Charles Cahill Wilson

Acting

Charles Cahill Wilson

Born — Died

1894-07-28 — 1948-01-07

Place of birth

New York City, New York, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

61 titles

Charles Cahill Wilson (July 29, 1894 – January 7, 1948) was an American screen and stage actor. He appeared in numerous films during the Golden Age of Hollywood from the late 1920s to late 1940s. Born in New York City in 1894, the white-haired, burly actor was often typecast as an earnest police officer, newspaper editor or principal. He appeared in over 250 films between 1928 and 1948, mostly playing small supporting roles with a few sentences. Charles Wilson began his acting career at the theatre, including roles in six Broadway plays between 1918 and 1931. In 1928, he directed the Hollywood comedy Lucky Boy (1928), where he also made his film debut. According to the Internet Movie Databa…

Known for

It's a Wonderful Life poster
8.3

George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.

It's a Wonderful Life

1946

It Happened One Night poster
7.8

A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.

It Happened One Night

1934

The Roaring Twenties poster
7.5

After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

The Roaring Twenties

1939

City for Conquest poster
6.9

The heartbreaking but hopeful tale of Danny Kenny and Peggy Nash, two sweethearts who meet and struggle through their impoverished lives in New York City. When Peggy, hoping for something better in life for both of them, breaks off her engagement to Danny, he sets out to be a championship boxer, while she becomes a dancer paired with a sleazy partner. Will tragedy reunite the former lovers?

City for Conquest

1940

This Gun for Hire poster
7.0

Sadistic killer-for-hire Philip Raven becomes enraged when his latest job is paid off in marked bills. Vowing to track down his double-crossing boss, nightclub executive Gates, Raven sits beside Gates' lovely new employee, Ellen, on a train out of town. Although Ellen is engaged to marry the police lieutenant who's hunting down Raven, she decides to try and set the misguided hit man straight as he hides from the cops and plots his revenge.

This Gun for Hire

1942

Scarlet Street poster
7.6

Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she's really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Johnny find out that art dealers are interested in Chris's work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.

Scarlet Street

1945

Film credits

1940s · 22 titles

It's a Wonderful Life poster
8.3

George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.

It's a Wonderful Life

1946

City for Conquest poster
6.9

The heartbreaking but hopeful tale of Danny Kenny and Peggy Nash, two sweethearts who meet and struggle through their impoverished lives in New York City. When Peggy, hoping for something better in life for both of them, breaks off her engagement to Danny, he sets out to be a championship boxer, while she becomes a dancer paired with a sleazy partner. Will tragedy reunite the former lovers?

City for Conquest

1940

This Gun for Hire poster
7.0

Sadistic killer-for-hire Philip Raven becomes enraged when his latest job is paid off in marked bills. Vowing to track down his double-crossing boss, nightclub executive Gates, Raven sits beside Gates' lovely new employee, Ellen, on a train out of town. Although Ellen is engaged to marry the police lieutenant who's hunting down Raven, she decides to try and set the misguided hit man straight as he hides from the cops and plots his revenge.

This Gun for Hire

1942

Scarlet Street poster
7.6

Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she's really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Johnny find out that art dealers are interested in Chris's work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.

Scarlet Street

1945

Meet John Doe poster
7.3

As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from unemployed "John Doe," who threatens suicide in protest of social ills. The paper is forced to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby to impersonate "Doe." Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up "John Doe" philosophy starts a whole political movement.

Meet John Doe

1941

They Drive by Night poster
6.9

Joe and Paul Fabrini are Wildcat, or independent, truck drivers who have their own small one-truck business. The Fabrini boys constantly battle distributors, rivals and loan collectors, while trying to make a success of their transport company.

They Drive by Night

1940

Batman poster
6.2

Japanese master spy Daka operates a covert espionage-sabotage organization located in Gotham City's now-deserted Little Tokyo, which turns American scientists into pliable zombies. The great crime-fighters Batman and Robin, with the help of their allies, are in pursuit.

Batman

1943

Gentleman Jim poster
7.2

As bare-knuckled boxing enters the modern era, brash extrovert Jim Corbett uses new rules and dazzlingly innovative footwork to rise to the top of the boxing world.

