Charley Grapewin
Known For: Acting
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: December 20, 1869
Day of Death: February 2, 1956 (86 years old)
Place of Birth: Xenia, Ohio, USA
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.
2000
1995
1984
1976
1964
1951
1949
1948
1947
1944
1943
1942
1941
1940
1939
1938
1937
1936
1935
1934
1933
Actor Pa Dennis
Heroes for Sale
Actor Clerk
Midnight Mary
Actor Andrew 'Juddy' Judson
Torch Singer
Actor Dr. Henderson (uncredited)
Turn Back the Clock
Actor Patrick McCaffrey
Don't Bet on Love
Actor Jed
Hello, Everybody!
Actor Freddy Gordon
Beauty for Sale
Actor Schultz
The Kiss Before the Mirror
Actor Peck Wealin
Hell and High Water
Actor Mr. Cadman (uncredited)
Wild Boys of the Road
Actor Drunk at Hamburger Stand (Uncredited)
Female
Actor Dad Saunders
Pilgrimage
1932
Actor George, a Concessions Clerk
No Man of Her Own
Actor Henry Clark
Hell's House
Actor Pierce
Are You Listening?
Actor Pop Baldwin
The Big Timer
Actor "Grandpop" Strawn (as Charles Grapewin)
The Night of June 13
Actor Senator Simmons (uncredited)
The Washington Masquerade
Actor Mr. Jones (uncredited)
American Madness
Actor Andy
The Woman in Room 13
Actor Doctor (uncredited)
Huddle
Actor Sam Bass
Wild Horse Mesa
