Charles Ray,
French postcard. Les Vedettes de Cinéma, No. 221, A.N., Paris. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Charles Ray (1891-1943) was an American actor, scriptwriter, and director of the silent screen, who knew a parabole from rags to riches and back again, working for e.g. Paramount, his own company, United Artists and MGM. In the late 1910s and early 1920s, he was a very popular actor and one of Hollywood's best-paid stars.
Charles Ray was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, and moved several times in his youth before settling Los Angeles, where he finished his education. While he started his career as an actor on stage, he later started as an actor of short films, first in The Fortunes of War (Thomas Ince, 1911). From 1913 he had a steady career as the male lead in one- and two-reel short Western, Quaker, and Civil War dramas at Kaybee Pictures, Broncho Pictures, and Domino Pictures, in which he would be paired with actresses such as Enid Markey, Bessie Barriscale, Louise Glaum, and Dorothy Davenport. Ray must have worked fast then, as in 1913 and in 1914 he had a ratio of a film every two weeks. At Kaybee, Ince would direct him at times, at times also Raymond West, while at Bronco he was often directed by Charles Giblyn, and in 1915 a few times by William S. Hart.
In 1915 Ray had his breakthrough in his first feature The Coward, produced by Thomas Ince for Kay-Bee and directed by Reginald Barker. In this Civil War drama, Ray played the son of a Virginia colonel (Frank Keenan), who needs to overcome his cowardice. Ray's popularity rose after appearing in a series of films, as Wikipedia writes "which cast him in juvenile roles, primarily young, wholesome hicks or naive "country bumpkins" that foiled the plans of thieves or con men and won the heart of his dream girl." Ray's Kay-Bee films were now distributed by Triangle Distributing. Victor Schertzinger, the musician who had also provided the music for The Coward, turned director at Kay-Bee and directed Ray in several films in 1917. Ray, Ince, and Schertzinger moved over to Paramount in 1917, where Ince got his own production company and where Schertzinger directed Ray in more films, such as The Claws of the Hun (1918), a propaganda film signaling the US's participation in the First World War.
Ray's star rose and rose, so by 1920, he was earning a reported $11,000 a week (approximately $138,000 today). Ray had also earned a reputation for being egomaniacal and difficult to work with. In 1920, he left Paramount after studio head Adolph Zukor refused to give him a substantial pay raise. Ray started his own production company. Charles Ray Productions, and bought a studio on Sunset Boulevard where he began producing and shooting his own films. While he initially was fairly successful, an experiment for First National with a film without intertitles, The Old Swimmin' Hole (1921), co-starring Laura La Plante, had critical but not a huge popular success. Mind you, this was years before Murnau's famous Last Laugh was made with only one intertitle.
In 1922 Ray signed a contract with United Artists and starred in e.g. The Girl I Loved (1923) with Patsy Ruth Miller. He was fed up with the hillbillies types and strived to profile himself as a romantic lead and man of the world. Against everybody's advice to avoid lengthy historical drama, Ray insisted on the making of The Courtship of Miles Standish (1923), investing $500,000 (approximately $7,353,000 today) of his own money, including a $65,000 (approximately $956,000 today) 180-ton replica of the Mayflower. The film was a box office failure, Ray lost all his money and his reputation went down too. It did not mean his career was all over (despite what Wikipedia writes), because he first continued as a leading actor at smaller companies, produced by Ince, and in 1925 he got a contract at MGM, where he played for two years and acted as the male lead opposite actress such as Pauline Starke. Joan Crawford, and May McAvoy. In those years Ray and his wife Clara Grant were enormous spendthrifts, with an over-the-top villa in Beverly Hills, huge staff, expensive cars and Grant would never wear a dress two times. Yet, in December 1925 Ray had to file for bankruptcy and his production company went under as well. Though he continued to act, after MGM the companies he worked for were less prestigious, such as Universal. In 1928 he made his last silent film, The Count of Ten, after which he acted on stage for years, in off-Broadway productions, without much success.
In 1932 Ray returned to the sets, but not with success and in 1934 he declared for bankruptcy again. In 1935 he got divorced from Clara Grant, from whom he was already separated as of 1930. Ray still acted in cinema but now in minor parts in the mid-1930s and uncredited parts in the early 1940s. He tried to earn money by writing short stories and a popular movie magazine but to no avail. Ray died of a systemic infection caused by an impacted wisdom tooth in 1943. In 1960 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the motion picture industry.
Sources: English, French and Italian Wikipedia, and IMDb.
