Charles Grapewin
Encyclopedia
Charley Ellsworth Grapewin (December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956) was an American
vaudeville
performer and a stage
and film
actor
, who portrayed Uncle Henry
in MGM's The Wizard of Oz
(1939) and Grandpa Joad in the film The Grapes of Wrath
(1940).
, Charley 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.
After this he went on and off of stage 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 began in silent film
s at the turn of the 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 also for what is probably his most well-remembered role as Uncle Henry in the MGM Technicolor extravaganza The Wizard of Oz
, after which he had garnered a recurring role as Inspector Queen in the Ellery Queen
film series of the early 1940s,.
Grapewin married actress Anna Chance (1875–1943) in 1896 and they remained a devoted couple until her death some 47 years later.
Grapewin died 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.
Grapewin appeared in MGM's Broadway Melody of 1938
with both Judy Garland
(Oz's Dorothy) and Buddy Ebsen
(Oz's original Tin Man).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performer and a stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, who portrayed Uncle Henry
Uncle Henry (Oz)
Uncle Henry is a fictional character from The Oz Books by L. Frank Baum. He is the uncle of orphan Dorothy Gale and husband of Aunt Em, and lived with them on a farm in Kansas.-Oz Books:...
in MGM's The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
(1939) and Grandpa Joad in the film The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath (film)
The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 drama film directed by John Ford. It was based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F...
(1940).
Biography
Born in Xenia, OhioXenia, Ohio
Xenia is a city in and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio 21 miles from Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, Charley Ellsworth Grapewin ran away from home to be a circus acrobat which led him to work as an aerialist and trapeze
Trapeze
A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances...
artist in a traveling circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
before turning to acting. He traveled all over the world with the famous P. T. Barnum
P. T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus....
circus.
After this he went on and off of stage for the next thirty years starting with various stock companies and wrote stage plays as a vehicle for himself. His sole Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
credit was the short-lived play It's Up To You John Henry in 1905.
Grapewin began in silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s at the turn of the 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
Above the Limit
Above the Limit is a short film made in November 1900 by F.S. Armitage, and marks the film debut of vaudevillian actor Charley Grapewin, 39 years before his more memorable role as Dorothy's Uncle Henry in the original The Wizard of Oz...
) 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 Good Earth (film)
The Good Earth is a film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive. It was adapted by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West from the play by Donald Davis and Owen Davis, which was in itself based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S...
, The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath (film)
The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 drama film directed by John Ford. It was based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F...
, Tobacco Road
Tobacco Road (film)
Tobacco Road is a 1941 film directed by John Ford starring Charley Grapewin, Marjorie Rambeau, Gene Tierney, William Tracy and Dana Andrews. It was based on the novel of the same name by Erskine Caldwell, but the plot was rewritten for the film.-Cast:...
and also for what is probably his most well-remembered role as Uncle Henry in the MGM Technicolor extravaganza The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, after which he had garnered a recurring role as Inspector Queen in the Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is both a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn, New York: Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay and Manford Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee , to write, edit, and anthologize detective fiction.The fictional Ellery Queen created by...
film series of the early 1940s,.
Grapewin married actress Anna Chance (1875–1943) in 1896 and they remained a devoted couple until her death some 47 years later.
Grapewin died in Corona, California
Corona, California
Corona is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 152,374, up from 124,966 at the 2000 census...
at age 86 and his ashes are interred with his wife's, in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
, at the Great Mausoleum's Columbarium of Inspiration.
Partial filmography
- The MillionaireThe Millionaire (1931 film)The Millionaire is a 1931 comedy film starring George Arliss in the title role. The film is a remake of the 1922 film called The Ruling Passion, which also starred Arliss. The film was based on the short story "Idle Hands" by Earl Derr Biggers...
(1931) - Hell's HouseHell's HouseHell's House is a 1932 American drama film directed by Howard Higgin. The screenplay by Paul Gangelin and B. Harrison Orkow, set during the waning days of the Prohibition era, is based on a story by Higgin.-Plot:...
(1932) - The Big TimerThe Big TimerThe Big Timer is a 1932 film about a boxer whose success goes to his head. It stars Ben Lyon, Constance Cummings, and Thelma Todd.-Cast:*Ben Lyon as Cooky Bradford*Constance Cummings as Honey Baldwin*Thelma Todd as Kay Mitchell*Tom Dugan as Catfish...
(1932) - Are You Listening?Are You Listening? (film)Are You Listening? is a 1932 drama film starring William Haines, Madge Evans and Anita Page. The film was directed by Harry Beaumont. It was Haines' final film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Plot:...
(1932) - Lady and GentLady and Gent-Cast:* George Bancroft - Stag Bailey* Wynne Gibson - Puff Rogers* Charles Starrett - Ted Streaver* James Gleason - Pin Streaver* John Wayne - Buzz Kinney* Morgan Wallace - Cash Enright* James Crane - McSweeley* William Halligan - Doc Hayes...
