Charley Grapewin
Dec 20, 1869 — Feb 2, 1956 (86 years)
Xenia, Ohio, USA
93 Movies
Charley Grapewin has spent over 126 years in front of the camera, with more than 93 film and TV credits. his Uncle Henry in 'The Wizard of Oz' ranks among the most remembered of his filmography. Drama has been his most frequent territory.
86R.I.P.
93Movies
0Series
Charley Grapewin
93 Movies
Charley Grapewin has spent over 126 years in front of the camera, with more than 93 film and TV credits. his Uncle Henry in 'The Wizard of Oz' ranks among the most remembered of his filmography. Drama has been his most frequent territory.
86 R.I.P.
R.I.P.
93
Movies
0
Series
Movies
The Wizard of Oz
1939
Gunfighters
1947
The Grapes of Wrath
1940
Heroes for Sale
1933
Huddle
1932
The Millionaire
1931
Libeled Lady
1936
Three Loves Has Nancy
1938
Captains Courageous
1937
Wild Boys of the Road
1933
Are You Listening?
1932
Of Human Hearts
1938
Small Town Girl
1936
Shanghai
1935
Three Comrades
1938
They Died with Their Boots On
1941
Beauty for Sale
1933
Crash Dive
1943
Ah, Wilderness!
1935
The Texas Rangers Ride Again
1940
Sinner Take All
1936
The Good Earth
1937
Atlantic City
1944
Party Wire
1935
She Made Her Bed
1934
Sand
1949
When I Grow Up
1951
The Bad Man of Brimstone
1937
Stand Up and Fight
1939
Alice Adams
1935
Midnight Mary
1933
The Washington Masquerade
1932
A Close Call for Ellery Queen
1942
The Petrified Forest
1936
Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery
1941
Two Alone
1934
The Big Timer
1932
A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen
1942
Pilgrimage
1933
Female
1933
The Kiss Before the Mirror
1933
Turn Back the Clock
1933
Rhythm on the River
1940
Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime
1941
Torch Singer
1933
American Madness
1932
Tobacco Road
1941
Follow the Boys
1944
Sudden Money
1939
The Impatient Years
1944
Latest Trailers
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Crash Dive
Full Filmography
When I Grow Up
Grandpa Reed
1951
Film
Sand
Doug
1949
Film
The Enchanted Valley
Grandpa
1948
Film
Gunfighters
Rancher Inskip
1947
Film
Atlantic City
Jake Taylor
1944
Film
The Impatient Years
Benjamin L. Pidgeon, Bellboy
1944
Film
Follow the Boys
Nick West
1944
Film
Crash Dive
Pop
1943
Film
Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen
Inspector Richard Queen
1942
Film
Photos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Charley Grapewin still alive?
Charley Grapewin passed away on February 2, 1956 at age 86.
What are the most famous roles of Charley Grapewin?
Charley Grapewin is best known for roles in The Wizard of Oz, The Grapes of Wrath, The Petrified Forest.
How many movies has Charley Grapewin been in?
Charley Grapewin has appeared in 99 movies and 1 TV shows.
What was Charley Grapewin's first movie?
The career of Charley Grapewin began with Above the Limit (1900).
What is Charley Grapewin's most recent movie or series?
Charley Grapewin's most recent release is MGM Parade, which premiered on September 14, 1955.
What TV shows has Charley Grapewin appeared in?
On television, Charley Grapewin has appeared in MGM Parade.
Charley Grapewin
1869-12-20 · Xenia, Ohio, USA
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.