Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson became an international star and icon of cinema, a favorite in both the US and abroad for 50 years.
And it all began with the GI Bill.
Charles Bronson served in the Army Air Corps, was given duties as a truck driver, and later trained as a tail-gunner and assigned to a B-29 bomber. He flew on 25 missions and received a Purple Heart for wounds incurred in battle.
After his return from World War II, Bronson used the GI Bill to study art , then acting. Before long, Bronson was making his film debut in You're in the Navy Now (1951). His career took off .
Bronson was well cast the "avenging angel" in Death Wish, 10 to Midnight (1983), The Evil That Men Do (1984), Assassination (1987) and Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989). His final film roles were as police commissioner Paul Fein in crime/drama TV movies Family of Cops (1995) (TV), Breach of Faith: Family of Cops II (1997) (TV) and Family of Cops III: Under Suspicion (1999) (TV).
Director John Huston once summed up Bronson as "a grenade with the pin pulled." But he was even more: someone with the intelligence to apply his talent, and the GI Bill.
