Charles Ray is the only actor to become a major film star playing simple, unsophisticated country boys. During the peak of his popularity between 1917 and 1920, while fans flocked to his movies, Ray was also a favorite of film critics who praised his naturalistic acting. In 1921, Ray opened his own studio and began producing and directing his own films, in an apparent attempt to broaden his image. He was unsuccessful in producing films that appealed to his fan base. Audience interest in his films declined quickly. The box office failure of The Courtship of Miles Standish (1923), a lavish film in which he had invested a large amount of time and money, resulted in bankruptcy and loss of this studio. During the remainder of the 1920s, Ray, often billed below the title, played leading man to a succession of top-billed female stars. During the talking era, Ray joined the ranks of silent stars playing often uncredited bit parts.
Early Films, 1913-15
In 1913, Charles Ray, who had been acting for several years in stock companies, joined the film company headed by producer Thomas H. Ince. Ince had built a studio, colloquially known as Inceville, near the city of Santa Monica along the coast of southern California. The studio produced short (one-, two-, and three-reel) films under supervision by three subsidiary production companies: Kay-Bee, Broncho, and Domino Film Companies. Domino Films made mostly comedies, Broncho Films made westerns and Kay-Bee made dramas. Ince’s company produced large numbers of short films. Ray appeared in 27 films in 1913 and 26 in 1914. By 1915, feature films (five or more reels in length) were replacing shorts, and in that year Ray appeared in nine short and four feature films.
Ray’s fifty short films have a variety of settings, including: the Civil War era, the American West of the 19th century, the Plymouth colony, and contemporary cities and villages of America and Europe. The Gangsters and the Girl (1914) has a contemporary, big-city setting, and Ray has a starring role as a detective. Only 22 years old when he joined Ince, Ray was considered the juvenile of the company. He frequently played wayward sons, many of the weakling variety. In August 1914, Variety reported that Ray was writing his own scenario, featuring a role in which he did not play an erring son. Ray supported William S. Hart in The Grudge (1915) and The Conversion of Frosty Blake (1915), each a short three-reel western.
In 1915, Ray had great success with one of his first feature films, The Coward, set at the beginning of the Civil War. This film, a box office and critical success, provided an important boost to Ray’s popularity. Ray portrays the weakling son of an honorable old Southern Colonel, played by Frank Keenan. The son, although very frightened, joins the Confederate Army. During his first night on guard duty, he panics and runs home. He refuses to return, and his father takes his place. Eventually, Ray gains courage and redeems himself. Film critic Peter Milne of Motion Picture News, expressing the opinion of many viewers, wrote "Keenan is a powerful figure … face in stern repose is intensely magnetic. Charles Ray’s performance is a revelation … expressions in close-up reveal a powerful sincerity." Jolo, writing for Variety, had a similar opinion: "Keenan’s name is a draw. Keenan in close-up is a bit for theatrical. The actual star in point of artistic perfomance is Charles Ray who expressed much without contorting his features, a revelation in picture acting."
Stardom at the Thomas Ince Studio, 1916-20
After his success in The Coward, Ray played a supporting role in Peggy (1916), a comedy vehicle for Billie Burke. He was leading man to Bessie Barriscale and Louise Glaum, two of Ince’s most popular leading ladies. By 1917 Ray, starring in his own vehicles, reached a position of great popularity. In the period from 1917 to 1920, he had two directors, Victor Schertzinger and Jerome Storm. Schertzinger had started with the Ince studio as a music writer and arranger before becoming a director. He directed a dozen Ray films in 1917 and 1918, including The Clodhopper, Sudden Jim, His Mother’s Boy, His Own Home Town, and String Beans. In these films, Ray established his screen personna as an unsophisticated, easygoing country boy. Ray’s popularity continued through 1919 and 1920 when Jerome Storm was his director and Agnes Christine Johnson his scenarist. The success of the Ray's films with Storm, including The Busher, Hay Foot, Straw Foot, Egg Crate Wallop, Village Sleuth, and The Old Fashioned Boy, placed Ray in the forefront of screen stars.
