Charles Ruggles
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Charles (Charlie) Sherman Ruggles (February 8, 1886 - December 23, 1970) was a comic American actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films.
Ruggles was born in Los Angeles, California. Despite training to be a doctor, Ruggles soon found himself on the stage, appearing in a stock production of Nathan Hale in 1905. He moved to Broadway to appear in Help Wanted in 1914. His first screen role came in the silent Peer Gynt the following year. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s Ruggles continued to appear in silent movies, though his passion remained the stage, appearing in long-running productions such as The Passing Show of 1918, The Demi-Virgin and Battling Butler. His most famous stage hit was one of his last before a twenty year hiatus, Queen High, produced in 1930.
From 1929, Ruggles appeared in talking pictures. His first was Gentleman of the Press in which he played a comic, alcoholic, newspaper reporter; a role he was to repeat several times over the years. He struck up a comic partnership with Mary Boland with whom he appeared with in half-a-dozen farces in the 1930s. In other films he played the "comic relief" character in otherwise straight films. In all, he appeared in about 100 movies.
In 1949 Ruggles halted in his film career to return to the stage and to move into television. He was the headline character in the TV series The Ruggles, where he played a character also called Charlie Ruggles, and The World of Mr. Sweeney. He also repeatedly appeared as a guest star playing Lowell Redlings Farquhar in The Beverly Hillbillies.
He returned to the big screen in 1961, playing Charles McKendrick in The Parent Trap and Mackenzie Savage in The Pleasure of His Company.
Ruggles died of cancer at his Hollywood home in December 1970. He has a star on the Hall of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.
References
- Ruggles's entry in the IMDb (http://imdb.com/name/nm0749476/)