
Acting
Charles McAvoy
Born — Died
1885-04-02 — 1953-04-20
Place of birth
New York City, New York, USA
Known for
Acting
Credits
60 titles
Known for
7.8A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
1932
6.7One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
Union Pacific
1939
6.9Two hoodlum brothers are brought into hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one dies, the other accuses their Black doctor of murder.
No Way Out
1950
7.1Apple Annie is an aging New York City fruit seller whose daughter Louise has been raised in a Spanish convent since she was an infant. As she grows up, Louise is led to believe that her mother is a society matron called Mrs. E. Worthington Manville. Annie worries that her lie is in danger of being uncovered when she learns that Louise is sailing to New York with her new fiancé and his nobleman father.
Lady for a Day
1933
6.3Fast-talking con-man and grifter Candy Johnson rises to be the corrupt boss of Yellow Creek, but his wife's alcoholic father tries to set things right.
Honky Tonk
1941
4.7Joyce and Fred MacNeil's honeymoon comes to an abrupt and unsatisfying halt when Fred is accused of murder. Railroaded into prison through the efforts of politically ambitious assistant DA Marlin, Fred awaits his doom on Death Row, while Joyce works overtime on the outside to clear her husband's name
Women Without Names
1940
Film credits
1950s · 3 titles
6.9Two hoodlum brothers are brought into hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one dies, the other accuses their Black doctor of murder.
No Way Out
1950
6.2A lady con artist sets out to steal her parole officer's fiance.
The Company She Keeps
1951
6.3As far as the rest of the world is concerned, mill heiress Deborah Chandler Clark is dead, killed in a freak auto accident. But Deborah is alive, if not too well. Having discovered a horrible truth about her new husband, Deborah is now a “woman in hiding,” living in mortal fear that someday her husband will catch up with her again. When a returning GI recognizes Deborah, however, she must decide whether or not she can trust him.
Woman in Hiding
1950
1940s · 22 titles
6.3Fast-talking con-man and grifter Candy Johnson rises to be the corrupt boss of Yellow Creek, but his wife's alcoholic father tries to set things right.
Honky Tonk
1941
4.7Joyce and Fred MacNeil's honeymoon comes to an abrupt and unsatisfying halt when Fred is accused of murder. Railroaded into prison through the efforts of politically ambitious assistant DA Marlin, Fred awaits his doom on Death Row, while Joyce works overtime on the outside to clear her husband's name
Women Without Names
1940
6.8Dick Tracy goes up against a villain known as The Ghost, who can turn himself invisible.
Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.
1941
7.0Told in flashback, Depression-era bum Dan McGinty is recruited by the city's political machine to help with vote fraud. His great aptitude for this brings rapid promotion from "the boss," who finally decides he'd be ideal as a new, nominally "reform" mayor; but this candidacy requires marriage. His in-name-only marriage to honest Catherine proves the beginning of the end for dishonest Dan...
The Great McGinty
1940
5.4Catherine Sykes disappears after a midnight drive with Professor Andrew Gentling . When she's presumed murdered, his friend Martha convinces him that he's a prime suspect and should investigate before he's arrested.
Take One False Step
1949
7.0A sister and her disturbed twin are implicated in a murder and a police detective must figure out which one's the killer.
The Dark Mirror
1946
6.1On America's frontier, a St. Louis woman marries a New Mexico cattleman who is seen as a tyrant by the locals.
The Sea of Grass
1947
6.2A reporter sleuths the mystery behind an oft-married Viennese doctor whose wives met mysterious fates.
The Mad Doctor
1940
6.8Nellie Kelly, the daughter of Irish immigrants, patches up differences between her father and maternal grandfather while rising to the top on Broadway.
Little Nellie Kelly
1940
6.2Stage actress Valerie Stanton is locked in a bitter feud with her producer and ex Gordon Dunning. When he attempts to blackmail her into remaining under contract with his company, Stanton, in a fit of passion, clubs Dunning with a statuette, killing him. Her gloves have prevented fingerprints but her perfect alibi quickly unravels as Captain Danbury begins investigating.
The Velvet Touch
1948
4.5A private detective, soon to enlist in the army, is drawn into one final case when his police officer father is killed in the line of duty. Soon his prime suspect is murdered as well, and he finds himself framed for the crime. As more witnesses get murdered, he finds himself on the run from both the police and former Prohibition violators who seem to have found a new racket.
