Charley Grapewin

Acting

Born Dec 20, 1869

From Xenia, Ohio, USA

Died Feb 02, 1956

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.

Charley Grapewin

Known For

The Wizard of Oz

The Grapes of Wrath

Captains Courageous

Rendezvous

Broadway Melody of 1938

The Good Earth

Anne of Green Gables

Tobacco Road

That's Entertainment, Part II

Libeled Lady

Filmography — Acting

The Wizard of Oz

The Grapes of Wrath

Captains Courageous

Rendezvous

Broadway Melody of 1938

The Good Earth

Anne of Green Gables

Tobacco Road

That's Entertainment, Part II

Libeled Lady

Midnight Mary

They Died with Their Boots On

Wild Boys of the Road

American Madness

Crash Dive

Small Town Girl

Big City

Female

Wild Horse Mesa

Alice Adams

Sabotage

Going Hollywood: The '30s

Gunfighters

Dust Be My Destiny

The Texas Rangers Ride Again

Follow the Boys

Heroes for Sale

The Petrified Forest

Ah, Wilderness!

Sudden Money

Huddle

Listen, Darling

Judge Priest

Atlantic City

Of Human Hearts

Earthbound

A Family Affair

Without Orders

Two Alone

The Night of June 13

Caravan

Johnny Apollo

Only Saps Work

Pilgrimage

Bad Guy

The Dark Side of the Rainbow

The Kiss Before the Mirror

Don't Bet on Love

Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime

The Girl of the Golden West

Torch Singer

The Woman in Room 13

Rhythm on the River

Three Comrades

Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery

A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen

Sand

Hell's House

The President Vanishes

The Big Parade of Comedy

Ellery Queen, Master Detective

In Spite of Danger

Stand Up and Fight

No Man of Her Own

When I Grow Up

The Loudspeaker

Shanghai