Charles Butters (May 10, 1914 – July 30, 1980), best known by his stage name Charles McGraw, was an American actor, who made his first film in 1942, albeit in a small, uncredited cameo role. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa. McGraw developed into a leading man, especially in film noir classics during the late 1940s and 1950s. His gravelly voice and rugged looks enhanced his appeal in the noir stylistic genre, and provided him many roles as cop or gunman. Introduced with fellow "heavy" William Conrad as the two hitmen terrorizing a small town diner in the start of the 1946 film The Killers, McGraw's notable roles include: "Honest Joe" insurance investigator turned thief by love interest in the noir classic Roadblock (1951); playing the grumpy cop hired to protect Marie Windsor in the noir B-movie The Narrow Margin (1952); Kirk Douglas' gladiator trainer in the epic Spartacus; righteous cop Lt. Jim Cordell in the Armored Car Robbery (1950); and "The Preacher" in the science fiction cult classic A Boy and His Dog (1975). McGraw is recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6927 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. He also starred in the television version of Casablanca (1955) taking over Humphrey Bogart's role as Rick. Charles McGraw died, aged 66, after slipping and falling through a glass shower door in his Studio City, California home in 1980.
Movie | Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid | (in "The Killers") (archive footage) | 1982-05-21 |
Movie | The Horror Show | (archive footage) | 1979-02-06 |
Movie | Twilight's Last Gleaming | Air Force Gen. Peter Crane | 1977-02-09 |
Movie | Perilous Voyage | Capt. Humphreys | 1976-06-29 |
Movie | The Killer Inside Me | Howard Hendricks | 1976-10-01 |
Movie | A Boy and His Dog | Preacher | 1975-03-23 |
Movie | Money to Burn | Neil Davis | 1973-10-27 |
Movie | The Night Stalker | Police Chief Ed Masterson | 1972-01-11 |
Movie | The Longest Night | Father Chase | 1972-09-12 |
Movie | Johnny Got His Gun | Mike Burkeman | 1971-08-04 |
Series | The Smith Family | Captain Hughes | 1971-01-20 |
Movie | The Devil and Miss Sarah | Marshal Duncan | 1971-12-04 |
Movie | Chandler | Bernie Oakman | 1971-12-01 |
Movie | The Andersonville Trial | Board of Military Judges | 1970-05-17 |
Movie | Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here | Wilson | 1969-10-31 |
Movie | Pendulum | Deputy Chief John P. Hildebrand | 1969-02-14 |
Movie | Hang 'em High | Sheriff Ray Calhoun | 1968-04-12 |
Movie | The Busy Body | Fred Harwell | 1967-03-12 |
Movie | In Cold Blood | Tex Smith | 1967-12-15 |
Movie | Nightmare in Chicago | Harry Brockman | 1964-04-02 |
Movie | The Birds | Sebastian Sholes | 1963-03-28 |
Movie | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World | Lt. Matthews | 1963-11-07 |
Movie | The Horizontal Lieutenant | Col. Charles Korotny | 1962-04-18 |
Movie | Cimarron | Bob Yountis | 1960-12-01 |
Movie | Spartacus | Marcellus | 1960-10-13 |
Movie | The Man in the Net | Sheriff Steve Ritter | 1959-06-10 |
Movie | The Wonderful Country | Dr. Stovall | 1959-10-21 |
Movie | Saddle the Wind | Larry Venables | 1958-03-20 |
Movie | The Defiant Ones | Capt. Frank Gibbons | 1958-08-14 |
Movie | Twilight for the Gods | Yancy | 1958-08-04 |
Movie | Slaughter on 10th Avenue | Lt. Anthony Vosnick | 1957-09-01 |
Movie | Joe Butterfly | Sgt. Jim McNulty | 1957-05-29 |
Movie | Joe Dakota | Cal Moore | 1957-10-27 |
Movie | Away All Boats | Lieut. Mike O'Bannion | 1956-08-16 |
Movie | Toward the Unknown | Col. 'Mickey' McKee | 1956-09-27 |
Movie | The Cruel Tower | Harry 'Stretch' Clay | 1956-10-28 |
Movie | Loophole | Gus Slavin | 1954-03-28 |
Movie | The Bridges at Toko-Ri | Cmdr. Wayne Lee | 1954-12-01 |
Series | Adventures Of The Falcon | 1954-06-24 | |
Movie | War Paint | Sgt. Clarke | 1953-08-28 |
Movie | Thunder Over the Plains | Ben Westman | 1953-10-27 |
Movie | The Narrow Margin | Det. Sgt. Walter Brown | 1952-05-03 |
Movie | One Minute to Zero | Sfc. Baker | 1952-09-19 |
Movie | Double Crossbones | Capt. Ben Wickett | 1951-04-26 |
Movie | His Kind of Woman | Thompson / Narrator | 1951-08-15 |
Movie | Roadblock | Joe Peters | 1951-09-17 |
Movie | Side Street | Det. Stan Simon | 1950-03-23 |
Movie | Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town | Shotgun Mike Munger | 1950-04-01 |
Movie | I Was a Shoplifter | Detective | 1950-05-13 |
Movie | Armored Car Robbery | Lt. Jim Cordell | 1950-06-08 |
Movie | Once More, My Darling | Herman Schmelz | 1949-09-10 |
Movie | Reign of Terror | Sergeant | 1949-10-15 |
Movie | Border Incident | Jeff Amboy | 1949-10-28 |
Movie | The Threat | Arnold 'Red' Kluger | 1949-12-01 |
Movie | The Story of Molly X | Police Capt. Breen | 1949-11-01 |
Movie | The Hunted | Detective | 1948-04-07 |
Movie | Berlin Express | Colonel Johns | 1948-05-01 |
Movie | Blood on the Moon | Milo Sweet | 1948-11-11 |
Movie | Hazard | Chick | 1948-05-28 |
Movie | The Long Night | Policeman Stevens | 1947-05-28 |
Movie | The Farmer's Daughter | Fisher - Finley's Henchman (uncredited) | 1947-03-26 |
Movie | On the Old Spanish Trail | Harry Blaisdell | 1947-10-15 |
Movie | Roses Are Red | Duke Arno | 1947-11-10 |
Movie | T-Men | Moxie | 1947-12-15 |
Movie | The Gangster | Dugas | 1947-11-25 |
Movie | The Killers | Al | 1946-08-30 |
Movie | The Impostor | Menessier | 1944-02-10 |
Movie | They Came to Blow Up America | Zellerbach | 1943-05-07 |
Movie | The Moon Is Down | Ole (uncredited) | 1943-03-14 |
Movie | Two Tickets to London | Hendrik (uncredited) | 1943-06-14 |
Movie | Destroyer | Assistant Chief Engineer (uncredited) | 1943-08-19 |
Movie | Corvette K-225 | Chief Engineer | 1943-09-29 |
Movie | The Mad Ghoul | Detective Garrity | 1943-11-12 |
Movie | The Undying Monster | Strud Strudwick (uncredited) | 1942-11-27 |