The trade magazines commented on Ray’s rise. An article on Sudden Jim (1917) in Moving Picture World, July 1917 is typical: "Charles Ray’s films, Pinch Hitter, Clodhopper and Millionaire Vagrant, have proved strong box office. Ray’s drawing power is increasing at a tremendous rate. His roles are usually wealkings or country yokels."
Film critics praised Ray’s acting. The critic of the fan magazine Film Fan (September 1917) declared that there was "…no more innocent or boyish looking juvenile in the business." His acting has "…indefinable charm and spontaineity." In its review of Red Hot Dollars (1919), Photoplay noted Ray’s "skill in pantominic byplay, in facial expression and in poise." He wrote that Ray "natural and human … is always the same - kicks the dust, twists his hat, turns on his heel to indicate the restlessess of an eager adolescent."
The New York Times (unnamed) film critic also wrote enthusiastic reviews of Ray and his films. In his review of The Girl Dodger (1919), he praises Ray's "…screen acting of the first rank, [he] knows how to make the photographs live. Watch his hands, watch his feet, they talk. It would be easy to produce a photoplay with him in the leading role for which subtitles would be superfluous. He brings screen acting to such a high point, that one enthusiastic for the development of the art feels an impulse to cry out, 'Ray, Ray, Ray'." In his review of The Busher (1919), the critic notes that "…the vigorous and real character lives on screen in Ray. Ray’s rural characters are among the pre-eminent screen creations and The Busher ranks with the best." Reviewing The Egg Crate Wallop (1919), the critic thought that "the public will probably never tire of Charles Ray. He has played the same part innumerable times and each time he is delightful. He is always sure in his acting, true to the popular idea of a rural hero, and, despite the invariable similarity of his characters, is never quite the same. He is enjoyable as ever in Egg Crate Wallop."
Charles Ray Productions, 1920-24
In 1920, Ray decided to become independent and separated from the Ince Studio. Ray leased his own studio to make Charles Ray Productions. The new arrangement was accompanied by a change in producer and directors, and in the production crew. Ray selected his own material with an initial emphasis on theatrical productions that could be adapted for film. Audience response to Ray’s own productions was tepid. His first film, Forty Five Minutes From Broadway (1920) directed by Joseph de Grasse, was based on a 1906 play by George M. Cohan. Specially arranged music from Cohan’s stage production was provided to accompany the film. The film did not achieve the success to which Ray was accustomed. Peaceful Valley (1920), Ray’s second production, was the only film directed by Jerome Storm for Ray’s new studio.
The Old Swimming Hole (1921), directed by Joseph de Grasse, depicts the simple life of a country boy. With this entirely pictorial film that lacks intertitles or captions, Ray seems to have reached an apotheosis in acting and characterization. The critic of the New York Times gave Ray his usual compliments, calling his pantomine eloquent and lauding his facial expressions, hand gestures and body movements. The film did satisfactory business, but not up to Ray’s previous standards.
After Old Swimming Hole, Ray took entire control of his films, becoming his own director in addition to producing. He directed his next nine films. The results are reflected in the reports in the film magazines. From Photoplay in July 1921: "Charles Ray was doing very nicely until he decided to go it alone. Since then he has lost ground. His stories are not as carefully or wisely selected. His performances have been lacking in ease and natural grace, and the old boyish charm is giving way to the mature and deliberate, the performances of an anxious actor." Picture Play Magazine in April 1921 states that: "There is something funereal about the back sliding of any proven artist into mediocrity. Often the trend when a picture star accomplishes his own direction."
The New York Times reviewer says of RSVP (1921) that Ray "…needs a director other than himself. The film is not so dull as Two Minutes to Go (1921). Mr Ray undertakes the direction of his own productions, he only impairs his work as a player. Where the action should be bright, it is only silly. Scenes that should be brief are prolonged until any wit is dulled."
