Greased Lightning | Andy Fletcher | 1919 |
The Girl Dodger | Cuthbert Trotman | 1919 |
String Beans | Toby Watkins | 1918 |
The Law of the North | Alain de Montcalm | 1918 |
A Nine O'Clock Town | David Clary | 1918 |
The Claws of the Hun | John Stanton | 1918 |
His Own Home Town | Jimmy Duncan | 1918 |
Playing the Game | Larry Prentiss | 1918 |
The Family Skeleton | Billy Bates | 1918 |
The Hired Man | Ezry Hollins | 1918 |
Staking His Life | Frank Hamilton | 1918 |
The Son of His Father | Gordon Carbhoy | 1917 |
Sudden Jim | James Ashe, Jr. | 1917 |
The Clodhopper | Everett Nelson | 1917 |
The Millionaire Vagrant | Steven Du Peyster | 1917 |
The Pinch Hitter | Joel Parker | 1917 |
Back of the Man | Larry Thomas | 1917 |
The Honorable Algy | The Honorable Algy | 1916 |
A Corner in Colleens | Richard Taylor | 1916 |
The Wolf Woman | Rex Walden | 1916 |
Home | Bob Wheaton | 1916 |
Honor Thy Name | 1916 | |
The Dividend | Frank Steele | 1916 |
The Coward | Frank Winslow | 1915 |
The Lure of Woman | Captain Lane | 1915 |
The Cup of Life | John Ward | 1915 |
The Quakeress | John Hart - the Schoolmaster | 1913 |
Director Filmography
Title | Year |
---|
Scrap Iron | 1924 |
The Barnstormer | 1922 |
Gas, Oil and Water | 1922 |
Alias Julius Caesar | 1922 |
R.S.V.P. | 1921 |
Two Minutes to Go | 1921 |
Producer Filmography
Title | Year |
---|
The Courtship of Myles Standish | 1923 |
A Tailor-Made Man | 1922 |
The Barnstormer | 1922 |
Gas, Oil and Water | 1922 |
Alias Julius Caesar | 1922 |
Two Minutes to Go | 1921 |
The Old Swimmin' Hole | 1921 |