Gentleman Jim

1942

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty poster
6.8

Walter Mitty, a daydreaming writer with an overprotective mother, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures. His dream becomes reality when he accidentally meets a mysterious woman who hands him a little black book. According to her, it contains the locations of the Dutch crown jewels hidden since World War II. Soon, Mitty finds himself in the middle of a confusing conspiracy, where he has difficulty differentiating between fact and fiction.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

1947

Rings on Her Fingers poster
6.7

Susan Miller works behind the girdle counter in a department store and dreams about the beautiful clothes and glamour she can never hope to have. Enter May Worthington and Warren, a pair of con artists who pose as the mother and uncle of a pretty girl in order to separate millionaires from their money. They convince Susan she has an opportunity to fulfill all her dreams, and the trio heads for Palm Beach. Susan meets John Wheeler who says he is shopping for a sailboat. Believing that he is a millionaire, Warren and May sell him a boat that doesn't belong to them, and make off with his $15,000 life savings. Looking for greener pastures, they work themselves into the family of wealthy Tod Fenwick, who falls for Sue, posing as "Linda Worthington". But John shows up as a guest of Fenwick and he tells "Linda", not knowing she was part of the scam, that he has a detective after the fake captain that sold him the boat...

Rings on Her Fingers

1942

Out of the Fog poster
6.4

A Brooklyn pier racketeer bullies boat-owners into paying protection money but two fed-up fishermen decide to eliminate the gangster themselves rather than complain to the police.

Out of the Fog

1941

Lady with Red Hair poster
6.9

An actress hopes to regain her lost son by making it to the top.

Lady with Red Hair

1940

Knute Rockne All American poster
6.1

The story of legendary Notre Dame football player and coach Knute Rockne.

Knute Rockne All American

1940

He Married His Wife poster
5.6

Race horse owner pays so much attention to business he winds up divorced from his wife. His alimony payments are so steep he plots with his lawyer to get her married off.

He Married His Wife

1940

Week-End at the Waldorf poster
6.5

Anything can happen during a weekend at New York's Waldorf-Astoria: a glamorous movie star meets a world-weary war correspondent and mistakes him for a jewel thief; a soldier learns that without an operation he'll die and so looks for one last romance with a beautiful but ambitious stenographer; a cub reporter tries to get the goods on a shady man's dealing with a foreign potentate.

Week-End at the Waldorf

1945

Girl in 313 poster
5.6

A priceless necklace goes missing at a plush party. Police close in on the jewel thieves but is one cop getting too close to one of the crooks?

Girl in 313

1940

Gangs of Chicago poster
5.8

A criminal uses his knowledge of the law for his not-very-legal purposes, betraying friends along the way.

Gangs of Chicago

1940

Public Deb No. 1 poster
4.9

When a waiter gives a society girl a public spanking for attending a Communist rally, her soup-tycoon uncle makes the waiter a vice-president of his company.

Public Deb No. 1

1940

Dr. Broadway poster
6.0

A New York doctor saves a chorus girl from a window ledge, twice, and rounds up racketeers.

Dr. Broadway

1942

A Gun in His Hand poster
6.1

A young man graduates from the police academy at the top of his class. He then teams up with some local thieves and uses his knowledge of police procedures to pursue a career of undetected crime.

A Gun in His Hand

1945

Dressed to Kill poster
6.3

A detective's wedding is postponed when gunshots are heard nearby.

Dressed to Kill

1941

Lady Gangster poster
5.7

An actress gets involved with a criminal gang and winds up taking the rap for a $40,000 bank robbery. Before being sent to prison, she steals the money from her partners and hides it, thinking to use it as a bargaining chip to be released from prison. However, her former partners have different ideas.

Lady Gangster

1942

1930s · 38 titles

It Happened One Night poster
7.8

A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.

It Happened One Night

1934

The Roaring Twenties poster
7.5

After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

The Roaring Twenties

1939

Gold Diggers of 1933 poster
7.2

When all Broadway shows are shut down during the Depression, a trio of desperate showgirls scheme to bilk a repugnant high society man of his money to keep their show going.

Gold Diggers of 1933

1933

You Only Live Once poster
7.1

Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham and baby. While escaping prison after being sentenced to death, Taylor becomes a real murderer, condemning himself and Joan to a life of crime and death on the road.

You Only Live Once

1937

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town poster
7.5

Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

1936

Invisible Stripes poster
6.2

A gangster is unable to go straight after returning home from prison.

Invisible Stripes

1939

Angels with Dirty Faces poster
7.5

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.