In his review of A Tailor Made Man (1922), the New York Times reviewer summarized Ray’s recent history: "The return of Charles Ray to Broadway on screen is encouraging. Several years ago, [19]18-20 especially, more first rate photoplays came from and with him than any other individual. Then something happened— directed his own pictures? other reasons? The quality of his pictures fell off suddenly. His own acting became spiritless and witless. He dropped all at once from a position of one of the most popular players on screen into comparative obscurity. Many of his films did not make it to the Broadway houses."
By 1923, Ray recognized that his films had lost considerable popularity. He concluded that filmgoers wanted bigger and better pictures. He decided to limit his output to two productions a year (similar to the output of Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and other major stars) and to enlarge the scope and quality of his films to the level of 'super-special' productions. Ray’s choice for his first ‘super production' was The Courtship of Miles Standish based on the epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Ray put a good deal of effort (and his own finances) into the film. He carefully studied the history of the voyage of the Mayflower and built a full size replica of the ship. Costumes and sets were authentic. As director, Ray hired Frederick Sullivan, nephew of Sir Arthur Sullivan, famed composer of the team of Gilbert and Sullivan. Sullivan had been directing since 1913 but had directed only nine features, mostly Florence LaBadie films made for the Thanhouser Film Company. He had never directed a large, complex feature such as Miles Standish. (It was the last film he directed.) Ray went to pains to make the film interesting without including unrealistic heroics or thrilling events. He wanted nothing of cheap appeal.
The New York Times, praising the film as a beautiful production that called forth the lines of the Longfellow poem, called the film a 'photo-poem.' The review also noted that some scenes contained too little acting and too much posing. Audiences concurred about the too little acting, too much posing, and overall beautified dullness. During filming the inexperienced director may not have recognized the slow pace at which the story was proceeding. Ray had produced an expensive film of high informational value but minimal audience appeal. Few filmgoers wanted to see it. The large expenditure on The Courtship of Miles Standish and its subsequent failure cost Ray his studio. He had tried his luck as an independent star-producer and failed. Film critic Herbert Howe, writing in Photoplay, commented: "Charles Ray declined because he hadn’t the grit to be a successful producer, though, in the author’s opinion, he is the greatest actor on the sceen."
Comparative Obscurity 1924-43
Ray returned to the Ince studio. They planned to recapture his fans with a series of rural stories of the type that had brought him fame. Ray had made two pictures with the studio when Thomas Ince died suddenly in November 1924. The Ince Studio discontinued production; actors who had contracts wih Ince, including Charles Ray, were released.
Ray once again sought to reignite his stardom. He signed a contract with New York-based Chadwick Pictures for four pictures. The first two films, Sweet Adeline (1925) and Some Pun’kins (1926), directed by Jerome Storm with whom Ray had once had great sucess, are lively and amusing displays of Ray’s comic abilities. Despite the films’ pleasing qualities, the old magic did not return. Ray was released from his contract after only the two films.
He signed a long term contract with MGM in October 1925. No longer a major star, for the remainder of the 1920s Ray played leading man to a series of female stars, including Joan Crawford in Paris (1926), May McAvoy in Fire Brigade (1926), two films with Leatrice Joy in 1927, and Getting Gertiie’s Garter (1928) with Marie Prevost. Ray is billed fourth in Garden of Eden (1928) after Corinne Griffith, Louise Dresser, and Lowell Sherman. Ray’s final silent was Count of Ten (1928) co-starring James Gleason and Jobyna Ralston, made at Universal Studios. In these final silent films, a matured Ray plays more sophisticated characters than the rural youth of his starring years.
Ray was off the screen for four years during the transition from silent to sound films. His first talkies were two shorts produced by the the Masquers Club of Hollywood. The Masquers, a private social club for actors, had a production deal with RKO Studios and made eleven two-reel comedies between 1931 and 1933. The farcical content of Ray’s two films can be inferred from their titles: The Bride’s Bereavement; or, The Snake in the Grass (1932); and Stolen By Gypies; or, Beer and Bicycles (1933).
