A vigilante is a private individual (or (pl.) group of individuals) who presumes to carry out extralegal punishment in defiance of existing law.^[1] Lynching is a principal form of vigilantism and was practiced widely in the United States particularly -- though not exclusively -- as an attempt to control and intimidate non-white and non-Christian citizens. Posses comitatus represent another form of vigilantism.

Etymology[link]

Italian for watchman, guard, from 'vigilante' vigilant, from Latin vigilant-, vigilans .^[2]

Vigilante behavior[link]

"Vigilante justice" is rationalized by the idea that adequate legal mechanisms for criminal punishment are either nonexistent or insufficient. Vigilantes typically see government as ineffective in enforcing the law; and such individuals often presume to justify their actions as fulfillment of the wishes of "the community".

Persons alleged to be "escaping the law" or "above the law" are sometimes the victims of vigilantism.^[3]

Vigilante behavior involves various degrees of violence. Vigilantes may assault targets verbally or physically or may vandalize property or actually kill individuals.

In a number of cases, vigilantism has involved mistaken identity.

• Businessman Leo Frank was accused of murdering one of his workers in 1913, and was eventually kidnapped from prison and lynched in 1915. Frank received an official pardon decades later, in 1986.
• In Britain in the early 2000s, there were reports of vandalism, assaults and verbal abuse towards people wrongly accused of being pedophiles, following the murder of Sarah Payne. [1] [2] [3] [4]
• In Guyana in 2008, Hardel Haynes was beaten to death by a mob who mistook him for a thief. [5]
• In 2009, Philadelphia's Michael Zenquis was severely assaulted by a group of locals who mistook him for a rapist on the loose. [6]

History[link]

Several groups and individuals have been labelled as vigilantes by historians and media. Vigilantes have been central to several creative fictional works and in some cases have been depicted as heroes and retaliatory forces against wrongdoers.

Vigilantism and the vigilante ethos existed long before the word vigilante was introduced into the English language. There are conceptual and psychological parallels between the Dark Age and medieval aristocratic custom of private war or vendetta and the modern vigilante philosophy.

Recourse to personal vengeance and duelling was considered a class privilege of the sword-bearing aristocracy before the formation of the modern centralized liberal-bureaucratic nation-state (see Marc Bloch, trans. L. A. Manyon, Feudal Society, Vol. I, 1965, p. 127). In addition, sociologists have posited a complex legal and ethical interrelationship between vigilante acts and rebellion and tyrannicide.

In the Western literary and cultural tradition, characteristics of vigilantism have often been vested in folkloric heroes and legendary outlaws (e.g., Robin Hood^[4]). Vigilantism in literature, folklore and legend is connected to the fundamental issues of dussatisfied morality, injustice, the failures of authority and the ethical adequacy of legitimate governance.

During medieval times, punishment of felons was sometimes exercised by such secret societies as the courts of the Vehm [7] (cf. the medieval Sardinian Gamurra later become Barracelli, the Sicilian Vendicatori and the Beati Paoli), a type of early vigilante organization, which became extremely powerful in Westphalian Germany during the 15th century.

Colonial era in America[link]

Formally-defined vigilantism arose in the early American colonies.

• Established the mid-18th century, for instance, the Regulator movement of American colonial times was composed of citizen volunteers of the frontier who opposed official misconduct and extrajudicially punished banditry.

19th century[link]

A lynching carried out by the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1856.

Later in the United States, vigilante groups arose in poorly governed frontier areas where criminals preyed upon the citizenry with impunity.^[5]

• In 1851 and 1856, San Francisco Vigilance Movement sought to eliminate crime, an element of this movement focused on immigrants like the Sydney Ducks.^[6]
• Los Angeles and the surrounding counties had outbursts of vigilantism from the early 1850s as many of the criminals driven out of San Francisco and the Gold Country came into the less populated Southern California making the city and surrounding countryside a dangerous place for many years.^[7]

• In 1858 San Luis Obispo vigilantes ended the murderous reign of the bandit gang of Pío Linares on El Camino Real between San Luis and Santa Barbara.

• From late December 1863 to 1864 the Montana Vigilantes were formed by citizens of Bannack, Virginia City and nearby Nevada City to fight lawlessness in the gold mining region of Montana. Over the next month, 21 men were hanged, including, on January 10, 1864, Henry Plummer the sheriff of Bannack, who was also the leader of a major gang of highwaymen. The last man hanged by the vigilantes may have done nothing more than express an opinion that several of those hanged previously had been innocent.

