He was considered for Gene Hackman's Oscar-winning role in The French Connection (1971).
He was considered for the role of Snake Plissken in Escape from New York (1981), but director John Carpenter felt Bronson was too old and too tough, and cast Kurt Russell instead.
He was very active in raising funds for the John Wayne Cancer Institute.
His father died when he was 10, and at 16 he followed his brothers into the mines to support the family. He was paid $1 per ton of coal and volunteered for perilous jobs because the pay was better.
His stepson, Jason McCallum Bronson, the adoptive son of David McCallum and Jill Ireland, died of an accidental drug overdose in 1989.
In 1949 he moved to California, where he signed up for acting lessons at the Pasadena Playhouse
In 1954 on the Mexican set of Vera Cruz (1954), he and fellow cast member Ernest Borgnine--who were playing American gunfighters involved in the Mexican fight against the French--had some spare time on their hands and decided to go to a nearby town for cigarettes. They saddled up in costume, sidearms and all, and began riding to town. On the way they were spotted by a truck full of Mexican "federales"--national police--who mistook them for bandits and held them at gunpoint until their identities could be verified.
In 1963 Sergio Leone asked him to star in his western A Fistful of Dollars (1964) (A Fistful of Dollars). Bronson turned the role down, so Leone asked Clint Eastwood.
In the '90s a lady whom he'd never met left him her estate worth well over a million dollars. She was a big fan of his. Her family sued and he ended up settling with them out of court.
In the latter part of his career, he worked predominantly with The Guns of Navarone (1961) director J. Lee Thompson. They made nine films together in just over a decade between 1977 and 1989: 10 to Midnight (1983), Cabo Blanco (1980), Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987), The Evil That Men Do (1984), Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989), Messenger of Death (1988), Murphy's Law (1986), St. Ives (1976) and The White Buffalo (1977).
Left an estate worth $48 million including an $8 million house in Malibu as well as a $4.8 million beach house and a ranch in Vermont.
Made six films with director Michael Winner: Chato's Land (1972), The Mechanic (1972), The Stone Killer (1973), Death Wish (1974), Death Wish II (1982) and Death Wish 3 (1985).
Not to be confused with the violent British criminal of the same name currently (2009) in the news.
Only actor to star in both The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Dirty Dozen (1967).
Owned homes in Europe, including Lithuania and Greece.
Perhaps the biggest late bloomer in Hollywood history, he did not get the marquee treatment he deserved until his late 40s. He was already 53 when Death Wish (1974) premiered.
Responding to critics' complaints, he said: "We don't make movies for critics, since they don't pay to see them anyhow."
Retired from acting after undergoing hip replacement surgery in 1998.
Shared a room with Jack Klugman in a New York boarding house in the 1940s.
Spoke fluent Russian, Lithuanian and Greek.