Charley Grapewin

Charley Grapewin

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.

Known For: Acting

Born: Xenia, Ohio, USA, 1869-12-20

Died: 1956-02-02

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1900	Above the Limit	Chimmie Hicks	43
2	1930	Only Saps Work	Simeon Tanner	55
3	1931	The Millionaire	Ed Powers	75
4	1931	Gold Dust Gertie	Nicholas Hautrey	30
5	1931	Heaven on Earth	Doc Boax	30
6	1931	For the Love of Fanny	Professor	0
7	1932	Hell's House	Henry Clark	51
8	1932	The Big Timer	Pop Baldwin	42
9	1932	Are You Listening?	Pierce	50
10	1932	Huddle	Doctor (uncredited)	66
11	1932	The Woman in Room 13	Andy	0
12	1932	The Washington Masquerade	Senator Simmons (uncredited)	65
13	1932	American Madness	Mr. Jones (uncredited)	70
14	1932	The Night of June 13	"Grandpop" Strawn (as Charles Grapewin)	70
15	1932	Wild Horse Mesa	Sam Bass	0
16	1932	No Man of Her Own	Clerk	65
17	1933	Hello, Everybody!	Jed	60
18	1933	The Kiss Before the Mirror	Schultz	55
19	1933	Heroes for Sale	Pa Dennis	70
20	1933	Midnight Mary	Clerk	68
21	1933	Don't Bet on Love	Patrick McCaffrey	0
22	1933	Pilgrimage	Dad Saunders	69
23	1933	Turn Back the Clock	Dr. Henderson (uncredited)	51
24	1933	Beauty for Sale	Freddy Gordon	70
25	1933	Torch Singer	Andrew 'Juddy' Judson	52
26	1933	Wild Boys of the Road	Mr. Cadman (uncredited)	69
27	1933	Female	Drunk at Hamburger Stand (Uncredited)	63
28	1933	Hell and High Water	Peck Wealin	0
29	1934	Two Alone	Sandy Roberts	70
30	1934	The Quitter	Ed Tilford	0
31	1934	She Made Her Bed	Joe Olesen	35
32	1934	The Loudspeaker	Pop Calloway	0
33	1934	Return of the Terror	Jessup	60
34	1934	Judge Priest	Sergeant Jimmy Bagby	64
35	1934	The President Vanishes	Richard Norton	58
36	1934	Anne of Green Gables	Dr. Tatum	57
37	1934	Caravan	Notary	50
38	1935	In Spite of Danger	Pop Sullivan	10
39	1935	Eight Bells	Grayson	60
40	1935	Party Wire	Will Oliver	80
41	1935	One Frightened Night	Jasper Whyte	53
42	1935	Shanghai	Truesdale	70
43	1935	Alice Adams	J. A. Lamb	67
44	1935	King Solomon of Broadway	Uncle Winchester	0
45	1935	Rendezvous	Prof. Martin	48
46	1935	Ah, Wilderness!	Dave McComber	63
47	1936	The Petrified Forest	Gramp Maple	71
48	1936	The Voice of Bugle Ann	Cal Royster	58
49	1936	Small Town Girl	Dr. Ned Fabre	59
50	1936	Libeled Lady	Hollis Bane	73
51	1936	Without Orders	J.P. Kendrick	60
52	1936	Sinner Take All	Aaron Lampier	48
53	1936	Breakdowns of 1936	Self	0
54	1937	A Family Affair	Frank Redmond	59
55	1937	The Good Earth	Old Father	63
56	1937	Captains Courageous	Uncle Salters	74
57	1937	Between Two Women	Dr. Webster	55
58	1937	Broadway Melody of 1938	James K. Blakeley	62
59	1937	Bad Guy	Dan Gray	60
60	1937	Big City	Robert, the Mayor	74
61	1937	The Bad Man of Brimstone	Barney Lane	60
62	1938	Of Human Hearts	Jim Meeker	58
63	1938	The Girl of the Golden West	Uncle Davy	46
64	1938	Three Comrades	Local Doctor	71
65	1938	Three Loves Has Nancy	Grandpa Briggs	42
66	1938	Listen, Darling	Joe Higgins	63
67	1938	Artists and Models Abroad	James Harper	45
68	1939	Stand Up and Fight	'Old Puff'	58
69	1939	Burn 'Em Up O'Connor	Doc Heath	50
70	1939	Sudden Money	Grandpa Casey Patterson	50
71	1939	The Man Who Dared	Ulysses Porterfield	50
72	1939	The Wizard of Oz	Uncle Henry	76
73	1939	Dust Be My Destiny	Pop	62
74	1939	Hero for a Day	Uncle Frank "Lucky" Higgins	0
75	1939	Sabotage	Major Matt Grayson	70
76	1940	The Grapes of Wrath	Grandpa Joad	78
77	1940	Johnny Apollo	Judge Emmett T. Brennan	68
78	1940	Earthbound	Mr. Whimser	48
79	1940	Rhythm on the River	Uncle Caleb	60
80	1940	Ellery Queen, Master Detective	Insp. Queen	57
81	1940	The Texas Rangers Ride Again	Ben Caldwalder	55
82	1941	Tobacco Road	Jeeter Lester	66
83	1941	Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery	Insp. Queen	53
84	1941	Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime	Insp. Queen	58
85	1941	Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring	Insp. Queen	57
86	1941	They Died with Their Boots On	California Joe	66
87	1942	A Close Call for Ellery Queen	Insp. Queen	52
88	1942	A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen	Insp. Queen	57
89	1942	Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen	Inspector Richard Queen	55
90	1943	Crash Dive	Pop	62
91	1944	Follow the Boys	Nick West	53
92	1944	The Impatient Years	Benjamin L. Pidgeon, Bellboy	63
93	1944	Atlantic City	Jake Taylor	50
94	1947	Gunfighters	Rancher Inskip	55
95	1948	The Enchanted Valley	Grandpa	0
96	1949	Sand	Doug	45
97	1951	When I Grow Up	Grandpa Reed	65
98	1964	The Big Parade of Comedy	Mr. Bane in 'Libeled Lady' (archive footage) (uncredited)	63
99	1976	That's Entertainment, Part II	(archive footage)	69
100	1984	Going Hollywood: The '30s	(archive footage)	100
101	1995	The Dark Side of Oz	Uncle Henry (archive footage)	0
102	2000	The Dark Side of the Rainbow	Uncle Henry (archive footage)	87

Charley Grapewin

Film

Television