• In 1865, the Ku Klux Klan was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee by a group of six Confederate War veterans. The KKK or "Klan" sought to use extralegal force to resist Reconstruction in the post Civil War South of the United States. The KKK became a leading agent of racist and nativist violence in the United States.

• In 1868 between 60 and 70 vigilantes broke into the New Albany, Indiana jail and lynched three Reno Brothers.

• Active in 1883–1889, the Bald Knobbers (or "Baldknobbers") were masked men who retaliated against invading marauders and drove out outlaws in Taney County.

• In March 1898, the "101" of Skagway, Alaska posted handbills and held meetings trying to free the town of a bunco gang known as the "Soap Gang" under the control of the infamous Soapy Smith. Four months after its creation the 101 shot and killed Soapy in a shootout on Juneau Wharf.

20th century[link]

• Lynching was the most common form of vigilantism in the US in the 20th Century -- it was practiced through the early years of the civil rights movement

extending through the late 1960's.

• In the early 20th century, the White Finns founded the Suojeluskunta (Protection Corps) as a paramilitary vigilante organisation in Finland. It formed the nucleus of the White Army in the Finnish Civil War.
• In the 1920s, the Big Sword Society of China protected life and property in a state of anarchy.
• In 1954, the Thai Border Patrol Police formed the Volunteer Defense Corps (also called the Village Scouts Thai: ลูกเสือชาวบ้าน) to provide law and order and emergency or natural disaster response. In 1974 it was expanded by the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) to urban areas to fight left-wing political activism. The Village Scouts were subsequently involved in the Thammasat University massacre of 1976. Their 21st century Internet censorship vigilance groups are called ลูกเสือบนเครือข่ายอินเทอร์เน็ต or cyber scouts.^[8]

• Formed in 1977, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been increasingly active against whaling and fishing vessels which they see as violating international laws, regulations and treaties, particularly where whaling is concerned. It endorses an active policy of scuttling fishing and whaling vessels while in harbor, and ramming and sinking vessels engaged in the killing of whales.
• During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Provisional Irish Republican Army were known to administer punishment beating to petty criminals and drug dealers in order to deter crime.
• The Guardian Angels organization was founded February 13, 1979 in New York City by Curtis Sliwa and has chapters in 15 countries and 144 cities around the world.
• Recognized since the 1980s, Sombra Negra or "Black Shadow" of El Salvador is a group of mostly retired police officers and military personnel whose sole duty is to cleanse the country of "impure" social elements by killing criminals and gang members. Along with several other organizations, Sombra Negra are a remnant of the death squads from the civil war of the 1970s and 1980s.^[9]
• In 1981, a resident of the rural town Skidmore, Missouri fatally shot town bully Ken McElroy in broad daylight after years of crimes without any punishment. Forty five people witnessed the shooting, but everybody kept quiet when it came time to identify the shooter.
• In 1984, Bernhard Goetz was approached on a New York City subway train by four men intent on mugging him. He shot all four and fled, earning him the media appellation "the subway vigilante".
• Formed since 1996, the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs of Cape Town, South Africa fights drugs and gangsterism in their region. They have been linked to terrorism since they bombed some American targets in Cape Town.
• Formed since 1998, the Bakassi Boys of Nigeria were viewed as instrumental in lowering the region's high crime when police were ineffective.
• Formed in 1996, Mapogo a Mathamaga of South Africa provides protection for paying members of this group. Leaders have been charged with murder, etc.
• Los Pepes was a shadowy group formed in Colombia during the 1990s that committed acts of vigilantism against drug lord Pablo Escobar and his associates within the Medellin Cartel.

21st century[link]