Angels with Dirty Faces

1938

Broadway Melody of 1938 poster
6.6

Steve Raleight wants to produce a show on Broadway. He finds a backer, Herman Whipple and a leading lady, Sally Lee. But Caroline Whipple forces Steve to use a known star, not a newcomer. Sally purchases a horse, she used to train when her parents had a farm before the depression and with to ex-vaudevillians, Sonny Ledford and Peter Trott she trains it to win a race, providing the money Steve needs for his show.

Broadway Melody of 1938

1937

Big Brown Eyes poster
6.2

Sassy manicurist Eve Fallon is recruited as an even more brassy reporter and she helps police detective boyfriend Danny Barr break a jewel theft ring and solve the murder of a baby.

Big Brown Eyes

1936

The Gilded Lily poster
6.7

Secretary Marilyn David falls in love with British aristocrat Charles Gray, to the dismay of her best friend, reporter Peter Dawes, who secretly loves her. When Peter learns that the already-engaged Charles has hurt Marilyn, he fabricates an article casting her as the "No Girl" who refused to marry a callous aristocrat. But when the publicity brings Marilyn unexpected fame, and Charles returns, she is forced to choose between the two men.

The Gilded Lily

1935

The Kennel Murder Case poster
6.1

Philo Vance, accompanied by his prize-losing Scottish terrier, investigates the locked-room murder of a prominent and much-hated collector whose broken Chinese vase provides an important clue.

The Kennel Murder Case

1933

Mary Stevens, M.D. poster
6.2

Lifelong friends and medical school graduates Mary Stevens and Don Andrews decide to set up office together. While Mary struggles to earn respect because of her gender, Don gets caught up in his ambitions for a bigger life.

Mary Stevens, M.D.

1933

Hold That Co-ed poster
6.7

An egotistical politician believes he can win votes by turning a small college's hapless football squad into a championship team.

Hold That Co-ed

1938

The Return of Doctor X poster
6.0

When news reporter Walter Garrett arrives at the hotel room of bombshell actress Angela Merrova to conduct an interview, he finds her dead from multiple stab wounds. He returns with the police to find the hotel empty and the body vanished. Garrett writes about the incident but is fired when Merrova, alive and well, goes to the paper to complain. Now his only chance to get his job back is to find the truth, which involves the grisly scheme of a madman.

The Return of Doctor X

1939

The Mayor of Hell poster
7.1

Members of a teenage gang are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the callous Thompson. Soon Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner, arrives and takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. Thompson needs a quick way to discredit him.

The Mayor of Hell

1933

Murder in the Fleet poster
6.6

A traitor is lurking somewhere aboard the USS Carolina, and Lt. Tom Randolph is determined to find the offender. First a revolutionary new piece of technology -- an electric firing device -- is sabotaged. Then one of the cruiser's crew is murdered. In order to catch the killer, the captain locks down the ship. With foreign dignitaries, corporate goons and even Tom's girlfriend, Betty, trapped on the vessel, there is no shortage of suspects.

Murder in the Fleet

1935

That’s My Story poster
8.0

A reporter desperate for a story tries to interview a gangster's girlfriend jailed in a small town. He gets himself thrown in the same jail and runs into a female reporter with the same idea, but thinks she is the girlfriend he wants to interview.

That’s My Story

1937

Strike Me Pink poster
6.6

Meek Eddie Pink becomes manager of an amusement park beset by mobsters.

Strike Me Pink

1936

Hard to Handle poster
6.9

A hustling public relations man promotes a series of fads.

Hard to Handle

1933

Fog Over Frisco poster
6.4

Valkyr Bradford takes the assistance of a society reporter and a journalist to investigate the disappearance of her half-sister Arlene, a wealthy socialite involved in criminal activities.

Fog Over Frisco

1934

The Case of the Lucky Legs poster
6.0

A con man who stages phony "lucky legs" beauty contests and leaves town with the money is found with a surgical knife in his heart by Mason.

The Case of the Lucky Legs

1935

When Were You Born poster
5.3

A San Francisco astrologer correctly predicts a ship passenger's death and then helps the police look for the murderer.

When Were You Born

1938

Satan Met a Lady poster
5.8

In the second screen version of The Maltese Falcon, a detective is caught between a lying seductress and a lady jewel thief.

Satan Met a Lady

1936

The Dragon Murder Case poster
5.9

Wonderful idea to give a party with people who dislike each other. Late at night, everyone decides to go into the pool, except Stamm, who is drunk. Montague dives in as does Greeff and Leland, but only Greeff and Leland come out. Montague is no where to be found so Leland suspects foul play and calls the cops. Luckily, Philo is with the D.A. and comes along, but they do not find Montague. When they drain the pool the next day, they find nothing except what looks like dragon prints. Philo has his suspicions and tries to piece the clues together to find out what has happened.

