Charles Ruggles Biography

Fast Facts

• Donated his awards and personal memorabilia to the Department of Special Collections at the UCLA Library
• In 1953, he was the President of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
• Won a 1959 Tony Award for Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for his performance in "The Pleasure of His Company․"
• Trained to be a doctor, but soon turned toward the allures of the stage
• Started working for a pharmaceutical company directly after high school
• Originally found employment with the Alcazar Theatre Stock Company, the company with which he later made his stage debut, as a super
• Quote: "It was my mastery of the sputter system of dialogue which was my chief asset as an actor․"
• In his later years, he was usually cast as a twinkly-eyed senior who would explode into sputtering when exasperated
• Usually played sputtering, mild-mannered, kindly, bumbling roles on film, radio and television
• At one point during his marriage to fellow animal lover Marion La Barba, he owned 94 pets