• Current vice mayor of Davao City, Philippines Rodrigo Duterte is noted for transforming the city from the murder capital of the nation^[10] to what tourism organizations there now call "the most peaceful city in Southeast Asia".^[10] He's been suspected of being involved with the vigilante outfit Davao Death Squad and has been criticized by human rights groups and by Amnesty International for tolerating extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals. Time magazine has dubbed him "The Punisher".^[10]
• Formed since 2000, Ranch Rescue is a still functioning organization in the southwest United States ranchers call upon to forcibly remove illegal aliens and squatters off their property.
• In the early decade of the 2000s, after the September 11 attacks, Jonathan Idema, a self proclaimed vigilante, entered Afghanistan and captured many people he claimed to be terrorists. Idema claimed he was collaborating with, and supported by, the United States Government. He even sold news-media outlets tapes that he claimed showed an Al Qaeda training camp in action. His operations ended abruptly when he was arrested with his partners in 2004 and sentenced to 10 years in a notorious Afghan prison, before being pardoned in 2007.
• Operating since 2002, perverted-justice.com opponents have accused the website of being modern day cyber vigilantes.
• The Minuteman Project has been described as vigilantes dedicated to expelling people who cross the US-Mexico border illegally.^[11][12]
• Salwa Judum, the anti naxalite group formed in 2005, in India, is also considered by many as a vigilante group and its policies are suspected to be helping the security forces in their fight against naxals.
• In Hampshire, England, during 2006, a vigilante slashed the tires of more than twenty cars, leaving a note made from cut-out newsprint stating "Warning: you have been seen while using your mobile phone".^[13] Driving whilst using a mobile is a criminal offence in the UK, but critics feel the law is little observed or enforced.^[14][15][16]
• The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have been dubbed vigilantes by multiple news agencies.^[17]
• Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group, maintains a presence in parts of Northern Ireland and has carried out punishment beatings on local alleged petty criminals.^[18] In 2006, the INLA claimed to have put at least two drugs gangs out of business in Northern Ireland. After their raid on a criminal organisation based in the north-west, they released a statement saying that "the Irish National Liberation Army will not allow the working class people of this city to be used as cannon fodder by these criminals whose only concern is profit by whatever means available to them."^[19][20] On 15 February 2009 the INLA claimed responsibility for the shooting dead of Derry drug-dealer Jim McConnell.^[21] On 19 August 2009 the INLA shot and wounded a man in Derry. The INLA claimed that the man was involved in drug dealing although the injured man and his family denied the allegation.^[22] However, in a newspaper article on 28 August the victim retracted his previous statement and admitted that he had been involved in small scale drug-dealing but has since ceased these activities.^[23]
• Other Irish republican paramilitary organizations have served and continue to serve as vigilantes. Óglaigh na hÉireann for example in 2011 claimed responsibility for an arson attack on a taxi depot on Oldpark Road, Belfast, which led to the owners fleeing the country. It claimed that the owners were using the depot as a cover for drug dealing.^[24] In 2010 The Real Irish Republican Army shot a man in the legs in Derry. The man was a convicted sex offender.^[25] The Continuity Irish Republican Army in 2011 were blamed for the punishment beating of a heroin dealer in Clondalkin, Dublin, the man had previously been ordered to leave the country.^[26]
• Republican Action Against Drugs or RAAD are an Irish Republican vigilante organization active prodominantly in and around Derry. Although often attributed as being a front for "Dissident Republican" groups by the media, the organization claim to have no allegiance to any particular Republican party or paramilitary. Formed in late 2008 RAAD originally offered an "amnesty" to all drug dealers, asking them to make themselves known to the group before giving an assurance that they had stopped dealing.^[27] In an interview with the Derry Journal in August 2009, the group's leadership explained: "We would monitor the actions of those who have come forward and, given an adequate period of time, interest in those drug dealers would cease and they could start to lead normal lives".^[27] Since then RAAD have claimed responsibility for no less than 17 shootings as well as countless pipe bomb attacks (see Republican Action Against Drugs#Timeline).
• In November 2010, Alejo Garza Tamez, a 77 year old Mexican hunter and businessman from the state of Nuevo León, Mexico, killed four and wounded two other members of the organized crime band Los Zetas, when they tried to take away his ranch from him. He is considered as a folk hero in Mexico.^[28]
• In October of 2011 on the United States, a Vigilante operating in Seattle, named Phoenix Jones was arrested and forced to reveal his true identity, after a confrontation with two groups who were fighting.

Works of fiction[link]

See: List of vigilantes in popular culture

Vigiliantism is a common theme in fiction, across a wide range of genres. In particular, vigilantes feature prominently in comic books and Hollywood movies. The vigilante character is frequently a superhero, such as Batman, or a rogue cop such as Dirty Harry.

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up vigilante in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• From Border Stories, a profile of a Minuteman Project volunteer in Campo, CA
• From Border Stories, a video on the American Border Patrol
• Lyrics to Vigilante Man by Woody Guthrie.
• Historical Deadwood Newspaper accounts of George Keating and O. B. Davis hung by vigilantes for stealing horses 1878
• Comfort Ero, “Vigilantes, Civil Defence Forces and Militia Groups: The other side of the privatization of security in Africa,” Conflict Trends (June 2000): 25-29.
• Martha K. Huggins, editor, Vigilantism and the State in Modern Latin America: Essays on Extralegal Violence, Praeger/Greenwood, 1991.
• Bill Ong Hing, “Vigilante Racism: The De-Americanization of Immigrant America”, Donkeyphant, Vol. 9 (Summer 2002).
• Tom O’Connor, “Vigilantism, Vigilante Justice, and Victim Self-help”
• Stephen Faris, “Nigeria’s Vigilante Justice,” Mother Jones (April 25, 2002)
• EyeWitness to History, “Vigilante Justice, 1851”.
• Steven F. Messner, Eric P. Baumer, and Richard Rosenfeld, “Distrust of Government, the Vigilante Tradition, and Support for Capital Punishment,” Law & Society Review (September 2006)
• Vincent Moss, “The Paedo Vigilante”, Sunday Mirror (June 25, 2006)
• American Right To Life, “Abortion Vigilante Worksheet” designed to deter clinic violence

