Charley Grapewin

Acting · 1.0 popularity

Age

156

Movies

104

Born: December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956
From: Xenia, Ohio, USA

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Charles Ellsworth Grapewin (December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956) was an American vaudeville performer, writer and a stage and silent and sound actor, and comedian who was best known for portraying Aunt Em's husband, Uncle Henry in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's The Wizard of Oz (1939) as well as Grandpa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Jeeter Lester in Tobacco Road (1941). He usually portrayed elderly folksy-type characters in a rustic setting, in all appearing in over 100 films. He was the oldest cast member of The Wizard of Oz. Born in Xenia, Ohio, Charles Ellsworth Grapewin ran away from home to be a circus acrobat which led him to work as an aerialist and trapeze artist in a traveling circus before turning to acting. He traveled all over the world with the famous P. T. Barnum circus. Grapewin also appeared in the original 1903 Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz, 36 years before he would appear in the famous Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film version. After this he continued in theatre, on and offstage, for the next thirty years, starting with various stock companies, and wrote stage plays as a vehicle for himself. His sole Broadway theatre credit was the short-lived play It's Up to You John Henry in 1905. Grapewin married actress Anna Chance (1875–1943) in 1896, and they remained a devoted couple until her death some 47 years later. Two years after his first wife's death, Grapewin married Loretta McGowan Becker on Jan 10, 1945. Grapewin began in silent films at the turn of the twentieth century. His very first films were two "moving image shorts" made by Frederick S. Armitage and released in November 1900; Chimmie Hicks at the Races (also known as Above the Limit) and Chimmie Hicks and the Rum Omelet, both shot in September and October 1900 and released in November of that year. During his long career, Grapewin appeared in more than one hundred films, including The Good Earth, The Grapes of Wrath, Tobacco Road, and in what is probably his best-remembered role: Uncle Henry in The Wizard of Oz. He also had a recurring role as Inspector Queen in the Ellery Queen film series of the early 1940s. Grapewin died of natural causes in Corona, California at age 86, and his ashes are interred with his wife's in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, at the Great Mausoleum's Columbarium of Inspiration.

Works

104 films

The Wizard of Oz

19397.6

The Grapes of Wrath

19407.8

They Died with Their Boots On

19416.7

Libeled Lady

19367.3

Captains Courageous

19377.4

The Good Earth

19376.3

The Millionaire

19317.6

The Petrified Forest

19367.1

Gunfighters

19475.7

That's Entertainment, Part II

19767.0

Hello, Everybody!

19337.0

Crash Dive

19436.4

Huddle

19327.0

Tobacco Road

19416.8

The Bad Man of Brimstone

19376.7

Going Hollywood: The '30s

19849.0

Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery

19416.5

Torch Singer

19335.3

The Big Parade of Comedy

19647.2

Three Comrades

19387.3

Alice Adams

19356.7

Judge Priest

19346.4

Follow the Boys

19445.7

Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen

19426.5

Heroes for Sale

19337.1

The Washington Masquerade

19326.8

Super Speed

19357.0

Breakdowns of 1936

1936

No Man of Her Own

19326.6

Big City

19377.7

American Madness

19326.9

The Loudspeaker

19348.0

The Girl of the Golden West

19385.3

Midnight Mary

19336.8

Beauty for Sale

19337.2

Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring

19415.6

Hell and High Water

19337.0

Rendezvous

19354.9

Dust Be My Destiny

19396.5

Stand Up and Fight

19396.0

The Texas Rangers Ride Again

19405.6

Female

19336.3

Of Human Hearts

19385.9

Are You Listening?

19325.6

Johnny Apollo

19406.8

A Family Affair

19375.9

Ah, Wilderness!

19356.6

Listen, Darling

19386.7

Three Loves Has Nancy

19384.2

The Kiss Before the Mirror

19335.6

Sabotage

19396.6

Small Town Girl

19366.0

Broadway Melody of 1938

19376.6

Wild Boys of the Road

19336.8

Rhythm on the River

19406.9

She Made Her Bed

19344.5

Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime

19415.8

Sudden Money

19397.0

Burn 'Em Up O'Connor

19396.3

For the Love of Fanny

193110.0

The Quitter

19349.0

Two Alone

19347.3

Atlantic City

19446.3

Eight Bells

19356.5

Without Orders

19367.3

Bad Guy

19378.0

Artists and Models Abroad

19384.8

Caravan

19346.5

The Impatient Years

19446.3

Earthbound

19404.9

Sinner Take All

19364.9

King Solomon of Broadway

193510.0

The Man Who Dared

19397.0

Party Wire

19358.3

The Night of June 13

19327.5

Only Saps Work

19306.0

Turn Back the Clock

19335.4

Ellery Queen, Master Detective

19405.8

The Wizard of Oz at Sphere

2025

Shanghai

19357.3

A Close Call for Ellery Queen

19426.1

The Dark Side of the Rainbow

20008.7

Pilgrimage

19337.1

Between Two Women

19376.0

The Voice of Bugle Ann

19365.5

The Shannons of Broadway

19298.0

The President Vanishes

19346.0

A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen

19426.3

Return of the Terror

19346.5

Anne of Green Gables

19345.7

The Woman in Room 13

19328.0

One Frightened Night

19355.6

When I Grow Up

19517.3

Hero for a Day

19396.5

Wild Horse Mesa

193210.0

Heaven on Earth

19315.3

Gold Dust Gertie

19316.0

Sand

19495.6

Hell's House

19325.3

Above the Limit

19004.3

In Spite of Danger

19355.5

Don't Bet on Love

19338.0

The Big Timer

19324.6

The Enchanted Valley

194810.0