The Dragon Murder Case

1934

The Great Hotel Murder poster
6.0

Crime novelist Roger Blackwood competes with hotel house detective Andy McCabe in solving a murder by poisoning at a medical convention.

The Great Hotel Murder

1935

Sally, Irene and Mary poster
6.8

Manicurists Sally, Irene and Mary hope to be Broadway entertainers. When Mary inherits an old ferry boat, they turn it into a successful supper club.

Sally, Irene and Mary

1938

Smashing the Money Ring poster
5.8

T-Man Brass Bancroft goes undercover in a prison which has a secret counterfeit operation set up in the print shop.

Smashing the Money Ring

1939

Rose of Washington Square poster
6.7

Rose Sargent, a Roaring '20s singer, becomes a Ziegfeld Follies star as her criminal husband gets deeper in trouble.

Rose of Washington Square

1939

Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen poster
6.0

Miss 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

Show Boat poster
6.7

Sheltered beauty Magnolia Hawkes takes over as the leading lady on a Mississippi riverboat show when mixed-race Julie and her white husband are forced out of town by a prejudiced sheriff. Charismatic opportunist Gaylord Ravenal wins Magnolia's heart, but his gambling losses threaten to ruin their chances for a happy marriage.

Show Boat

1936

One Mile from Heaven poster
6.6

A female journalist travels to a new neighborhood after getting a (false) lead and is surprised by what she finds.

One Mile from Heaven

1937

The Great O'Malley poster
6.9

Officer James O'Malley, a true believer in law and order, treats even the smallest offenses with the utmost seriousness. But O'Malley brings bad publicity to the force when his pigheaded ethics become the subject of a scathing news story, and he's subsequently relegated to traffic cop. While on the beat, he tickets impoverished family man John Phillips, unaware that his stubbornness will set off a series of devastating events for Phillips.

The Great O'Malley

1937

After the Dance poster
6.5

Though he was protecting her when he accidentally killed a man, Mabel Kane (Thelma Todd) refuses to testify on behalf of her dance partner Jerry Davis (George Murphy), and he's sent to jail. In a riot, a hostile convict (Jack La Rue) forces Jerry to help him escape, so Jerry takes to the streets himself. Nightclub entertainer Anne Taylor (Nancy Carroll) meets him, and convinces her boss Louis (Arthur Hohl) to hire him as her partner.

After the Dance

1935

Embarrassing Moments poster
9.0

Jerry Randolph is an inveterate and obnoxious practical joker. Things take a serious turn when it looks as though Jerry's latest prank has resulted in the death of his best friend.

Embarrassing Moments

1934

Mind Your Own Business poster
10.0

Nature reporter Orville Shanks retreats to the woods for material for his "Our Wild Friends" column and to volunteer for his favorite cause, the Boy Scouts. When Orville's editor, Crane, orders him to spice up his column, Orville's wife Melba writes a gossip column using animals as metaphors for people. Crane loves Melba's article and gives Orville a raise, and the column becomes a hit.

Mind Your Own Business

1936

Men of the Night poster
4.5

"Stake-Out" Kelly, ace detective, meets Mary Higgins at a small Hollywood sandwich shop where he expects to get some information concerning Packey Davis, head of a ring of jewel thieves. His suspicions are confirmed when Mary warns him that Davis is outside - waiting for him. Kelly sets a trap and, in the ensuing battle, one of the gangsters is killed. Davis is interested in rubbing out Kelly as Kelly and Baker are the only two witnesses against Smitty, a Davis henchman. Baker is in the hospital and the plan is bring Smitty there for identification. Kelly accidentally slips the secret to Mary, who in turn innocently informs Packey. A trap is laid.

Men of the Night

1934

Baby Face Harrington poster
5.4

Thanks to a series of comic mishaps, a timid, small-town office clerk finds himself wanted by the police and labeled by the media as "Public Enemy No. 2."

Baby Face Harrington

1935

Elmer, the Great poster
5.1

Baseball star Elmer Kane leaves the little town of Gentryville, Indiana, to join the Chicago Cubs, where his naivete and arrogance soon put his relationship and career into jeopardy.

Elmer, the Great

1933

Behind the camera