Phoenix Jones
At an MMA event, fighting as "Fear the Flattop"
Born	Benjamin John Francis Fodor 1988
Nationality	American
Occupation	Costumed Vigilante[1] (Phoenix Jones disputes this label),[2] MMA fighter
Known for	Confronting alleged lawbreakers while dressed in a superhero costume.

Phoenix Jones^[3][4] (born Benjamin John Francis Fodor, 1988)^[5] is an American leader of a ten-member citizen crime-prevention patrol group who call themselves the Rain City Superhero Movement,^[6] operating out of Seattle and Lynnwood, Washington. In a CBS news broadcast, Jones is shown entering a back room of an unnamed comic book store in which he changes into costume which consists of a Dragon Skin bulletproof vest^[7] and stab plating, as well as equipment including a stun baton, pepper spray or tear gas, handcuffs and a first aid kit.^[7][8]

He says the best way to prevent getting mistaken for a criminal by the police is to wear a "supersuit",^[9] although local police have expressed concern that the strange costumes may lead to emergency calls from citizens who mistake the "superheroes" for criminals.^[10] Jones says that all members of the Rain City Superhero Movement have a military or mixed martial arts background.^[11] He does not condone other people dressing up and fighting crime.

Origin[link]

Jones says he wanted to take policing matters into his own hands after a few incidents changed his mind about Seattle. The first was when Jones says that his car was broken into and his son was injured after returning to the vehicle and falling on the broken glass. Jones was told that several people saw the break-in happen, but did not intervene.^[10][12] According to Jones the car window had been broken by a rock with a mask wrapped around it, which Jones left in the car's glove box.^[12] Later, Jones says that he encountered a friend being seriously assaulted outside a bar, and after calling 911 he put on the mask from the earlier break-in and "made a commotion" until the police showed up.^[12] "And I thought, why didn’t someone help him? There were seventy people outside that bar and no one did anything."^[4]

Jones went on to develop a full costume and pseudonym, when his crime-fighting behaviour made him too recognizable.^[10]

Reported actions[link]

• On Sunday, January 2, 2011, in Lynnwood, Phoenix Jones stopped and chased away a car thief as the car owner (Who asked to be identified only as "Dan") stood by in shock as Jones ran into action. CBS News introduced Dan and Phoenix Jones to one another the following Monday evening. Dan proceeded to thank Jones numerous times while later talking about Phoenix's gear.^[13]

• A few days later, ABC News aired a news story covering Jones.^[14] In this report, footage shows Phoenix Jones preventing an intoxicated man from entering his car. Jones resulted in him threatening to use a stun baton as the angry and inebriated man approaches Jones with the intent to fight. In the video, a police officer is shown later talking to Phoenix Jones and his group regarding the effect masks may have on an intoxicated individual.

• On Saturday, the 24th of September 2011, in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Phoenix Jones doused a man with pepper spray after he attempted to steal a bus. The driver of the bus had been handing out fliers when another individual attempted to steal the bus. Jones was reported to have intervened and the hijacker escaped with his skin dyed orange due to the spray. Jones says he didn’t receive any help from Seattle police, who took hours to respond to the incident.^[15]

• On Sunday, October 9, 2011, in Seattle, Jones was arrested for his role in an altercation involving pepper-spray.^[16] Close associates, who were present and equipped with a video camera, told reporters that Phoenix Jones broke up an unfair fight between two groups of nightclub patrons.^[17] According to police reports, the officers who responded determined that "there was no fight", with one member of the group denying that anyone among them had been fighting. They asked that the masked man be "arrested for attacking them."^[5] According to one woman who was involved in the altercation, after an argument had broken out between her group and another, Jones suddenly approached and pepper-sprayed them, saying "I'm a superhero". But the same woman shown on video footage appeared intoxicated as she chased Jones and others with a high heeled shoe. The video footage shows her slipping on the ground and having trouble walking due to being intoxicated.^[18] The next day, videographer Ryan McNamee uploaded a video online showing that Phoenix Jones did in fact respond to a large fight in progress and soon after a hit and run takes place.^[19][20] Jones was released on bail hours later with no charges having been filed. He later was acquitted of all accusations.

