Charles French (1860 - 1952)

Prolific American film actor who had a long career spanning from 1909 to 1944. (bio by: A.J. Marik)

Charles Garnier (1825 - 1898)

Architect.  Born Jean-Louis Charles Garnier in Paris. His father was originally from Sarthe, and had worked as a blacksmith, wheelwright, and coachbuilder before settling down in Paris to work in a horse-drawn carriage rental business. He married Felicia Colle, daughter of a captain in the French Army. Famed as the creator of the Paris Opera […]

Charles Garrett “Garry” Betty (1957 - 2007)

Businessman, CEO. He served as the president and corporate executive officer (CEO) of Earthlink, an Atlanta based Internet Service Provider. He joined Earthlink in 1996 and oversaw the company’s growth from a moderately sized business with half a million subscribers, to a nationally based company with over 5 million customers. He was a 1979 graduate […]

Charles Gemora (1903 - 1961)

Actor, stunt man, and make-up artist. Known for donning a gorilla costume for appearances in many motion pictures from the 1920s thru the 1950s. He appeared in “Swiss Miss” with Laurel & Hardy, and several of the ‘Road’ movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. (bio by: A.J. Marik) Cause of death: Heart attack

Charles Gilpin (1878 - 1930)

Actor. Acclaimed by playwright Moss Hart as “the greatest actor of his race”, he originated the title role in “The Emperor Jones”, and was the first African-American performer to achieve mainstream stardom in the 20th Century. Born Charles Sidney Gilpin in the Jackson Ward section of Richmond, Virginia, he attended a segregated Catholic elementary school […]

Charles Gimbel (1861 - 1932)

Businessman. He was the founder of the Gimbel’s Department Store.  Family links:  Parents:  Adam Gimbel (1816 – 1896)  Fridoline Kahnweiler Gimbel (1830 – 1886)  Spouse:  Ella Long Gimbel (1865 – 1949)*  Children:  Gertrude Gimbel Dannenbaum (1889 – 1948)*  Siblings:  Harriet Gimbel Labe (1848 – 1909)*  Julia Gimbel Greenewald (1849 – 1903)*  Jacob Gimbel (1851 – […]

Charles Gray (1928 - 2000)

Gray was born Donald Marshall Gray in Bournemouth, Dorset, the son of Maude Elizabeth (née Marshall) and Donald Gray, who was a surveyor. Gray attended Bournemouth School alongside Benny Hill, whose school had been evacuated to the same buildings, during the Second World War. Some of his friends remember that his bedroom walls were plastered […]

Charles Grodin (1935 - 2021)

Charles Grodin Deadpan comedian Charles Sydney Grodin (originally Grodinsky) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania of Russian/Polish ancestry and raised in a Jewish orthodox home. He attended the University of Miami but dropped out, opting instead for the life of a struggling actor. The movie A Place in the Sun (1951) was said to have steered […]

Charles Gulden (1843 - 1916)

Entrepreneur/”The Father of American Mustard.” Born to German immigrants, Charles Gulden began his working career as an engraver in 1858. In 1860 he went to work for his uncle, who owned Union Mustard Mills located at 123 Mott Street in New York City. During the American Civil War, Charles was drafted in 1863 serving only […]

Charles H. Black (1852 - 1918)

Black was a native of Hagerstown in Wayne County, Indiana. When he was a child, his family moved to Indianapolis, where he received his education in the city’s public schools. He went on to serve in the Union Army during the American Civil War, as did his younger brother Edward E. Black, who became the […]

Charles H. Cooley (1902 - 1960)

Film, vaudeville and television actor. Born Charles Cali to Italian parents Carmelo Cali and Teresa Galletti, he was a boyhood friend of Bob Hope from their grammar school days in Cleveland. He helped get the famous comedian his first big break in vaudeville. Hope took him to Hollywood in 1938 and remained with Hope as […]

Charles Hallahan (1943 - 1997)

Charles John Hallahan (July 29, 1943 – November 25, 1997) was an American film, television and stage actor known for his performances in Going in Style, The Thing, Cast a Deadly Spell, and Dante’s Peak. Hallahan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated from Rutgers University, then going on to Temple University to earn a Master’s […]

Charles Halton (1876 - 1959)

Character Actor. He was born in Washington (District of Columbia) and died in Los Angeles. He began his career on stage, but soon he moved to cinema, where he debuted in silent films in 1917, ultimately appearing in over 200 films. He is best remembered for films such as “A Man to Remember” (1938), “Dodge […]

Charles Hamlin (1861 - 1938)

Charles Sumner Hamlin (August 30, 1861 – April 24, 1938) was an American lawyer. He was the first Chairman of the Federal Reserve, serving from 1914 to 1916. Charles Hamlin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 30, 1861, and graduated from Harvard University in 1886. From 1893 to 1897 and again from 1913 to 1914 […]

Charles Hawtrey (1914 - 1988)

Actor. Born George Frederick Joffre Hartree in 1914, in Hounslow, Middlesex, he entered acting at a very early age coming, as he did, from a theatrical family.  He is often confused with the Edwardian actor Sir Charles Hawtrey, who is no relation, the name was borrowed by Hawtrey two years after his death. As a […]

