Western Actor Charles Bronson Appeared In A Classic Horror Movie Before Superstardom
Most of us are pretty used to the idea that horror movies are a great way for up-and-coming actors to get a foothold in the film industry. That's primarily thanks to the horror boom of the 1980s, giving opportunities to numerous thespians who went on to become A-list actors; folks like Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Meg Ryan, and others. Yet the notion of horror giving a first chance to future stars is not relegated to the last 40-odd years. Sure, horror's reputability certainly wavered during the classic Hollywood years, meaning that studio horror films weren't as prolific as Westerns were, and thus many more young actors found themselves riding a horse more often than running around a spooky castle. Yet horror's always been popular, and during the 1950s, the studios began to get excited about a new gimmick which would briefly revitalize the genre: 3D.
1953's "House of Wax" is, in retrospect, a bit of a milestone movie in several respects. The film is an adaptation of Charles S. Belden's 1932 short story "The Wax Works," which had been previously made into a movie by Michael Curtiz in 1933, entitled "Mystery of the Wax Museum." (That version was also a gimmick movie, being one of the few movies shot and presented in two-color Technicolor.) So, since "House of Wax" is effectively a remake, director Andre de Toth decided to give the movie some extra spice by choosing to shoot it in 3D, using Milton Gunzburg's Natural Vision 3D system, which had made a splash in United Artists' "Bwana Devil" the year prior.
On top of that, de Toth cast Vincent Price in the leading role of the mad Professor Henry Jarrod, rescuing the actor from a slump. Price's performance in "House of Wax" helped cement his reputation as a preeminent horror star of the day, and essentially launched Price into the next phase of his career. Amidst all this was the role of Jarrod's assistant, Igor, a part which needed to be played by someone physically imposing and with an intimidating glare. The role was filled by a young actor named Charles Buchinsky, who would change his name the year after "House of Wax" because of the Red Scare that was sweeping Hollywood. That new name would be Charles Bronson, and the actor would soon go on to star in numerous Westerns and action pictures after his "House of Wax" appearance.
'House of Wax' was a one-and-done horror film for both Bronson and his director
While "House of Wax" would make Vincent Price synonymous with the horror genre, it did not do the same for either Charles Bronson or Andre de Toth. For both men, it was the only horror film they ever made. (In Bronson's case, this only holds true depending on how you categorize the 1983 thriller "10 to Midnight," in which Bronson plays a cop on the trail of a skeevy serial killer.) By the time of "House of Wax," de Toth had already made a name for himself as a director of edgy genre pictures, mostly westerns and film noir. Despite the success of "House of Wax," the filmmaker never returned to the horror genre again.
Yet de Toth was clearly impressed with Bronson's work as Igor in the film, enough that the two men worked together several times subsequently. De Toth cast Bronson in the film noir "Crime Wave" and the western "Riding Shotgun" (both 1954). The latter film helped establish Bronson in the western genre, a relationship that continued throughout the rest of his career with appearances in such classics as "The Magnificent Seven" and "Once Upon a Time in the West." Bronson's tough-guy stature also served him well in the burgeoning action film genre, taking him from crime pictures like "Machine Gun Kelly" to films like "The Mechanic" and, of course, the gritty vigilante "Death Wish" series.
Ironically, Bronson and de Toth nearly worked together a final time in a completely different genre: the superhero movie. Thanks to Bronson's good relationship with director Richard Donner (appearing in two of Donner's early features, "X-15" and "Lola"), Bronson became one of the actors to audition for the title role in 1978's "Superman." Of course, that part went to then-unknown Christopher Reeve, yet had Bronson won it instead, he would've worked again with de Toth, who had been hired to do some uncredited second unit directing on the film's flying sequences. Though Bronson had appeared in various small roles in films and TV episodes prior to his performance as Vincent Price's eerily stoic henchman, it's clear that "House of Wax" was a turning point in his career, making him a charter member of the "actors who got their break thanks to horror" club.