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

7.0

Rio Rita

5.8

The Coward

5.7

The Busher

5.1

Ladies Should Listen

5.8

The Garden of Eden

5.6

Slightly Dangerous

5.8

Appointment for Love

5.2

Getting Gertie's Garter

7.3

The Lady from Cheyenne

5.2

The Fire Brigade

3.5

By Your Leave

3.0

Hollywood Boulevard

2.5

The Clodhopper

5.8

The Man Who Lost Himself

4.0

An Old Fashioned Boy

5.8

Paris

7.0

The Camera Speaks

4.0

Ticket to a Crime

4.0

The House That Shadows Built

7.0

Greased Lightning

10.0

School for Girls

6.0

The Mad Martindales

5.0

The Wolf Woman

0.0

The Family Skeleton

0.0

Sweet Adeline

0.0

Welcome Home

0.0

Playing the Game

0.0

Percy

0.0

The Conversion of Frosty Blake

0.0

The Grudge

0.0

Staking His Life

0.0

The Sheriff's Son

0.0

Stars of Yesterday

0.0

The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

0.0

Old Mammy's Secret Code

0.0

The Boomerang

0.0

The Transgressor

0.0

For Mother's Sake

0.0

The Renegade

0.0

The Gangsters and the Girl

0.0

The Cup of Life

0.0

Honor Thy Name

0.0

Home

0.0

The Forbidden Adventure

0.0

The Weaker Sex

0.0

The Courtship of Miles Standish

0.0

45 Minutes from Broadway

0.0

The Son of His Father

0.0

Just My Luck

0.0

The Claws of the Hun

0.0

Gas, Oil and Water

0.0

The Grey Sentinel

0.0

The Dividend

0.0

Vanity

0.0

The Auction Block

0.0

His Own Home Town

0.0

String Beans

0.0

Sudden Jim

0.0

The Hired Man

0.0

The Millionaire Vagrant

0.0

The Quakeress

0.0

The Lure of Woman

0.0

The Deuce of Spades

0.0

The American

0.0

Bright Lights

0.0

Back of the Man

0.0

Plain Jane

0.0

A Village Sleuth

0.0

In the Tennessee Hills

0.0

Homer Comes Home

0.0

Alarm Clock Andy

0.0

The Pinch Hitter

0.0

Bill Henry

0.0

His Mother's Boy

0.0

Paris Green

0.0

Peggy

0.0

The Deserter

0.0

A Tailor-Made Man

0.0

Hay Foot, Straw Foot

0.0

The Old Swimmin' Hole

0.0

The Egg Crate Wallop

0.0

Dynamite Smith

0.0

The Girl I Loved

0.0

A Nine O'Clock Town

0.0

The Girl Dodger

0.0

The Law of the North

0.0