Charles Bickford

At 76 years old, Charles Bickford has this physical status:

Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor best known for his supporting roles.

He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Song of Bernadette (1943), The Classical Child (1947), and Johnny Belinda (1948).

Whirlpool (1948), A Star Is Born (1954), and The Big Country (1958) were two other notable roles.

Early life

Bickford was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the first minute of 1891. Loretus and Mary Ellen Bickford were his parents. He was the fifth of seven children, but he was an intelligent, yet stubborn, and rebel boy. He had a strong link with his maternal grandfather, a sea captain, who wielded a huge influence during his formative years. He was tried and acquitted of the attempted murder of a trolley motorman who had callously driven over and killed his beloved dog at the age of nine. He attended Foster School and Everett High School from 12 to 16.

Bickford was always more interested in living life than reading about it, prompting his parents' frequent visits. He bobbed aimlessly around the country for a while in his late teens. He started off as a lumberjack and investment promoter, as well as a short time as a pest extermination company. When a friend encouraged him to work in burlesque, he was a stoker and fireman in the United States Navy. During World War I, Bickford served as an engineer lieutenant in the United States Army. His first attempt at acting was on stage, eventually including Broadway. This space gave him an occasional home and served as the primary training ground for his actor and vocal talent.

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Acting career

Bickford had intended to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to earn an engineering degree, but while wandering around the country, he met the manager of a burlesque exhibition, who urged Bickford to participate in the exhibit. In 1911, Bickford's 50-53 enjoyed himself so much that he cancelled his plans to attend MIT. 60–61 He made his legitimate stage debut with the John Craig Stock Company in Boston in 1912; 60–62 He later joined a road company and toured the United States for more than a decade, appearing in various productions. James Cagney (in his first Broadway role) received rave reviews in 1925 while working in a Broadway play called Outside Looking In. 142–145 He was invited to participate in Herbert Brenon's 1926 film Beau Geste but he refused to give up his newfound Broadway fame, which he later regretted. He was approached by filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille and offered a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios in DeMille's first talking picture, Dynamite, following his role in the critically lauded but ultimately unsuccessful Maxwell Anderson-Harold Hickerson film about the Sacco and Vanzetti case Gods of the Lightning (Bickford was the Sacco actor). 157 He began working with MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer on a variety of projects right away.

After playing Greta Garbo's lover in Anna Christie (1930), Bickford became a well-known actor, but he never developed into a leading man. During his time as a producer at the university, Bickford was always optimistic, remarkably patient, and quick with his fists. During the production of Dynamite, he sacked out his director following a series of tense charges, mainly relating to the interpretation of his character's role. Bickford wrote several scripts and made no secret of his disdain for much of the material he was offered during his early career on both the stage and later films. His MGM tenure was short, with Bickford requesting and quickly being let loose from his employment. He soon discovered himself blacklisted at other studios, but it prompted him to take the unusual action (for the time) of becoming a true actor for several years. His career took a different direction in 1935, when he was mauled by a lion and almost dead while filming East of Java. Although recovering, he lost his position with Twentieth Century-Fox and his leading-man status as a result of extensive neck injury in the attack, as well as his age. 298–303 He made a quick transition to character roles, which he felt provided much greater variety and allowed him to display his talent to the fullest. Bickford appeared in a number of notable films, including The Farmer's Daughter, Johnny Belinda, A Star Is Born, and Not as a Stranger, with the majority embracing character roles that became his forte.

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With a growing success in film and television, Bickford's burly frame and craggy, lively sound lent themselves to a variety of roles. He played lovable father figures, stern businessmen, ship captains, or other authority figures of some sort. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor during the 1940s. He appeared on the television show The Man Behind the Badge, a 1950s television series.

On "The Daniel Barrister Tale" on Wagon Train on April 16, 1958, Bickford appeared alongside Roger Smith. Daniel Barrister, played by Bickford, has sluggish opposition to medical treatment for his wife, Jenny, the victim of a wagon fire. In the meantime, Dr. Peter H. Culver, played by Smith, has successfully battled a smallpox epidemic in a nearby town. Miss Barrister is led to the wagon train by scout Flint McCullough, portrayed by series regular Robert Horton, to treat Mrs. Barrister. Viewers had no idea if Barrister refused to encourage Dr. Culver to treat Jenny.

Bickford continued to function in generally successful sectors right up to his death. He appeared on The Islanders, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, and The Eleventh Hour. John Grainger, the owner of the Shiloh Ranch in his heydays, appeared on Bickford on The Virginian in his last years. Both fans and co-stars, as well as series lead James Drury, all loved Bickford. Dr. Bickford, who appeared in a similar role earlier in the series, says he should have been on the show from the start. According to Paul Green, author of A History of Television Bickford's 1962-1971, the Virginian helped restore the show's luster following what some regarded as a tumultuous fourth season.

Both of the actor's most memorable late-career and big-screen roles came in the Western The Big Country (1958); as a wealthy and ruthless rancher) with Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston (1962; as the forlorn father of an alcoholic) with Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who looked like Bickford, appeared in the White House for four nights in a row.

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