• In another incident several hours earlier, Phoenix Jones had come to the defense of a would-be fight victim. Police arrived after the aggressors had fled. In their report, the police called it a case of "questionable use of pepper spray", but the victim later told the Seattle Times^[21] that Jones was indeed a hero who had saved him from "a potential beat-down".

• On Sunday, the 27th of November 2011, near the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Phoenix Jones and crew followed a man accused of stabbing another man. They prevented the attacker from fleeing until the Seattle police arrived.^[22]

• On Saturday, the 31st of December 2011, in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Phoenix Jones and his crew provided police with valuable evidence of a New Year's Eve shooting.^[23]

• On Friday, the 6th of January 2012, Phoenix Jones and crew stopped a fight at the same location of the New Year’s Eve shooting in Belltown.^[24]

• On Tuesday, the 1st of May 2012 (May Day), Phoenix Jones allegedly pepper-sprayed protesters in downtown Seattle (Phoenix Jones denies this).^[25] In an interview on the Bob Rivers Show on 2nd May, Phoenix Jones asserted that, while undercover with the protesters, several of them revealed to him a plot to bomb the city courthouse. According to Phoenix Jones, after telling the police and receiving no support, he and another member of the Rain City Superhero Movement intercepted the protesters at the courthouse and acted in self defense as the protesters began throwing rocks and bottles through the windows and glass doors of the court house.^[26] Fellow costumed activists El Caballero and Midnightjack accompanied Phoenix Jones.^[27]

Stance on drugs[link]

When asked if he would have someone arrested for smoking marijuana, Jones said he considered it a low priority, and that he has no problem with people using drugs, but wants drug dealers to "sell somewhere else."^[28]

Injury[link]

Jones reports being stabbed with a knife while trying to intervene with a drug dealer and a citizen,^[7] damaging part of his costume which had to be repaired.^[11] He has told police that his ballistic vest helped stop a bullet during an incident in Tacoma.^[11]

In 2011, Jones claims to have had his nose broken by an assailant while attempting to break up a fight,^[7] when one of the men pulled a gun on him while another one kicked him, breaking his nose. This incident was never reported to police, and was treated by Jones' private doctor.^[7][29]

Rain City Superhero Movement[link]

In July 2011, local police recorded ten citizens patrolling the city in superhero costumes, using the names Thorn, Buster Doe, Green Reaper, The Mantis, Gemini, No Name, Catastrophe, Thunder 88, Penelope and Phoenix Jones. An individual using the pseudonym "Red Dragon" has also self-identified as being a member of the group.^[30] Jones's wife is a member of the Rain City Superhero Movement, under the name "Purple Reign".^[31]

Criticism[link]

Phoenix Jones has an uneasy relationship with Seattle law enforcement and the city attorney there has called him a "deeply misguided individual."^[32]

Arrest record[link]

In October 2011, Jones was arrested for investigation of assault, after using pepper spray to break up an alleged fight.^[17][33] He spent approximately seven hours in jail before posting the $3,800 bail.^[34] No charges were filed and the case was dropped later that month.^[35]

Identity[link]

Although prosecutors had not filed charges, Jones appeared in court wearing a black and gray striped shirt over his costume on October 13, 2011. A court officer asked Jones to remove his mask, and he complied, putting the mask back on after the hearing. Jones then spoke with reporters and removed his mask again to reveal his identity as Ben Fodor. Fodor stated that he would continue patrolling the city:^[34]

I will continue to patrol with my team, probably tonight [October 13, 2011]. In addition to being Phoenix Jones, I am also Ben Fodor, father and brother. I am just like everybody else. The only difference is that I try to stop crime in my neighborhood and everywhere else. I think I have to look toward the future and see what I can do to help the city.^[34]

Fight Record[link]

Benjamin Fodor holds an 11-0-0 record in unsanctioned amateur mixed martial arts fights,^[36] and a 4-0-0 professional fight record.^[37] Fodor's fight name is listed as 'Fear the Flattop'.^[37] He is also the brother of [Strikeforce] MMA fighter Caros Fodor.^[38]

See also[link]

• Master Legend
• Superbarrio
• Real-life superhero

References[link]

Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson (1973)
Born	Charles Dennis Buchinsky (1921-11-03)November 3, 1921 Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	August 30, 2003(2003-08-30) (aged 81) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950 - 1999
Spouse	Harriet Tendler (1949–67; divorced); 2 children Jill Ireland (1968–90; her death); 2 children Kim Weeks (1998–2003; his death)

Charles Bronson (November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003), born Charles Dennis Buchinsky ^[1] was an American actor, of Polish^[2] and Lithuanian^[3] background, best known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series. He was often cast in the role of a police officer or gunfighter, often in revenge-oriented plot lines. During his career, Bronson had a long-term partnership with directors Michael Winner and J. Lee Thompson.

