Charles Sherman Ruggles (February 8, 1886 – December 23, 1970) was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the elder brother of director, producer, and silent film actor Wesley Ruggles (1889–1972).
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Career
Ruggles was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1886. Despite training to be a doctor, Ruggles soon found himself on the stage, appearing in a stock production of Nathan Hale in 1905. In 1912, he worked in the stock company at Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco in a stage production of The Dawn of a Tomorrow. At Los Angeles's Majestic Theatre, he played Private Jo Files in L. Frank Baum and Louis F. Gottschalk's musical The Tik-Tok Man of Oz in 1913.
He moved to Broadway to appear in Help Wanted in 1914. His first screen role came in the silent Peer Gynt the following year. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Ruggles continued to appear in silent movies, though his passion remained the stage, appearing in long-running productions such as The Passing Show of 1918, Battling Buttler, and Avery Hopwood's The Demi-Virgin and Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath. One of his most famous stage hits was Queen High, one of his last before a nearly 30-year hiatus, produced in 1926. He also played Peter Braley in Spring Is Here, which ran for 104 performances in 1929.