X Marks the Spot
1942
5.2An insane scientist doing experimentation in glandular research becomes obsessed with transforming a female gorilla into a human...even though it costs human life.
Captive Wild Woman
1943
5.7Jimmy, the owner of a failed music shop, goes to work with his uncle, the owner of a food factory. Before he gets there, he befriends an Irish family who happens to be his uncle's worst enemy because of their love for music and in-house band who constantly practices. Soon, Jimmy finds himself trying to help the band by getting them gigs and trying to reconcile the family with his uncle.
Pot o' Gold
1941
6.6Falsely convicted of murder, young Robert Draper escapes custody during a practice blackout drill. Under cover of darkness, Draper hopes to find the real killer, who turns out to be a member of a Nazi sabotage ring. Completed shortly before America entered WW2.
Pacific Blackout
1941
7.3The Shadow battles a villain known as The Black Tiger, who has the power to make himself invisible and is trying to take over the world with his death ray.
The Shadow
1940
6.9Popular songwriter Oliver Courtney has been getting by for years using one ghost writer for his music and another for his lyrics. When both writers meet at an inn, they fall in love and then try to sell their songs under their own name. The problem is every song publisher thinks they're copying Courtney's style.
Rhythm on the River
1940
7.5A rapid series of murders occurs when a professor disrupts a tranquil Egyptian tomb by removing some precious jewels.
Dark Streets of Cairo
1940
5.6A Broadway producer's Girl Friday must make sure that her recent marriage is kept secret. If it gets out, she will lose her job. Unfortunately, her new hubby is tired of hiding the truth and creates all kinds of problems when he decides to spill the beans.
Fired Wife
1943
6.5A gang of urban street kids and a club of suburban would-be federal agents, at first rivals, join forces to rescue the father of one of the kids, the inventor of a super-explosive and its remote detonator, from the clutches of a band of foreign subversives call the "Flaming Torch Gang". A 12-episode movie serial with the chapters: •1. Enemies Within •2. The Blast of Doom •3. Human Dynamite •4. Blazing Danger •5. Trapped By Traitors •6. Traitors' Treachery •7. Flaming Death •8. Hurled Through Space •9. The Plunge of Peril •10.The Toll of Treason •11.Descending Doom •12.The Power of Patriotism
Junior G-Men
1940
8.0A compulsive gambler bets her freedom against a $16,000 debt to a crime boss…and loses. But before he can collect, she skips town, with a private detective hot on her trail.
Hazard
1948
9.0In this WW II musical, a young man suddenly finds himself in charge of his family when his father is called to war. To help the flagging spirits of local factory workers, the plucky lad, his siblings and his schoolmates put on a lively little show. With a little work, he even convinces Count Basie to come with his band.
Top Man
1943
5.2The host of a whodunit radio show finds himself involved in his own mystery when he awakens to find a woman with a knife in her back in his bedroom.
A Tragedy at Midnight
1942
1930s · 35 titles
7.8A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
1932
6.7One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
Union Pacific
1939
7.1Apple Annie is an aging New York City fruit seller whose daughter Louise has been raised in a Spanish convent since she was an infant. As she grows up, Louise is led to believe that her mother is a society matron called Mrs. E. Worthington Manville. Annie worries that her lie is in danger of being uncovered when she learns that Louise is sailing to New York with her new fiancé and his nobleman father.
Lady for a Day
1933
7.1A sleazy lawyer's female assistant sets out to end his cheating ways.
The Defense Rests
1934
6.8When a confused eyewitness identifies New York City cabbie Brick Tennant as a killer, he is sentenced to death for a murder that he wasn't involved in. Though no one is willing to listen to the innocent prisoner's pleas for freedom, Brick's faithful fiancée, Mary, knows that her lover is innocent because she was with him when the crime was committed. As the scheduled execution draws ever nearer, Mary begins to investigate the murder herself.
Let Us Live
1939
6.6Meek Eddie Pink becomes manager of an amusement park beset by mobsters.
Strike Me Pink
1936
6.0Miss Madeline Fane is a famous California screen star who has been devoted to her baby son Michael since her husband's death the previous year. One morning she awakens to find Michael has been kidnapped. After a day, she calls in the police, who instantly begin an all-out search.
Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen
1934
4.7A mobster's moll leads a newsman, cub reporter and photographer to a scoop.