(1932) - No Man of Her OwnNo Man of Her Own (1932 film)No Man of Her Own is a 1932 light comedy film starring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard as a married couple in their only film together, several years before their own legendary marriage in real life...
(1932) - The Kiss Before the MirrorThe Kiss Before the MirrorThe Kiss Before the Mirror is a suspense film directed by James Whale, starring Nancy Carroll, Frank Morgan, Gloria Stuart, and Walter Pidgeon, and released by Universal Pictures.-Plot:...
(1933) - Heroes for SaleHeroes for SaleHeroes for Sale is a Depression-era film directed by William Wellman, starring Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, and Loretta Young, and released by Warner Bros. A veteran of World War I, Thomas Holmes, struggles to make his way in civilian life in almost every way imaginable...
(1933) - Midnight MaryMidnight MaryMidnight Mary is a 1933 film that reveals in flashbacks the hard life of a woman on trial for murder. It stars Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, and Franchot Tone.-Cast:*Loretta Young as Mary Martin AKA "Midnight Mary"*Ricardo Cortez as Leo Darcy...
(1933) - PilgrimagePilgrimage (1933 film)-Cast:* Henrietta Crosman - Mrs. Hannah Jessop* Heather Angel - Suzanne* Norman Foster - Jim 'Jimmy' Jessop * Lucille La Verne - Mrs. Kelly Hatfield* Maurice Murphy - Gary Worth* Marian Nixon - Mary Saunders...
(1933) - Beauty for SaleBeauty for SaleBeauty for Sale is a 1933 film about the romantic entanglements of three beauty salon employees. It stars Madge Evans, Alice Brady, and Otto Kruger. It was based on the novel Beauty by Faith Baldwin.-Cast:*Madge Evans as Letty Lawson...
(1933) - Torch SingerTorch SingerTorch Singer is a 1933 film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Alexander Hall and George Somnes, and starring Claudette Colbert, Ricardo Cortez and David Manners and Lyda Roberti.The screenplay was written by Lenore J...
(1933) - Judge PriestJudge PriestJudge Priest is a 1934 American comedy film. The film was based on humorist Irvin S. Cobb's character Judge Priest. The film was directed by John Ford and produced by Sol M. Wurtzel in association with Fox Film...
(1934) - CaravanCaravan (1934 film)Caravan is a film made by Fox Film Corporation, directed by Erik Charell. The film stars Charles Boyer, Loretta Young and Jean Parker. Fox also produced a French language version of this film, Caravane starring Boyer, Annabella, and Conchita Montenegro.-Cast:*Charles Boyer as Latzi*Loretta...
(1934) - The President VanishesThe President VanishesThe President Vanishes is a political novel by Rex Stout that was published in 1934. It was written after, but published before, Fer-de-Lance, the first Nero Wolfe novel....
(1934) - Anne of Green GablesAnne of Green Gables (1934 film)Anne of Green Gables is a 1934 film directed by George Nichols Jr., based upon the novel, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery...
(1934) - Party WireParty WireParty Wire is a 1935 drama film starring Jean Arthur and Victor Jory. It was based on the novel of the same name by Bruce Manning. In a small town, an overhead conversation on a telephone party line results in gossip that causes a great deal of trouble for a young woman and a wealthy...
(1935) - Shanghai (1935)
- Alice AdamsAlice Adams (film)Alice Adams, also known as Booth Tarkington's Alice Adams, is a 1935 romantic film made by RKO. It was directed by George Stevens and produced by Pandro S. Berman from a screenplay by Dorothy Yost, Mortimer Offner adapted by Jane Murfin from the novel, Alice Adams, by Booth Tarkington...
(1935) - RendezvousRendezvous (1935 film)Rendezvous is a 1935 spy film set in World War I, starring William Powell as an American cryptologist who tangles with German spies. The film was based on The American Black Chamber, the controversial memoirs of Herbert Yardley, founder and head of MI8....
(1935) - Ah, Wilderness!Ah, Wilderness! (film)Ah, Wilderness! is a 1935 screen adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play of the same name starring Wallace Beery. The movie was filmed in Grafton, Massachusetts and directed by Clarence Brown. Beery plays the drunken uncle later portrayed on Broadway by Jackie Gleason, and the film features Lionel...
(1935) - The Petrified ForestThe Petrified ForestThe Petrified Forest is a 1936 American film, starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. A precursor of film noir, it was adapted from Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 stage play of the same name...
(1936) - Small Town GirlSmall Town Girl (1936 film)Small Town Girl is a film starring Janet Gaynor, Robert Taylor, and James Stewart. The romantic comedy was directed by William A. Wellman.Based on a novel by Ben Ames Williams, the film went through many changes before it reached the screen...
