Charley Grapewin
Age: N/A | From: Xenia, Ohio, USA
Person Details
Birthday:
Aliases: Charles Ellsworth Grapewin , Charles Grapewin
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Xenia, Ohio, USA
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 72
TV Involvements: 0
Most Famous Work
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.
Most Famous Work
The Wizard of Oz
(1939) Uncle Henry
The Grapes of Wrath
(1940) Grandpa Joad
They Died with Their Boots On
(1941) California Joe
Captains Courageous
(1937) Uncle Salters
The Petrified Forest
(1936) Gramp Maple
The Good Earth
(1937) Old Father
Crash Dive
(1943) Pop
No Man of Her Own
(1932) George, a Concessions ClerkActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Uncle Henry (archive footage) | |
| 1984 | (archive footage) | |
| 1976 | (archive footage) | |
| 1964 | (archive footage) | |
| 1951 | Grandpa Reed | |
| 1949 | Doug | |
| 1948 | Grandpa | |
| 1947 | Rancher Inskip | |
| 1944 | Jake Taylor | |
| Benjamin L. Pidgeon, Bellboy | ||
| Nick West | ||
| 1943 | Pop | |
| 1942 | Inspector Richard Queen | |
| Insp. Queen | ||
| Insp. Queen | ||
| 1941 | California Joe | |
| Insp. Queen | ||
| Insp. Queen | ||
| Insp. Queen | ||
| Jeeter Lester | ||
| 1940 | Ben Caldwalder | |
| Insp. Queen | ||
| Uncle Caleb | ||
| Mr. Whimser | ||
| Judge Emmett T. Brennan | ||
| Grandpa Joad | ||
| 1939 | Major Matt Grayson | |
| Uncle Frank "Lucky" Higgins | ||
| Pop | ||
| Uncle Henry | ||
| Ulysses Porterfield | ||
| Grandpa Casey Patterson | ||
| Doc Heath | ||
| 'Old Puff' | ||
| 1938 | James Harper | |
| Joe Higgins | ||
| Grandpa Briggs | ||
| Local Doctor | ||
| Uncle Davy | ||
| Jim Meeker | ||
| 1937 | Barney Lane | |
| Robert, the Mayor | ||
| Dan Gray | ||
| James K. Blakeley | ||
| Dr. Webster | ||
| Uncle Salters | ||
| Old Father | ||
| Frank Redmond | ||
| 1936 | Self | |
| Aaron Lampier | ||
| J.P. Kendrick | ||
| Hollis Bane | ||
| Dr. Ned Fabre | ||
| Cal Royster | ||
| Gramp Maple | ||
| 1935 | Dave McComber | |
| Prof. Martin | ||
| Uncle Winchester | ||
| J. A. Lamb | ||
| Truesdale | ||
| Jasper Whyte | ||
| Will Oliver | ||
| Grayson | ||
| Pop Sullivan | ||
| 1934 | Notary | |
| Dr. Tatum | ||
| Richard Norton | ||
| Sergeant Jimmy Bagby | ||
| Jessup | ||
| Pop Calloway | ||
| Joe Olesen | ||
| Ed Tilford | ||
| Sandy Roberts | ||
| 1933 | Drunk at Hamburger Stand (Uncredited) | |
| Mr. Cadman (uncredited) | ||
| Andrew 'Juddy' Judson | ||
| Freddy Gordon | ||
| Dr. Henderson (uncredited) | ||
| Dad Saunders | ||
| Patrick McCaffrey | ||
| Clerk | ||
| Pa Dennis | ||
| Schultz | ||
| Jed | ||
| 1932 | George, a Concessions Clerk | |
| Sam Bass | ||
| "Grandpop" Strawn (as Charles Grapewin) | ||
| Mr. Jones (uncredited) | ||
| Senator Simmons (uncredited) | ||
| Andy | ||
| Doctor (uncredited) | ||
| Pierce | ||
| Pop Baldwin | ||
| Henry Clark | ||
| 1931 | Professor | |
| Doc Boax | ||
| Nicholas Hautrey | ||
| Ed Powers | ||
| 1930 | Simeon Tanner | |
| 1900 | Chimmie Hicks | |
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