The Housekeeper's Daughter
1939
6.8While on trial for her life, a young woman recalls her tough upbringing and her involvement with the men who brought her to this current state of affairs.
Midnight Mary
1933
5.7Shortly before the curtain goes up the first time at the latest performance of Earl Carroll's Vanities, someone is attempting to injure the leading lady Ann Ware, who wants to marry leading man Eric Lander. Stage manager Jack Ellery calls in his friend, policeman Bill Murdock, to help him investigate. Bill thinks Jack is offering to let him see the show from an unusual viewpoint after he forgot to get him tickets for the performance, but then they find the corpse of a murdered woman and Bill immediately suspects Eric of the crime.
Murder at the Vanities
1934
6.5A loose biopic based on the life of Gilded Age tycoon "Diamond" Jim Brady.
Diamond Jim
1935
8.0Fay Wray plays Jean Hastings, the wealthy and spoiled scion of a factory-owning family led by her irrepressible grandmother. Sparks fly when Jean meets Jim Devlin, the labor leader who’s spearheading a tense worker’s strike against the factory. After circumstances force Jean and Jim to spend a night together in his cabin, she begins questioning her family’s ruthless tactics. This hard-to-see Columbia film by British director Roy William Neill not only features Wray as a brunette but also includes an explosive depiction of labor strife. (Block Cinema)
Mills of the Gods
1934
8.0Assistant District Attorney Jeffery Powell has just sent an innocent man to prison for the murder of a gambler. Powell is in love with, Marion Courtney, but he's unaware that Marion is the sister of the innocent man he sent to prison. Marion gets herself committed to a women's prison to get proof from inmate, Evelyn 'Duchess' Thane, that her brother is innocent. Powell learns of Marion's plight and believes she's in love with the man he sent to prison.
The Bridge of Sighs
1936
8.0In this high-flying mystery set aboard a cross-country flight to New York, some of the passengers are kidnappers who are trying to locate a hidden cache of loot. Unfortunately, something goes wrong during the trip and the pilots must land the plane in the Arizona desert during a terrible storm. There all of the passengers and crew find cramped accommodations in a lonely farmhouse where murder, mystery and mayhem occur.
Forced Landing
1935
Patsy is coerced into faking a broken leg in order to win an insurance settlement after an automobile accident.
I'll Be Suing You
1934
6.2Charlie Mason and Rusty Fleming are star reporters on a Chicago tabloid who are romantically involved as well. Although skilled in ferreting out great stories, they often behave in an unprofessional and immature manner. After their shenanigans cause their frustrated city editor to resign, the publisher promotes Charlie to the job, a decision based on the premise that only a slacker would be able crack down on other shirkers and underachievers. His pomposity soon alienates most of his co-workers and causes Rusty to move to New York. Charlie resigns and along with gangster friend Smiles Benson tries to win Rusty back before she marries a stuffy society author.
Wedding Present
1936
6.6Dr. Henryk Savaard is a scientist working on experiments to restore life to the dead. When he is unjustly hanged for murder, he is brought back to life by his trusted assistant. Re-animated he turns decidedly nasty and sets about murdering the jury that convicted him.
The Man They Could Not Hang
1939
7.0Mason is a former race-horse owner who gave up everything and started to drink after the death of one of his jockeys. One day he meets Goldie who has run away from home, hoping to find a job around horses; his biggest hobby. When he finds out the real identity of Mason, Goldie takes care of him. The two find an occasion to buy a horse for only two dollars, and start entering competitions. Goldie is an instant celebrity, but his mom reads the newspapers and tracks him down. Mason is very surprised to see her, his ex-wife, and even more astonished to hear that Goldie is his own son. However, Goldie must go back to school and so they decide to keep the secret. Since Goldie does not want to leave Mason behind, he goes to the bookies and fixes the next race, hoping to disappoint Goldie by asking him to lose on purpose.
King of the Turf
1939
5.5In the 1840s, Ramsey MacKay, the driver for the struggling Wells Fargo mail and freight company, will secure an important contract if he delivers fresh oysters to Buffalo from New York City. When he rescues Justine Pryor and her mother, who are stranded in a broken wagon on his route, he doesn't let them slow him down and gives the ladies an exhilirating ride into Buffalo. He arrives in time to obtain the contract and is then sent by company president Henry Wells to St. Louis to establish a branch office.
