Bronson was the first member of his family to graduate from high school.īronson worked in the mine until he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 during World War II.

His family was so poor that he once had to wear his sister's dress to school for lack of clothing. His mother could not afford milk for his younger sister, so she was fed warm tea instead. The family suffered extreme poverty during the Great Depression, and Bronson recalled going hungry many times. Bronson later recounted that he and his brother engaged in dangerous work removing 'stumps' between the mines, and that cave-ins were common. In another interview, he said that he had to work double shifts to earn $1 a week. He later said he earned one dollar for each ton of coal that he mined. When Bronson was 10 years old, his father died and he went to work in the coal mines, first in the mining office and then in the mine. In a 1973 interview, Bronson said that he did not know his father very well and 'I'm not even sure if I loved him or hated him.' He said that all he could remember was that when his mother said that his father was coming home, the children would hide. Besides English, he could also speak Lithuanian, Russian and Greek. He recalled that even back when he was in the army, his accent was strong enough to make his comrades think he came from another country (despite Bronson having been born in the US). īronson did not speak any English at home during his childhood in Pennsylvania, like many children he grew up with. Bronson's mother, Mary (née Valinsky), whose parents were from Lithuania, was born in the coal mining town of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania.

Bučinskis, a Lipka Tatar, who later adjusted his name to Walter Buchinsky to sound more American, was from Druskininkai in southern Lithuania. 2.8 Death Wish series and departure from United Artists (1974–1980)īronson was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky, the eleventh of fifteen children, into a Roman Catholic family of Lithuanian descent in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, in the coal region of the Allegheny Mountains north of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.2.5 Leading support actor in Hollywood (1960–1968).

Charles bronson wikipedia