Charles Ray,
French postcard. Les Vedettes de Cinéma, No. 221, A.N., Paris. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Charles Ray (1891-1943) was an American actor, scriptwriter, and director of the silent screen, who knew a parabole from rags to riches and back again, working for e.g. Paramount, his own company, United Artists and MGM. In the late 1910s and early 1920s, he was a very popular actor and one of Hollywood's best-paid stars.
Charles Ray was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, and moved several times in his youth before settling Los Angeles, where he finished his education. While he started his career as an actor on stage, he later started as an actor of short films, first in The Fortunes of War (Thomas Ince, 1911). From 1913 he had a steady career as the male lead in one- and two-reel short Western, Quaker, and Civil War dramas at Kaybee Pictures, Broncho Pictures, and Domino Pictures, in which he would be paired with actresses such as Enid Markey, Bessie Barriscale, Louise Glaum, and Dorothy Davenport. Ray must have worked fast then, as in 1913 and in 1914 he had a ratio of a film every two weeks. At Kaybee, Ince would direct him at times, at times also Raymond West, while at Bronco he was often directed by Charles Giblyn, and in 1915 a few times by William S. Hart.
In 1915 Ray had his breakthrough in his first feature The Coward, produced by Thomas Ince for Kay-Bee and directed by Reginald Barker. In this Civil War drama, Ray played the son of a Virginia colonel (Frank Keenan), who needs to overcome his cowardice. Ray's popularity rose after appearing in a series of films, as Wikipedia writes "which cast him in juvenile roles, primarily young, wholesome hicks or naive "country bumpkins" that foiled the plans of thieves or con men and won the heart of his dream girl." Ray's Kay-Bee films were now distributed by Triangle Distributing. Victor Schertzinger, the musician who had also provided the music for The Coward, turned director at Kay-Bee and directed Ray in several films in 1917. Ray, Ince, and Schertzinger moved over to Paramount in 1917, where Ince got his own production company and where Schertzinger directed Ray in more films, such as The Claws of the Hun (1918), a propaganda film signaling the US's participation in the First World War.
Ray's star rose and rose, so by 1920, he was earning a reported $11,000 a week (approximately $138,000 today). Ray had also earned a reputation for being egomaniacal and difficult to work with. In 1920, he left Paramount after studio head Adolph Zukor refused to give him a substantial pay raise. Ray started his own production company. Charles Ray Productions, and bought a studio on Sunset Boulevard where he began producing and shooting his own films. While he initially was fairly successful, an experiment for First National with a film without intertitles, The Old Swimmin' Hole (1921), co-starring Laura La Plante, had critical but not a huge popular success. Mind you, this was years before Murnau's famous Last Laugh was made with only one intertitle.
In 1922 Ray signed a contract with United Artists and starred in e.g. The Girl I Loved (1923) with Patsy Ruth Miller. He was fed up with the hillbillies types and strived to profile himself as a romantic lead and man of the world. Against everybody's advice to avoid lengthy historical drama, Ray insisted on the making of The Courtship of Miles Standish (1923), investing $500,000 (approximately $7,353,000 today) of his own money, including a $65,000 (approximately $956,000 today) 180-ton replica of the Mayflower. The film was a box office failure, Ray lost all his money and his reputation went down too. It did not mean his career was all over (despite what Wikipedia writes), because he first continued as a leading actor at smaller companies, produced by Ince, and in 1925 he got a contract at MGM, where he played for two years and acted as the male lead opposite actress such as Pauline Starke. Joan Crawford, and May McAvoy. In those years Ray and his wife Clara Grant were enormous spendthrifts, with an over-the-top villa in Beverly Hills, huge staff, expensive cars and Grant would never wear a dress two times. Yet, in December 1925 Ray had to file for bankruptcy and his production company went under as well. Though he continued to act, after MGM the companies he worked for were less prestigious, such as Universal. In 1928 he made his last silent film, The Count of Ten, after which he acted on stage for years, in off-Broadway productions, without much success.
In 1932 Ray returned to the sets, but not with success and in 1934 he declared for bankruptcy again. In 1935 he got divorced from Clara Grant, from whom he was already separated as of 1930. Ray still acted in cinema but now in minor parts in the mid-1930s and uncredited parts in the early 1940s. He tried to earn money by writing short stories and a popular movie magazine but to no avail. Ray died of a systemic infection caused by an impacted wisdom tooth in 1943. In 1960 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the motion picture industry.
Sources: English, French and Italian Wikipedia, and IMDb.