Charles Ruggles

Biography

Charles Ruggles had one of the longest careers in Hollywood, lasting more than 60 years and encompassing more than 100 films. He made his film debut in 1914 in The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) and worked steadily after that. He was memorably paired with Mary Boland in a series of comedies in the early 1930s, and was one of the standouts in the all-star comedy If I Had a Million (1932), as a harried, much-put-upon man who finally goes berserk in a china shop. Ruggles' slight stature and distinctive mannerisms - his fluttery, jumpy manner of speaking, his often befuddled look whenever events seemed about to overwhelm him, which was often - endeared him to generations of moviegoers. Memorable as Maj. Applegate the big-game hunter in the classic screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938). Many will remember him as the narrator of the "Aesop's Fables" segment of the animated cartoon The Bullwinkle Show (1961). He was the brother of director Wesley Ruggles.

Known For

Bringing Up Baby

as Horace Applegate

Bewitched

as Mr. Caldwell

The Parent Trap

as Charles McKendrick

Trouble in Paradise

as The Major

The Ugly Dachshund

as Dr. J. L. Pruitt

The Andy Griffith Show

as John Canfield

Love Me Tonight

as Viscount Gilbert de Varèze

Ruggles of Red Gap

as Egbert Floud

It Happened on Fifth Avenue

as Michael J. 'Mike' O'Connor

The Invisible Woman

as George