Charley Grapewin

Acting · 1.1 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

Captains Courageous

19377.4

Libeled Lady

19367.3

The Millionaire

19317.6

The Good Earth

19376.3

That's Entertainment, Part II

19767.0

Gunfighters

19475.7

Hello, Everybody!

19337.0

Tobacco Road

19416.8

The Big Parade of Comedy

19647.2

Heroes for Sale

19337.1

Crash Dive

19436.4

Follow the Boys

19445.7

The Petrified Forest

19367.1

Of Human Hearts

19385.9

Three Comrades

19387.3

Hell and High Water

19337.0

Breakdowns of 1936

1936

Rendezvous

19354.9

Johnny Apollo

19406.8

Ah, Wilderness!

19356.6

Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery

19416.5

Beauty for Sale

19337.2

Artists and Models Abroad

19384.8

The Bad Man of Brimstone

19376.7

Three Loves Has Nancy

19384.2

Huddle

19327.0

No Man of Her Own

19326.6

Alice Adams

19356.7

Midnight Mary

19336.8

Female

19336.3

Broadway Melody of 1938

19376.6

American Madness

19326.9

Super Speed

19357.0

Dust Be My Destiny

19396.5

Torch Singer

19335.3

The Girl of the Golden West

19385.3

The Kiss Before the Mirror

19335.6

The Texas Rangers Ride Again

19405.6

The Impatient Years

19446.4

Judge Priest

19346.4

She Made Her Bed

19344.5

The Shannons of Broadway

19298.0

Wild Boys of the Road

19336.8

Going Hollywood: The '30s

19849.0

Listen, Darling

19386.7

Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring

19415.6

Sabotage

19396.6

Stand Up and Fight

19396.0

Big City

19377.7

The Washington Masquerade

19326.8

Sinner Take All

19364.9

Two Alone

19347.3

Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen

19426.5

Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime

19415.8

Rhythm on the River

19406.9

Small Town Girl

19366.0

A Family Affair

19375.9

Are You Listening?

19325.6

Only Saps Work

19306.0

The Loudspeaker

19348.0

Pilgrimage

19337.1

The President Vanishes

19346.0

Party Wire

19358.3

Hero for a Day

19396.5

Caravan

19346.5

The Night of June 13

19327.5

Ellery Queen, Master Detective

19405.8

For the Love of Fanny

193110.0

King Solomon of Broadway

193510.0

Eight Bells

19356.5

Earthbound

19404.9

Atlantic City

19446.3

Turn Back the Clock

19335.4

Shanghai

19357.3

The Dark Side of the Rainbow

20008.7

The Man Who Dared

19397.0

Between Two Women

19376.0

Sudden Money

19397.0

The Quitter

19349.0

The Voice of Bugle Ann

19365.5

The Woman in Room 13

19328.0

The Wizard of Oz at Sphere

2025

Burn 'Em Up O'Connor

19396.3

Anne of Green Gables

19345.7

Heaven on Earth

19315.3

Bad Guy

19378.0

A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen

19426.3

One Frightened Night

19355.6

Without Orders

19367.3

When I Grow Up

19517.3

Return of the Terror

19346.5

Hell's House

19325.3

The Big Timer

19324.6

A Close Call for Ellery Queen

19426.1

Above the Limit

19004.3

Sand

19495.6

Gold Dust Gertie

19316.0

In Spite of Danger

19355.5

Wild Horse Mesa

193210.0

The Enchanted Valley

194810.0

Don't Bet on Love

19338.0