Charles Henry Ingersoll (1865 - 1948)

Co-founder of the Ingersoll Watch Company, with his brother Robert Ingersoll in 1892. Their company made the ‘Yankee’, a popular, inexpensive watch that sold for a $1.00, a day’s pay at that time. By 1899 they were mass producing 8,000 watches a day. In 1917 they introduced the ‘Reliance’, another popular watch. By the end […]

Charles Herbert Best (1899 - 1978)

Born in West Pembroke, Washington County, Maine, he was the son of Luella Fisher and Herbert Huestis Best, Canadians from Nova Scotia.  Best married Margaret Hooper Mahon in Toronto in 1924 and they had two sons. One son, Dr. Henry Best was a well-regarded historian who later became president of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. […]

Charles Herman Older (1917 - 2006)

Superior Court Justice.  It was early in his career as a Los Angeles judge that he presided over the bizarre Charles Manson mass murder trial,  which lasted ten months during 1970 and 1971. At one point Manson tried to attack him, leaping from his seat at the defense table towards the Older, but was stopped […]

Charles Isaac Ginner (1878 - 1952)

English painter. After study in Paris, Ginner settled in London, becoming a founder of the neorealist school. During both world wars he was an official government artist. Among his World War II paintings are several scenes of air raids. (bio by: K)

Charles J. Conrad (1909 - 1998)

Actor. Motion picture and television character actor of the 1950s and ’60s. He appeared in films such as 1951’s “As Young as You Feel” (with Marilyn Monroe), “Don’t Bother to Knock” (also with Monroe), and the 1954 Judy Garland version of “A Star is Born.” He also appeared in classic televisions series such as “Gunsmoke,” […]

Charles John “Chuck” Hallahan (1943 - 1997)

Actor. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1943, he graduated from Temple University with a Masters Degree in Fine Arts in 1972. His many films include, “Mind Rage” (2000), “Ambushed” (1998), “Dante’s Peak” (1997), “The Fan” (1996), “Executive Decision” (1996), “Warlock: The Armageddon” (1993), “Body Of Evidence” (1993), “Dave” (1993), “True Believer” (1989), “Vision Quest” (1985), […]

Charles Keating (1941 - 2014)

Charles Keating Of Irish Catholic extraction, Keating was born in London, England, the son of Charles James Keating and Margaret (née Shevlin) Keating.  He appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon before turning to television (he was in the pilot episode of the long-running ITV series Crown Court in 1972), winning the role of […]

Charles Keating JR (1923 - 2014)

Charles Keating JR Charles H. Keating Jr., who went to prison and came to symbolize the $150 billion savings-and-loan crisis a generation ago after fleecing thousands of depositors with regulatory help from a group of United States senators known as the Keating Five, has died. He was 90. The death was confirmed Tuesday night by […]

Charles Keck (1875 - 1951)

Sculptor. Best known for his work of Monument to George Washington, U.S.S. Marine tablets for U.S. Government, Lewis & Clark Monument, and Booker T. Washington (bio by: Laurie)

Charles Kemmons Wilson (1913 - 2003)

Businessman. He was the founder of the Holiday Inn chain of hotels. In the 1950s he began the Holiday Inn chain in the Memphis area, which grew into a chain of thousands of hotels. Wilson was viewed as the father of the modern hotel – his hotels were built around the idea of giving travelers […]

Charles L. Richardson (1970 - 1862)

British merchant. Namesake of “The Richardson Affair,” known to the Japanese as the “Namamugi Jiken,” the “Namamugi Incident.” Following Commodore Matthew Perry’s forced treaty with the Japanese government, the Dutch, Russians and British quickly established similar agreements. The Japanese governing elite saw the incursion of western traders as inevitable but not entirely welcome. There was […]

Charles Lamont (1895 - 1993)

Charles Lamont (May 5, 1895 – September 12, 1993) was a prolific filmmaker, directing over 200 titles and producing and writing many others. A California native, Lamont was born in San Francisco and died in Los Angeles. Some of Lamont’s earliest directorial jobs were silent short-subject comedies for Educational Pictures. One of the studio’s popular series […]

Charles Landseer (1799 - 1879)

Charles Landseer was born in London on 12 August 1799, the second son of the engraver John Landseer, and the elder brother of the animal painter, Sir Edwin Landseer. He trained under his father, and the painter Benjamin Robert Haydon. He was awarded the silver palette of the Royal Society of Arts for a drawing […]

Charles Lane (1905 - 2007)

Lane spent a short time as an insurance salesman before taking to the stage at the Pasadena Playhouse. Actor/director Irving Pichel first suggested that Lane go into acting in 1929, and four years later Lane was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. He became a favorite of director Frank Capra, who used him […]

Charles Laughton (1899 - 1962)

Charles Laughton In 1927, Laughton began a relationship with Elsa Lanchester, at the time a cast mate in a stage play. The two were married in 1929, became US citizens in 1950, and remained together until Laughton’s death. Over the years, they appeared together in several films, including Rembrandt (1936), Tales of Manhattan (1942) and […]