Billed at the height of his popularity as "America's Boyfriend," Charles "Buddy" Rogers was the son of a Kansas judge. While attending the University of Kansas, Rogers played a variety of instruments with a local jazz band. While he would front a popular Catalina-based band in the 1930s, Rogers is best remembered for his film career, which began when he was recruited for Paramount Pictures' talent school in 1925. His finest hour onscreen was as the best pal of World War I aviator Richard Arlen in the first Oscar-winning film, Wings (1927). In 1928, Rogers acted opposite Mary Pickford, 11 years his senior, in My Best Girl. What started as a friendly professional relationship blossomed into romance after Pickford's divorce from Douglas Fairbanks, and in 1937 Rogers became Pickford's third (and last) husband. Rogers continued his acting career with moderate success into the late '40s, making one last picture, The Parson and the Outlaw, in 1957; he also produced a handful of second features for United Artists in 1947. The affable, ever-upbeat Charles Rogers confined his public appearances in the 1960s and 1970s to civic and charitable events, where he frequently acted as official spokesperson for his increasingly reclusive wife.
by Hal Erickson
biography