After 1932, Ray became another of the silent stars who had small roles in talking pictures. During the 1930s he appeared in only eight films. In the final two years of his life (he died in 1943), Ray played uncredited bit parts in seventeen films, mostly at MGM.
Personal Life
Charles Ray was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1891 and grew up in Peoria where, from his early teenage years, he was attracted to the theater. His initial connection to the theater was as a hand bill boy passing out notices about coming plays. He started working in the theater as a water boy, advanced to usher, and then to the box office. He got on stage as an actor by age 15. In 1908, at age 17, he was playing with a stock company doing everything from singing and dancing to Shakespeare.
In 1913, while appearing in repertoire in San Diego, he joined the Thomas Ince Film Studio. He soon progressed to a position of juvenile lead in the short films produced by the studio. In later years he was fond of saying that he made a new two-reel picture every nine days. Trade magazines mention his pride in his first car that he drove along the narrow roads overlooking the ocean near the Ince studio.
After The Coward (1915) Ray rose rapidly to a position of one of the screen’s most popular stars and one of the highest paid performers. He and his wife, Clara, lived in a palatial home in Beverly Hills and were served by a large staff. His first car was supplemented with a fleet of automobiles.
The quality of Ray’s films declined after he opened his own studio and controled all aspects of film production, including personally producing and directing. His fans fell away, and his stardom declined rapidly. He hoped to recover his star position by producing 'super-special' films. The failure of his first 'super-special' movie, The Courtship of Miles Standish (1923) produced at the extravagant cost of nearly $600,000, reduced him to bankrupcy.
Charles Ray Productions, Inc. was adjudged bankrupt in September 1925. Debtors included Continental National Bank of Los Angeles, his father Charles T. Ray, and movie directors Fred Niblo and Joseph deGrasse. Several creditors filled suit to foreclose a mortage against his home. The government sued for back taxes of nearly $250,000. After Ray signed with MGM, creditors filed claims against his salary. Ray never recovered the fortune he had lost in the failure of his studio.
By the late 1920s. with his film career at its nadir, Ray attempted a return to the theater. He had two unsuccessful appearances on Broadway. Within the Law, with a cast that included a young Claudette Colbert and the experienced Robert Warwick, ran for sixteen performances in March 1928. Blackberries of 1932, a revue with numerous African-American performers including Mantan Moreland, The Brown Madcaps, Burma/Zulu Maids had 24 performances in April 1932. Ray’s contribution to this revue is unclear.
Ray married twice. He married Clara May Grant in November 1915. They separated in 1932, and she obtained a divorce in 1935. Clara May accused Ray of cruelty, desertion and non-support. She declared that women sent him numerous letters written in endearing terms. Ray married Yvonne Guerin in June 1941; in November 1942, after less than two years of marriage, Yvonne died.
In November 1943, a year after his wife’s death, Charles Ray died of a throat infection resulting from an abscessed tooth. He was a relatively young 52.
Career Consideration
From his earliest films, Charles Ray produced naturalistic and sensitive characterizations. His projected his character’s thoughts and feelings with minimal facial expression and body movement in a period when many film actors still expressed themselves with exaggerated gestures.
After his success in the highly acclaimed feature The Coward (1915), Ray quickly became a favorite of film fans and critics. In his period of greatest popularity, 1917 to early 1920, Ray was one of the major stars of cinema. His skilled acting, depth of characterization, and charm were praised by all. Ray invariably played a boyish, small-town, rural character.
In 1920, Ray opened his own studio to produce and direct his own films. The quality of his films and of Ray’s performances declined rapidly. His popularity dissipated. The failure of The Courtship of Miles Standish in 1923 resulted in bankruptcy. Ray lost his studio, his independence, and his stardom. During the remainder of the 1920s, he played a variety of roles with a succession of star actresses. After 1934, Ray became one of the numerous silent stars who played bit parts in the talkies.
American cultural historian and writer Edward Wagenknecht commented that "it is interesting that Ray was the only male who ever had an important career as whatever it is that corresponds among men to an ingenue … Ray became the screen’s barefoot boy par excellence."
Further Reading