Early life and World War II service[link]

Bronson was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky (or Buchinskas) in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny Mountain Coal region north of Johnstown. During the McCarthy hearings, he changed his last name to Bronson, fearing that Buchinsky sounded "too Russian".^[4]

He was one of 15 children born to a Lithuanian immigrant^[5][6] father of Lipka Tatar ancestry, and a Lithuanian-American mother.^{[7][8][9][10]} His father^[5][11] hailed from the town of Druskininkai (or Druskienniki). His mother, Mary Valinsky, whose parents were from the Lithuania was born in the anthracite coal mining town of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania.

Bronson was the first member of his family to graduate from high school.^[5] As a young child, Bronson did not initially know how to speak English and only learned it in his teens.^[6] Bronson's father died when he was 10, and he went to work in the coal mines. Initially, Bronson worked in the office of a coal mine, later in the mine itself.^[5] He worked there until he entered military service during World War II.^[5] He earned $1 per ton of coal mined. His family was so poor that, at one time, he reportedly had to wear his sister's dress to school because he had nothing else to wear.^[12][13]

In 1943, Bronson enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and served as an aerial gunner in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, and in 1945 as a B-29 Superfortress crewman with the 39th Bombardment Group based on Guam. He was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds received during his service.^[14]

Acting career[link]

Early roles, 1951–1959[link]

After the end of World War II, Bronson worked at many odd jobs until joining a theatrical group in Philadelphia. He later shared an apartment in New York with Jack Klugman while both were aspiring to play on the stage. In 1950, he married and moved to Hollywood where he enrolled in acting classes and began to find small roles. Bronson's first film role — an uncredited one — was as a sailor in You're in the Navy Now in 1951. Other early screen appearances were in Pat and Mike, Miss Sadie Thompson and House of Wax (as Vincent Price's mute henchman Igor).

In 1952, Bronson boxed in a ring with Roy Rogers in Rogers' show Knockout. He appeared on an episode of the Red Skelton Show as a boxer in a skit with Skelton playing "Cauliflower McPugg". In 1954, Bronson made a strong impact in Drum Beat as a murderous Modoc warrior, Captain Jack, who enjoys wearing the tunics of soldiers whom he has killed. Eventually captured by Alan Ladd's character, he is sent to the gallows.^{[citation needed]}

In 1954, during the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) proceedings, he changed his surname from Buchinsky to Bronson at the suggestion of his agent, who feared that an Eastern European surname might damage his career.^[15] He took his inspiration from the Bronson Gate at Paramount Studios, situated on the corner of Melrose Avenue and Bronson Street.^{[citation needed]}

Bronson made several appearances on television in the 1950s and 1960s, including a 1952 segment, with fellow guest star Lee Marvin, of Biff Baker, U.S.A., an espionage series on CBS starring Alan Hale, Jr.. Bronson had the lead role of the episode "The Apache Kid" of the syndicated crime drama Sheriff of Cochise.

He guest-starred in the short-lived situation comedy, Hey, Jeannie! and in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: And So Died Riabouchinska (1956), There Was an Old Woman (1956), and The Woman Who Wanted to Live (1962). He starred alongside Elizabeth Montgomery in The Twilight Zone episode "Two" (1961) and played a killer named Crego in Gunsmoke (1956). He appeared in five episodes of Have Gun - Will Travel (1957–63).

Many of his filmographies state that he appeared in the 1958 Gary Cooper film Ten North Frederick, although this is a matter of some dispute.^[16] In 1958, he was cast in his first lead role in Roger Corman's Machine-Gun Kelly, a low-budget, though well received, gangster film.

