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 |
Series | Police Story | Unknown | 1973-03-20 |
Movie | Money to Burn | Neil Davis | 1973-10-27 |
Series | Banyon | Unknown | 1972-09-15 |
Movie | The Night Stalker | Police Chief Ed Masterson | 1972-01-11 |
Series | Emergency! | Unknown | 1972-01-22 |
Movie | Johnny Got His Gun | Mike Burkeman | 1971-08-04 |
Series | The Smith Family | Captain Hughes | 1971-01-20 |
Movie | Chandler | Bernie Oakman | 1971-12-01 |
Movie | The Devil and Miss Sarah | Marshal Duncan | 1971-12-04 |
Movie | The Andersonville Trial | Board of Military Judges | 1970-05-17 |
Movie | Pendulum | Deputy Chief John P. Hildebrand | 1969-02-14 |
Movie | Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here | Wilson | 1969-10-31 |
Movie | Hang 'em High | Sheriff Ray Calhoun | 1968-04-12 |
Series | The Outcasts | Unknown | 1968-09-23 |
Series | The Mod Squad | Unknown | 1968-09-24 |
Movie | The Busy Body | Fred Harwell | 1967-03-12 |
Series | Ironside | Unknown | 1967-03-28 |
Series | Judd for the Defense | Unknown | 1967-09-08 |
Movie | In Cold Blood | Tex Smith | 1967-12-15 |
Series | Hondo | Unknown | 1967-09-08 |
Series | Mission: Impossible | Unknown | 1966-09-17 |
Series | Run for Your Life | Unknown | 1965-09-13 |
Series | The Wild Wild West | Unknown | 1965-09-17 |
Movie | Nightmare in Chicago | Harry Brockman | 1964-04-02 |
Series | Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea | Unknown | 1964-09-14 |
Series | The Lieutenant | Unknown | 1963-09-14 |
Movie | The Birds | Sebastian Sholes | 1963-03-28 |
Series | Grindl | Unknown | 1963-09-15 |
Series | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Unknown | 1963-10-04 |
Movie | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World | Lt. Matthews | 1963-11-07 |
Series | Kraft Suspense Theatre | Unknown | 1963-10-10 |
Movie | The Horizontal Lieutenant | Col. Charles Korotny | 1962-04-18 |
Series | The Virginian | Unknown | 1962-09-19 |
Series | 87th Precinct | Unknown | 1961-09-25 |
Series | Cain's Hundred | Unknown | 1961-09-19 |
Series | Ben Casey | Unknown | 1961-10-02 |
Series | Dr. Kildare | Unknown | 1961-09-27 |
Series | The New Breed | Unknown | 1961-10-03 |
Series | Route 66 | Unknown | 1960-10-07 |
Series | Thriller | Unknown | 1960-09-13 |
Movie | Spartacus | Marcellus | 1960-10-13 |
Movie | Cimarron | Bob Yountis | 1960-12-01 |
Series | Johnny Staccato | Unknown | 1959-09-10 |
Movie | The Man in the Net | Sheriff Steve Ritter | 1959-06-10 |
Series | The Detectives | Unknown | 1959-10-16 |
Movie | The Wonderful Country | Dr. Stovall | 1959-10-21 |
Movie | Twilight for the Gods | Yancy | 1958-08-04 |
Movie | Saddle the Wind | Larry Venables | 1958-03-20 |
Movie | The Defiant Ones | Capt. Frank Gibbons | 1958-08-14 |
Series | 77 Sunset Strip | Unknown | 1958-10-10 |
Movie | Joe Butterfly | Sgt. Jim McNulty | 1957-05-29 |
Movie | Slaughter on 10th Avenue | Lt. Anthony Vosnick | 1957-09-01 |
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 |
Series | The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp | Unknown | 1955-09-06 |
Series | Gunsmoke | Unknown | 1955-09-10 |
Series | Casablanca | 1955-09-27 | |
Movie | Loophole | Gus Slavin | 1954-03-28 |
Series | Adventures Of The Falcon | 1954-06-24 | |
Series | The Whistler | Unknown | 1954-07-13 |
Movie | The Bridges at Toko-Ri | Cmdr. Wayne Lee | 1954-12-01 |
Series | General Electric Theater | Unknown | 1953-02-01 |
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 |
Series | Cavalcade of America | Unknown | 1952-10-01 |
Series | Mr. & Mrs. North | Unknown | 1952-10-03 |
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 | Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town | Shotgun Mike Munger | 1950-04-01 |
Movie | Side Street | Det. Stan Simon | 1950-03-23 |
Movie | I Was a Shoplifter | Detective | 1950-05-13 |
Movie | Armored Car Robbery | Lt. Jim Cordell | 1950-06-08 |
Series | Lux Video Theatre | Unknown | 1950-10-02 |
Movie | Reign of Terror | Sergeant | 1949-10-15 |
Movie | Border Incident | Jeff Amboy | 1949-10-28 |
Movie | Once More, My Darling | Herman Schmelz | 1949-09-10 |
Movie | The Story of Molly X | Police Capt. Breen | 1949-11-01 |
Movie | The Threat | Arnold 'Red' Kluger | 1949-12-01 |
Movie | The Hunted | Detective | 1948-04-07 |
Movie | Berlin Express | Colonel Johns | 1948-05-01 |
Movie | Hazard | Chick | 1948-05-28 |
Movie | Blood on the Moon | Milo Sweet | 1948-11-11 |
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 | The Gangster | Dugas | 1947-11-25 |
Movie | Roses Are Red | Duke Arno | 1947-11-10 |
Movie | T-Men | Moxie | 1947-12-15 |
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 | Two Tickets to London | Hendrik (uncredited) | 1943-06-14 |
Movie | The Moon Is Down | Ole (uncredited) | 1943-03-14 |
Movie | Corvette K-225 | Chief Engineer | 1943-09-29 |
Movie | Destroyer | Assistant Chief Engineer (uncredited) | 1943-08-19 |
Movie | The Mad Ghoul | Detective Garrity | 1943-11-12 |
Movie | The Undying Monster | Strud Strudwick (uncredited) | 1942-11-27 |