(1936) - Libeled LadyLibeled LadyLibeled Lady is a 1936 screwball comedy film starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy, written by George Oppenheimer, Howard Emmett Rogers, Wallace Sullivan and Maurine Dallas Watkins, and directed by Jack Conway....
(1936) - The Good EarthThe Good Earth (film)The Good Earth is a film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive. It was adapted by Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger, and Claudine West from the play by Donald Davis and Owen Davis, which was in itself based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S...
(1937) - A Family AffairA Family Affair (film)A Family Affair is the first entry in the Andy Hardy film series, though Mickey Rooney has a secondary role as the son of Judge Hardy, played by Lionel Barrymore. The highly respected judge has to deal with family and political problems. The film was based on the play Skidding by Aurania...
(1937) - Captains Courageous (1937)
- Broadway Melody of 1938Broadway Melody of 1938Broadway Melody of 1938 is a 1937 musical film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film is essentially a backstage musical revue, featuring high-budget sets and cinematography in the MGM musical tradition...
(1937) - The Bad Man of BrimstoneThe Bad Man of BrimstoneThe Bad Man of Brimstone is a 1937 Western film starring Wallace Beery and Virginia Bruce, and directed by J. Walter Ruben. Beery's brother Noah Beery, Sr...
(1937) - Of Human HeartsOf Human HeartsOf Human Hearts is a 1938 film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Walter Huston, James Stewart and Beulah Bondi. Bondi was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress....
(1938) - The Girl of the Golden WestThe Girl of the Golden West (1938 film)The Girl of the Golden West is a 1938 musical western film. It was adapted from the play of the same name by David Belasco, better known for providing the plot of the opera La fanciulla del West by Giacomo Puccini...
(1938) - Three ComradesThree Comrades (film)Three Comrades 1938 is a drama film directed by Frank Borzage and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz for MGM. The screenplay is by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edward E. Paramore Jr., and was adapted from the novel Three Comrades by Erich Maria Remarque...
(1938) - Three Loves Has NancyThree Loves Has NancyThree Loves Has Nancy is a romantic comedy film starring Janet Gaynor, Robert Montgomery and Franchot Tone. Set in New York City, it was directed by Richard Thorpe.-Cast:*Janet Gaynor as Nancy Briggs*Robert Montgomery as Mal Niles...
(1938) - Listen, Darling (1938)
- Stand Up and FightStand Up and FightStand Up and Fight is a 1939 film starring Wallace Beery and Robert Taylor. The supporting cast includes Florence Rice, Helen Broderick, Charles Bickford, Barton MacLane, Charley Grapewin, and John Qualen, and the movie was directed by W.S. Van Dyke...
(1939) - The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz (1939 film)The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
(1939) - Dust Be My DestinyDust Be My DestinyDust Be My Destiny is a drama film released in 1939. John Garfield stars as a man who gets into trouble after being sentenced to a work farm.-Plot:...
(1939) - The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath (film)The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 drama film directed by John Ford. It was based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F...
(1940) - Johnny ApolloJohnny Apollo (film)Johnny Apollo is a 1940 crime film starring Tyrone Power as a man who resorts to crime to buy a pardon for his embezzler father . Lloyd Nolan plays the gangster he works for, while Dorothy Lamour portrays the boss's girlfriend....
(1940) - Rhythm on the RiverRhythm on the RiverRhythm on the River is a 1940 musical comedy film starring Bing Crosby and Mary Martin as ghostwriters whose songs are credited to a composer played by Basil Rathbone. James V...
(1940) - Tobacco RoadTobacco Road (film)Tobacco Road is a 1941 film directed by John Ford starring Charley Grapewin, Marjorie Rambeau, Gene Tierney, William Tracy and Dana Andrews. It was based on the novel of the same name by Erskine Caldwell, but the plot was rewritten for the film.-Cast:...
(1941) - They Died with Their Boots OnThey Died with Their Boots OnThey Died with Their Boots On is a 1941 western film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Despite being rife with historical inaccuracies, the film was one of the top-grossing films of the year, being the last of eight Flynn–de Havilland collaborations.Like...
(1941) - Follow the BoysFollow the BoysFollow the Boys , also known as Three Cheers for the Boys, is a musical film made by Universal Pictures as an all-star cast morale booster to entertain the troops abroad and the civilians at home. The film was directed by A. Edward "Eddie" Sutherland and produced by Charles K. Feldman...
(1944)
Trivia
Prior to The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
Grapewin appeared in MGM's Broadway Melody of 1938
Broadway Melody of 1938
Broadway Melody of 1938 is a 1937 musical film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film is essentially a backstage musical revue, featuring high-budget sets and cinematography in the MGM musical tradition...
with both Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
(Oz's Dorothy) and Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the movie...
(Oz's original Tin Man).