He scored the lead in his own ABC's detective series Man with a Camera (from 1958 to 1960), in which he portrayed Mike Kovac, a former combat photographer freelancing in New York City. Frequently, Kovac was involved in dangerous assignments for the New York Police Department.^{[citation needed]}

Success, 1960–1968[link]

Bronson gained attention in 1960 with his role in John Sturges' western The Magnificent Seven, where he played one of seven gunfighters taking up the cause of the defenseless. During filming of this movie, Bronson was a loner who kept to himself, according to Eli Wallach.^[17] He received $50,000 for this role.^[18] This role also made him a favorite actor of many Soviets, among them Vladimir Vysotsky.^[19][20] Two years later, Sturges cast him for another Hollywood production, The Great Escape, as a claustrophobic Polish prisoner of war nicknamed "The Tunnel King" (coincidentally, Bronson was really claustrophobic because of his childhood work in a mine). In 1961, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his supporting role in a TV episode with the title "Memory in White".^[21]

In 1963, Bronson co-starred with Richard Egan in the NBC Western series Empire, set on a New Mexico ranch. In the 1963–1964 season he portrayed Linc, the stubborn wagonmaster in the ABC series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, where he starred together with Dan O'Herlihy and then twelve-year-old Kurt Russell. In the 1965-1966 season, he guest-starred in an episode of The Legend of Jesse James, starring Christopher Jones in the title role. In 1965, he guest starred as a demolitions expert in an episode of Combat. In The Dirty Dozen (1967), he played an Army death row convict conscripted into a suicide mission. In 1967, he played Ralph Schuyler in The Fugitive episode "The One That Got Away".

European roles and rise with United Artists, 1968–1973[link]

Bronson made a serious name for himself in European films. In 1968, he starred as Harmonica in Once Upon a Time in the West. The director, Sergio Leone, once called him "the greatest actor I ever worked with", and had wanted to cast Bronson for the lead in 1964's A Fistful of Dollars. Bronson turned him down and the role instead launched Clint Eastwood to film stardom.

Even though he was not yet a headliner in America in 1970, he helped the French film Rider on the Rain win a Hollywood Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The following year, this overseas fame earned him a special Golden Globe Henrietta Award for "World Film Favorite - Male" together with Sean Connery. In 1972 he began a string of successful action films for United Artists, beginning with Chato's Land, although he had done several films for UA before this in the 1960s (The Magnificent Seven, etc.). One film UA brought into the domestic mainstream was Città violenta (also known as The Family), an Italian-made film originally released overseas in 1970. Despite the cutting of eight minutes from the original version, it firmly established Bronson as a major star in the 1970s.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Death Wish series and departure from UA, 1974–1980

Bronson at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival

Bronson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

One of Bronson's most memorable roles came when he was over the age of 50, in Death Wish (Paramount, 1974), the most popular film of his long association with director Michael Winner. He played Paul Kersey, a successful New York architect. When his wife is murdered and his daughter sexually assaulted, Kersey becomes a crime-fighting vigilante by night. It was a highly controversial role, as his executions were cheered by crime-weary audiences. After the famous 1984 case of Bernhard Goetz, Bronson recommended that people not imitate his character. This successful movie spawned sequels over the next 20 years, in which Bronson also starred.

In 1974, he starred in the film adaptation of the Elmore Leonard hard-boiled gangster-meets-his-match in a farmer saga, Mr. Majestyk. For Walter Hill's Hard Times (1975), he starred as a Depression-era street fighter making his living in illegal bare-knuckled matches in Louisiana, earning good reviews. Bronson's highest box-office was 4th in 1975, beaten only by Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand and Al Pacino.^[22] His stint at UA came to an end in 1977 with The White Buffalo.

Cannon Films era and final roles, 1981-1994[link]

He was considered to play the role of Snake Plissken in Escape from New York (1981), but director John Carpenter thought he was too tough looking and too old for the part, and decided to cast Kurt Russell instead. In the years between 1976 and 1994, Bronson commanded high salaries to star in numerous films made by smaller production companies, most notably Cannon Films, for whom some of his last films were made. Many of them were directed by J. Lee Thompson, a collaborative relationship that Bronson enjoyed and actively pursued, reportedly because Thompson worked quickly and efficiently. Thompson's ultra-violent films such as The Evil That Men Do (Tri-Star, 1984) and 10 To Midnight (1983) were blasted by critics, but provided Bronson with well-paid work throughout the 1980s. Bronson's last starring role in a theatrically released film was 1994's Death Wish V: The Face of Death. He also played in The Indian Runner (1991) with Dennis Hopper and Viggo Mortensen.

Bronson became very popular in Japan in the early 1990s with the bushy eyebrowed TV critic Nagaharu Yodogawa hosting 1-2 seasons of his films every year on NTV, one of the main TV channels in Japan.

Personal life[link]

His first marriage was to Harriet Tendler, whom he met when both were fledgling actors in Philadelphia. They had two children before divorcing in 1965.

