Ralph Bellamy

Bellamy has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6542 Hollywood Boulevard. A stepson, Jason McCallum Bronson, preceded him in death after succumbing to a drug overdose in 1989. He died as a result of a lung ailment in Santa Monica, California. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife Kim, four children, two stepchildren and two grandchildren. He continued working regularly and gave his final performance in Pretty Woman ( 1990). Bronson died of pneumonia while suffering from Alzheimer's disease at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, California. In 1984 he was presented with a Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild, and in 1987 received an Honorary Academy Award "for his unique artistry and his distinguished service to the profession of acting.". At the time, Bronson (who shared the screen with McCallum in The Great Escape) bluntly told McCallum: "I'm going to marry your wife." Two years later, he made good on his boast and married Jill.

An Emmy Award nomination for the mini-series The Winds of War (1983), and a role as a conniving billionaire alongside Don Ameche in Trading Places (also 1983) brought him back into the limelight. He met her when she was still married to actor David McCallum. He appeared in Sunrise at Campobello (1960) and Rosemary's Baby (1968) before turning to television during the seventies. She was his second wife. Highly regarded within the industry, he served four years as President of Actor's Equity. Bronson was married to actress Jill Ireland from 1968 until her death in 1990. He played detective Ellery Queen in a few films during the forties, but as his film career had not progressed, he returned to the stage, where he continued to perform throughout the fifties. After the famous 1983 case of Bernhard Goetz, the actor recommended that people not imitate his character.

He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Awful Truth (1937) and played a similar role in His Girl Friday (1940). He became a crime-fighting vigilante by night, a highly controversial role, as his executions were cheered by crime-weary audiences. In 1931 he made his film debut and worked constantly throughout the thirties, establishing himself as a capable supporting actor. He is also remembered for Death Wish (1974) which spawned several sequels, In Death Wish he played a Paul Kersey, a prosperous liberal New York architect until his wife was murdered and daughter raped. He began his acting career on stage, and by 1927 owned his own theatre company. In the westerns The Magnificent Seven (1960) and the epic Once Upon a Time in the West, (1968) he played heroic gunfighters, taking up the cause of the defenseless. Bellamy was born in Chicago, Illinois. Bronson's most famous films include The Great Escape, (1963) in which he played Danny Welinski, nicknamed "The Tunnel King", a Polish prisoner of war, The Dirty Dozen, (1967) in which he played an Army death row convict conscripted into a World War II suicide mission.

Ralph Bellamy (June 17, 1904 - November 29, 1991) was an American actor. He became quite famous on that continent, and was known by two interesting nicknames: The Italians called him "Il Brutto" ("The Ugly") and to the French he was known as "le sacre monstre," the "sacred monster." Even though he was not yet a headliner in America, his overseas fame earned him a 1971 Golden Globe as the "Most Popular Actor in the World." That same year, he wondered if he was "too masculine" to ever become a star in the US. Although he began his career in America, Bronson first made a serious name for himself acting in European films. In 1961 Bronson made an appearance with Elizabeth Montgomery in The Twilight Zone, in the episode "Two". One of his earliest screen appearances under his new name was as Vincent Price's henchman in 1953 horror classic House Of Wax.

Lithuanian was a name for people living in that regin of Poland). (Bronson is in fact half Polish). During the McCarthy hearings he changed his last name to Bronson as Russian-sounding names were suspect even though Buchinski is really spelled Buchinski and is more Polish then Russian. After the war, he decided to pursue the profession of acting, not from any love of the subject, but rather because he was impressed with the amount of money that he could potentially make in the business.

In 1943, Bronson was drafted into the Air Force and served as a tail gunner onboard B29 bombers. His family was so poor that at one time he was forced to wear his sister's dress to school because he had no other clothes. He was born as Charles Dennis Buchinski in the notorious Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania neighborhood of Scooptown, the 11th of 15 children of Lithuanian and Polish immigrants. He was blunt, physically powerful, and had a look of danger that fit such roles.

In most of his roles he starred as a brutal police detective, a western gunfighter, or a mafia hitman. Charles Bronson (November 3, 1921 - August 30, 2003) was an American actor of "tough guy" roles.