Charles Bronson
Bronson c. 1969, photo by Prphotos
Birth Name: Charles Dennis Buchinsky
Date of Birth: November 3, 1921
Place of Birth: Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Date of Death: August 30, 2003
Place of Death: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Ethnicity: Lithuanian, Polish, possibly other Eastern European
Charles Bronson was an American actor, also credited under his birth name Charles Buchinsky. Known for playing tough guy characters, his roles included the films You’re in the Navy Now, Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952), House of Wax (1953), Target Zero, Jubal, Run of the Arrow, Machine-Gun Kelly (1958), Showdown at Boot Hill, Never So Few, The Magnificent Seven (1960), Master of the World, A Thunder of Drums, X-15, Kid Galahad, The Great Escape (1963), 4 for Texas, Guns of Diablo, The Sandpiper, Battle of the Bulge (1965), This Property Is Condemned, The Dirty Dozen (1967), Guns for San Sebastian, Adieu l’ami, Villa Rides, Once Upon a Time in the West, You Can’t Win ‘Em All, Lola (1970), Rider on the Rain, Violent City, Cold Sweat, Someone Behind the Door, Red Sun (1971), The Valachi Papers, Chato’s Land, The Mechanic (1972), The Stone Killer, Chino (1973), Mr. Majestyk, Death Wish (1974), and its sequels, Death Wish II, Death Wish 3, Death Wish 4: The Crackdown, and his last film Death Wish V: The Face of Death; Breakout (1975), Hart Times, Breakheart Pass, From Noon till Three, St. Ives, The White Buffalo, Telefon, Love and Bullets, Borderline, Caboblanco, Death Hunt, 10 to Midnight, The Evil That Men Do, Murphy’s Law, Assassination (1987), Messenger of Death, Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects, and The Indian Runner; the series Man with a Camera and The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters; and the made-for-tv movies Raid on Entebbe, Act of Vengeance, Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus; and the Family of Cops trilogy.
Charles’s father, Walter/Vladislavas Valteris Paulius/Paul Bučinskas/Buchinsky/Buchinski, was an Eastern European emigrant, from Druskininkai, Alytus, Lithuania. Charles’s mother, Mary (Valinski/Valinsky), was born in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, to Eastern European parents. Charles was raised in a coal mining region. He was in the U.S. Army/Army Air Forces, from 1943 to 1946; he was awarded a Purple Heart.
In a 1974 interview, Charles stated:
In Ehrenfeld, we were all jammed together. All the fathers were foreign-born. Welsh, Irish, Polish, Sicilian. I was Lithuanian and Russian. We were so jammed together we picked up each other’s accents. And we spoke some broken English. When I got into the service, people used to think I was from a foreign country.
In 1973, he stated:
People in this country think I’m an Indian, but I’m Slavic. I don’t care where I came from-it doesn’t matter. But I’d like to go to Lithuania some day, just to see it. And Russia, see what it’s like….
In several of his early roles, Charles did play Native American characters.
It appears that the family spoke Lithuanian. It was uncommon for working-class Eastern European Catholic immigrants of the time to have ethnic Russian ancestry, so it is not clear if Charles’ statement that he had Russian ancestry was accurate.
Charles had also stated that he had Mongolian ancestry.
Some internet sources write that Charles had Tatar ancestry on his father’s side. It is not clear what the source of this claim is, or whether Charles himself stated so. Charles’s father, mother, and Charles himself, are listed as “White” on the 1920 U.S. Census, and Charles’s paternal and maternal grandparents are all listed as having been born in Lithuania.
Charles was married to Kim Weeks, until his death. He had two children with his former wife Harriet Tendler; and two children with his former wife, English actress and singer Jill Ireland.
Charles is listed as having been Jewish on several web sites. He was not Jewish. However, his first wife Harriet was Jewish.
Charles’ paternal grandfather was named Frank/Pranciškus/Franciszek Bučinskas/Buchinsky/Buchinski/Buczyński.
Charles’ paternal grandmother was named Elizabeth/Elżbieta.
Charles’ maternal grandfather was named Thomas/Tomas/Tomasz Valinski/Valinsky/Valinskas/Waliński (the son of Jes/Juozapas/Józef Valinski/Valinskas/Waliński).
Charles’ maternal grandmother was named Ona Marija/Maria Anna/Annie/Ana Butsavage/Dumblesky/Dumbelwska/Dumbliauskaitė (the daughter of Vincent/Vincentas/Wincenty Dumblesky/Dumbliauskas/Dumblewski).
Sources: Charles Bronson on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Marriage record of Charles’ parents – https://familysearch.org
Genealogies of Charles Bronson – https://www.geni.com
https://www.findagrave.com
He always puzzled me, so exotic looking, must have been a unique combination of Slavic ethnicities with some more distant, ancestral Turkic and/or other ethnicities from far east Europe and middle east.
He may not have had Tatar ancestors in recent generations. The Lipkas have completely different surnames. People with this appearance are found among ethnic Belarusians, Poles, and Lithuanians. Some have more eastern facial features, while others have a southern, Mediterranean appearance. Bronson has played ethnic Poles in several films, for example in “Act of Vengeance” he played labor leader Jock Yablonski. In Lithuania, it was often the case that people in one family had different national identifications, because one brother considered himself Lithuanian and the other considered himself Polish.Gabriel Narutowicz was the president of Poland, and his brother was one of the signatories of the act of independence of Lithuania.