Charles Ray

From Wikipedia

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.

Mrs. Miniver

Man getting on Bus (uncredited)

The Mad Martindales

Barbershop Customer (uncredited)

The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

Self (archive footage)

Slightly Dangerous

Opera patron (uncredited)

Hollywood Boulevard

Charlie Smith - Assistant Director

Appointment for Love

Butler (uncredited)

Rio Rita

Hotel Guest (uncredited)

School for Girls

Duke

Home

Bob Wheaton

Ladies Should Listen

Henri, the porter

The Man Who Lost Himself

(uncredited)

The Garden of Eden

Richard Dupont

Ticket to a Crime

Courtney Mallory

A Village Sleuth

William Wells

Bill Henry

Bill Henry Jenkins

Percy

Percival Rogeen

Alarm Clock Andy

Andrew Gray

The Deuce of Spades

Amos

Paris

Jerry

Getting Gertie's Garter

Ken Walrick

The House That Shadows Built

(archive footage)

Vanity

Lt. Lloyd Van Courtland

The Sheriff's Son

Royal Beaudry

The Lady from Cheyenne

Bit Role

The Fire Brigade

Terry O'Neil

Peggy

Colin Cameron

The Old Swimmin' Hole

Ezra Hull

By Your Leave

Leonard Purcell

Just My Luck

Homer Crow

The Auction Block

Bob Wharton

Homer Comes Home

Homer Cavender

Honor Thy Name

The Conversion of Frosty Blake

Reverend Horace Brightray

The Grudge

Dick Wayne

Nobody's Widow

Honorable John Clayton

Welcome Home

Andrew Carr

The Deserter

Lieutenant Parker

The Son of His Father

Gordon Carbhoy

The Girl Dodger

Cuthbert Trotman

The Claws of the Hun

John Stanton

A Nine O'Clock Town

David Clary

String Beans

Toby Watkins

The Coward

Frank Winslow

Sweet Adeline

Ben Wilson

A Tailor-Made Man

John Paul Bart

The Pinch Hitter

Joel Parker

The Busher

Ben Harding

The Courtship of Miles Standish

John Alden

The American

Bill Smith

Dynamite Smith

Gladstone Smith

The Hired Man

Ezry Hollins

Sudden Jim

James Ashe, Jr.

The Millionaire Vagrant

Steven Du Peyster

The Boomerang

Lt. Calhoun

Old Mammy's Secret Code

David

The Gangsters and the Girl

Detective John Stone

An Old Fashioned Boy

David Warrington

The Transgressor

Jim

Greased Lightning

Andy Fletcher

The Clodhopper

Everett Nelson

The Cup of Life

John Ward

Bright Lights

Tom Corbin

In the Tennessee Hills

Jim Carson

Plain Jane

Mr. 'John Sophomore Adams'

Gas, Oil and Water

George Oliver Watson

The Quakeress

John Hart - the Schoolmaster

The Weaker Sex

Jack Harding

For Mother's Sake

Stars of Yesterday

Self

Hay Foot, Straw Foot

Ulysses S. Grant Briggs

His Mother's Boy

Matthew Denton

The Wolf Woman

Rex Walden

45 Minutes from Broadway

Kid Burns

The Family Skeleton

Billy Bates

Paris Green

Luther Green

The Law of the North

Alain de Montcalm

The Egg Crate Wallop

Jim Kelly

The Grey Sentinel

Hal Peters

The Camera Speaks