Wells Fargo
1937
6.9Nikki Martin, a beautiful French opera star, stows away on an ocean liner in hopes of escaping her jealous fiancee. Once aboard, she joins an American swing band and falls in love with its leader, who, after hearing her sing, eventually comes to reciprocate her feelings.
That Girl from Paris
1936
5.4"In the Gay Nineties New York had grown up into bustles and balloon Sleeves ... but The Bowery had grown younger, louder and more rowdy until it was known as the 'Livest Mile on the face of the globe' ... the cradle of men who were later to be famous.
The Bowery
1933
6.2When a young woman named Barbara Clarke has an affair with adventurer Roger Coverman, it causes a scandal in the Puritanical town of Salem, Massachusetts. After a meddling girl arouses their suspicions, the town's elders accuse Barbara of being a witch. She is tried, convicted of sorcery and sentenced to death. As the townspeople prepare to burn Barbara at the stake, Roger tries desperately to save the woman he loves.
Maid of Salem
1937
4.0Despite his older brother's objections, a young man vows to become a newsreel cameraman.
Anything for a Thrill
1937
6.7The struggle of a man to build a steam ship to take him across the Atlantic in spite of all setbacks, and his win against a crack sailing boat in the early 19th century.
Rulers of the Sea
1939
5.3The younger brother of an officer in a secret government code-breaking unit gets involved with a gang of spies and a beautiful double agent.
Cipher Bureau
1938
6.0When reporter Dan Miller is once again late to meet his girl friend, Helen Murdock, because he is working on a story, Helen breaks up with him. Later, in an effort to reconcile with her, Dan misses an appointment with the district attorney, and is fired when his editor learns that the district attorney was murdered in Dan's absence. The man suspected of the crime, Mitts Coster, is rumored to be traveling to Europe aboard an ocean liner. While Dan's friend, photographer Snapper McGillicuddy, fetches Helen to the boat, under the pretense that Dan is leaving town to forget her, Dan searches the ship for Mitts, whom he does not recognize. When Helen arrives, Dan feigns illness, and she admits her love for him. When Helen learns of Dan's ruse, however, she angrily hits him with a package that a passenger gave her when she boarded the ship. The package contains a passport for Dorothy Madden, who greatly resembles Helen, and $2,000 dollars.
Atlantic Adventure
1935
5.6Elmer attempts to elope with his fiancée, but they escape her parents by driving off in a car that's actually owned by a wanted gangster. When they hear on the radio that the police are looking for them, they dump the car and hide out near a farmhouse. But the farmer's radio also broadcasts the couple's description, so they run away and start hitchhiking, only to be picked up by two policemen. They manage to flee into a railroad yard and hop a train that turns out to be refrigerated. Finally they decide to turn themselves in -- just as they learn that the real crooks have been apprehended.
The E-Flat Man
1935
5.0In this musical short, a man tries to woo the manager of a dance troupe.
Love on Tap
1939
6.7Jackie throws his schoolbook out the window in disgust, but then climbs outside to retrieve it. Finding himself locked out, he tries various means of getting back inside without his parents finding out. When his parents mistake his noises for a burglar, a local policeman is called, but he seems incompetent to catch either the phony burglar or the real one who has shown up in the meantime
When the Wind Blows
1930
6.7The story of seedy sideshow barker Nicky, who uses everyone he meets to get ahead. Nicky isn't even above exploiting his singing sweetheart Lily to suit his purposes, but this time it is he who ends up the loser -- at least until he gets wise to himself.
Shoot the Works
1934
5.9The gang is participating in a program sponsored by the Golden Age Dramatic League. They present their own fractured version of Quo Vadis. Things go from bad to worse when the neighborhood tough kids disrupt the show. The pie fight is given a new twist by use of some slow motion sequences.
Shivering Shakespeare
1930
6.2A reporter sets out to provide how unreliable circumstantial evidence is by faking a murder and then taking the rap for it. However, the "fake" murder victim turns out to be really dead
Circumstantial Evidence
1935
Spanish language version of The Big Kick from Hal Roach.
The Gas Station
1930
6.2A policeman doubles as a gunman to get in with the mob.
Those Who Dance
1930
7.2John Dawson loses control of his factory when he is crippled in an accident caused by a rival. Destitute, he travels the country organizing the homeless to help him regain control of his steel mill.
Beggars in Ermine
1934
