Charles Ruggles (1886–1970)

Actor | Soundtrack

Date of Birth 8 February 1886, Los Angeles, California, USA

Date of Death 23 December 1970, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (cancer)

Birth Name Charles Sherman Ruggles

Height 5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Bio (1)

Charles Ruggles had one of the longest careers in Hollywood, lasting more than 50 years and encompassing more than 100 films. He made his film debut in 1914 in The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) and worked steadily after that. He was memorably paired with Mary Boland in a series of comedies in the early 1930s, and was one of the standouts in the all-star comedy If I Had a Million (1932), as a harried, much-put-upon man who finally goes berserk in a china shop. Ruggles' slight stature and distinctive mannerisms - his fluttery, jumpy manner of speaking, his often befuddled look whenever events seemed about to overwhelm him, which was often - endeared him to generations of moviegoers. Memorable as Maj. Applegate the big-game hunter in the classic screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938). Many will remember him as the narrator of the "Aesop's Fables" segment of the animated cartoon The Bullwinkle Show (1961). He was the brother of director Wesley Ruggles.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: [email protected]

Spouse (2)

Marian La Barba (7 May 1942 - 1970) (divorced)

Adele Rowland (4 March 1914 - 4 August 1916) (divorced)

Trade Mark (1)

The line, "Oh, my, my, my."

Trivia (10)

Brother of director Wesley Ruggles .

His mother was shot and killed instantly at her home when she stepped between her husband and an armed bandit. Following his mother's murder by a home intruder, his father moved his sons to San Francisco where they lived with cousins.

His step-father was run down and killed by a streetcar in 1925.

Won Broadway's 1959 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for "The Pleasure of His Company"

His parents were Charles Herman (a traveling pharmaceutical salesman) and Maria Theresa (Heinsch) Ruggles, and he was the elder of two sons. Charles began working for the same pharmaceutical company that his father worked in 1904 directly after his high school graduation but did not enjoy it and left not long after.

Appeared with a number of stock companies during his early years. He made his stage debut with the Alcazar Theatre Stock Company, where he initially found employment as a super. He also performed with the Oliver Morosco Stock Company and the El Paso Stock Company.

His second wife, Marion La Barba, whom he married in 1942, was the former wife of featherweight boxing champ Fidel La Barba. The couple were both animal lovers and at one point during their marriage had amassed 94 pets.

President of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1953.

The Los Angeles native donated his personal memorabilia and awards to the Department of Special Collections at the UCLA Library.

He was awarded three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: for radio at 6359 Hollywood Boulevard; for motion pictures at 6264 Hollywood Boulevard; and for television at 1630 Vine Street.

Personal Quotes (1)

[Future plans include] Forest Lawn, I guess. After you've played everything I have, there ain't no more.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0749476/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Biography by Hal Erickson [-]

Whimsical, expressive comic actor Charles Ruggles was the son of a Los Angeles wholesale druggist. Intending to become a doctor, Ruggles was sidetracked into theatre, making his debut in a 1905 San Francisco stock company production of Nathan Hale. Because of his medium height and flexible facial and vocal expressions, Ruggles was able to play everything from teenagers to grandpas during his formative years in stock. In 1914, the actor first set foot on a Broadway stage in Help Wanted. One year later, he appeared in his first film, a now-lost adaptation of Ibsen's Peer Gynt. Though there would be a smattering of subsequent silent film appearances, Ruggles' heart remained in his stage work -- he starred in such long-running productions as The Passing Show of 1918 (1918), The Demi-Virgin (1921), Battling Butler (1923), and his biggest stage success, Queen High (1930). While appearing in the Rodgers and Hart musical Spring is Here (1929), Ruggles made his talking picture bow in Gentleman of the Press (1929), portraying the first in what would turn out to be a long line of drunken reporters. In 1932, Ruggles was teamed with Mary Boland in If I Had A Million. The two farceurs worked so well together that they would subsequently costar in such memorable film comedies as Six of a Kind (1934), Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), Early to Bed (1936), and Boy Trouble (1939). By the late 1930s, Ruggles was securely established as one of Hollywood's favorite befuddled comedy-relief players, though in such films as Exclusive (1937) and The Parson of Panamint (1941) he proved equally expert at straight dramatics. In 1949, Ruggles began a 12-year movie moratorium, returning to the stage and distinguishing himself in television. He headlined two early TV series, The Ruggles and The World of Mr. Sweeney, and lent his vocal skills (sans screen credit) to the "Aesop and Son" component of the classic cartoon weeklies "Rocky and His Friends" (1959-61) and "The Bullwinkle Show" (1961-62). He returned to films in 1961, recreating his award-winning Broadway role in The Pleasure of His Company. Ruggles' best-remembered TV work of the 1960s included his recurring role as Mrs. Drysdale's rakish father in the popular sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies." With the Disney film Follow Me, Boys! (1966) and the 1967 TV staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, Ruggles quietly brought his six-decade acting career to a close. A few years before his death in December of 1970, Ruggles was asked by a reporter what his future plans were. With the wry smile, twinkling eyes, and self-effacing humor that characterized his best screen work, Charlie Ruggles answered, "Forest Lawn, I guess. After you've played everything I have, there ain't no more."

http://www.allmovie.com/artist/charlie-ruggles-p62084