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McGraw's most popular role in The Narrow Margin with Marie Windsor

Born Charles Butters in Ohio May 10, 1914, square-jawed Charles McGraw grew up to become an actor and eventually made his first movie in 1942. At first it seemed as though McGraw would spend his movie career playing bit parts as movie tough guys and gangsters, but the actor later developed into an unconventional but appealing leading man.

Gravel-voiced McGraw's notable roles include: playing the grumpy cop hired to protect Marie Windsor in the b-movie film noir classic The Narrow Margin (1952); Spartacus as Kirk Douglas' gladiator trainer; Lt. Jim Cordell in Armored Car Robbery (1950); Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963); and the cult classic A Boy and His Dog playing "The Preacher". He also starred in the TV version of Casablanca (1955) taking over Humprey Bogart's role as Rick (although his last name was changed to "Jason"). McGraw died accidentally in 1980 after slipping and falling through a glass shower door.

• Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
• The Killer Inside Me (1976)
• A Boy and His Dog (1975)
• Chandler (1971)
• Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
• Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)
• Pendulum (1969)
• Hang 'Em High (1968)
• In Cold Blood (1967)
• The Busy Body (1967)
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
• The Birds (1963)
• The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962)
• Cimarron (1960)
• Spartacus (1960)
• The Wonderful Country (1959)
• The Man in the Net (1959)
• Twilight for the Gods (1958)
• The Defiant Ones (1958)
• Saddle the Wind (1958)
• Joe Dakota (1957)
• Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1957)
• Joe Butterfly (1957)
• The Cruel Tower (1956)
• Toward the Unknown (1956)
• Away All Boats (1956)
• The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955)
• Loophole (1954)
• Thunder Over the Plains (1953)
• War Paint (1953)
• One Minute to Zero (1952)
• The Narrow Margin (1952)
• Roadblock (1951)
• His Kind of Woman (1951)
• Double Crossbones (1951)
• Armored Car Robbery (1950)
• I Was a Shoplifter (1950)
• Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950)
• Side Street (1950)
• The Threat (1949)
• The Story of Molly X (1949)
• Border Incident (1949)
• Reign of Terror (1949)
• Once More, My Darling (1949)
• Blood on the Moon (1948)
• Hazard (1948)
• Berlin Express (1948)
• The Hunted (1948)
• T-Men (1947)
• The Gangster (1947)
• Roses Are Red (1947)
• On the Old Spanish Trail (1947)
• Brute Force (1947)
• The Long Night (1947)
• The Big Fix (1947)
• The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
• The Killers (1946)
• The Seventh Cross (1944)
• The Impostor (1944)
• The Mad Ghoul (1943)
• Corvette K-225 (1943) (uncredited)
• Destroyer (1943) (uncredited)
• Mechanized Patrolling (1943)
• Two Tickets to London (1943) (uncredited)
• They Came to Blow Up America (1943)
• Tonight We Raid Calais (1943) (uncredited)
• The Moon Is Down (1943) (uncredited)
• The Undying Monster (1942) (uncredited)

• Find-A-Grave profile for Charles McGraw