Charles Bronson was born 11th of 15 children in the coal region of the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania. His family was so poor that, at one time, he had to wear his sister's dress to school for lack of clothing. His father died when Bronson was 10, so Bronson went to work in the coal mines, first in the office and then in the mine until he entered the army during World War 2.

 In 1962, Bronson was acting in the TV Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, starring 12-year-old Kurt Russell. Kurt found out Bronson's birthday and gave him a model gas-powered airplane. Bronson took it, didn't say a word, turned and walked off. The crew consoled Kurt, telling him not to worry about it.

Kurt said, "The assistant director came to me and said Charles wants to see you in his dressing room. I knocked on his door. It opened and he looked down, but not at me. He said, 'No one has ever given me a birthday gift.'

"When my birthday came up, Bronson got us both skateboards and we rode around the studio lot. Soon I was told to stop skate-boarding by the studio president. Bronson found out about it, grabbed me and we went into the president's office unannounced.

Bronson said to the president, 'Kurt and I are going to ride our boards around the studio.' Bronson turned, I turned, and we walked out of the office. We skate-boarded around the lot from then on and no one said a word."

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