Bronson was then married again to British actress Jill Ireland from October 5, 1968^[23] until her death from breast cancer at age 54 in 1990. He had met her in 1962, when she was married to Scottish actor David McCallum. At the time, Bronson (who shared the screen with McCallum in The Great Escape) reportedly told him, "I'm going to marry your wife". The Bronsons lived in a grand Bel Air mansion in Los Angeles with seven children: two by his previous marriage, three by hers (one of whom was adopted) and two of their own (another one of whom was adopted). After they married, Jill usually played his leading lady, and they starred in 14 movies together.

When filming they would load up the entire family and take them along to Europe or wherever the filming took place, maintaining a close family. They spent time in a colonial farmhouse on 260 acres (1.1 km²) in West Windsor, Vermont.^[24] Jill Ireland raised horses and provided training for their daughter Zuleika so that she could perform at the higher levels of horse showing. The Vermont farm, "Zuleika Farm", was named for the only natural child between them. During the late 1980s through the mid 1990's Bronson regularly spent winter holidays vacationing with his family in Snowmass, Colorado.^{[citation needed]}

In December 1998, Bronson was married a third time to Kim Weeks, a former employee of Dove Audio who helped record Ireland in the production of her audiobooks. They were married for five years until Bronson's death.

Death[link]

Bronson's health deteriorated in later years, and he retired from acting after undergoing hip-replacement surgery in 1998. He also suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his final years. Bronson died of pneumonia at the age of 81 on August 30, 2003, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He is buried near his Vermont farm.

Filmography[link]

Feature length films made for television[link]

• This Rugged Land (1962)
• Luke and The Tenderfoot (1965)
• The Meanest Men in the West (1967) advertised as starring Bronson with Lee Marvin, this "feature film" was actually cobbled together from two different episodes of the TV series The Virginian, one episode featuring Bronson, the other Marvin, so the two actors do not actually share any scenes together, despite the repackaging editors' efforts to suggest otherwise^[25]
• The Bull of the West (1971) like The Meanest Men in the West before it, this "feature-length movie" was stitched together from multiple, unrelated episodes of The Virginian, with largely confusing results^[26]
• Raid On Entebbe (1976)
• Act of Vengeance (1986)
• Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991)
• Donato and Daughter (1993; also known as Under Threat in the UK)
• The Sea Wolf (1993)
• 100 years of the Hollywood Western (1995) documentary
• A Family of Cops (1995)
• Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops 2 (1997)
• Family of Cops 3 (1999)

Selected Television Series appearances[link]

• The Public Defender "Cornered" (CBS, 1955) as Nobby Bullaid
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents "And So Died Riabouchinska" (1955)
• The Millionaire "The Jerry Bell Story" E-85 {27 February 1957} as Jerry Bell
• Have Gun - Will Travel "The Man Who Wouldn't Talk" (27 September 1958) as Chris Sorenson
• The Untouchables
• "The Death Tree" (15 February 1962) as Yanosh Kolescu
• Bonanza "The Underdog" S06/Ep12 {1964} as Harry Starr

Gunsmoke Season 1 E 28 "The Killer" 1955-56

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	World War II portal
	United States portal

• List of Tatars

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charles Bronson

• Charles Bronson at the Internet Movie Database
• Charles Bronson at AllRovi
• The Charles Bronson Homepage Good fansite with comprehensive photo gallery
• Japanese fansite
• The Best Battles of Charles Bronson Photo gallery at AMCtv.com

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2009)

Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder playing slide guitar in 2009 Photograph: Dani Canto
Background information
Birth name	Ryland Peter Cooder
Born	(1947-03-15) March 15, 1947 (age 65) Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Americana, roots rock, folk, blues, Tex-Mex, country, gospel, world music
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, film scorer, record producer, instructor
Instruments	Guitar, mandolin, vocals, array mbira
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Warner Bros., Nonesuch, Elektra
Associated acts	Taj Mahal, Captain Beefheart, Buena Vista Social Club, Ali Farka Toure
Website	Ry Cooder

Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947)^[1] is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.

His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing folk, blues, Tex-Mex, soul, gospel, rock, and much else. He has collaborated with many musicians, including Larry Blackmon, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Randy Newman, Earl Hines, Little Feat, Captain Beefheart, The Chieftains, John Lee Hooker, Pops and Mavis Staples, Flaco Jiménez, Ibrahim Ferrer, Freddy Fender, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Ali Farka Touré. He formed the band Little Village with Nick Lowe, John Hiatt, and Jim Keltner.

Ry Cooder produced the Buena Vista Social Club album (1997), which became a worldwide hit. Wim Wenders directed the documentary film of the same name (1999), which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000.