Famous People Named Charles a to z

Charles Addams was an American cartoonist whose work was frequently featured in The New Yorker. His most famous creation was the humorously macabre Addams Family.

Italian-American bodybuilder Charles Atlas founded a highly successful mail-order business from his patented "Dynamic-Tension" exercise program.

Charles Babbage was known for his contributions to the first mechanical computers, which laid the groundwork for more complex future designs.

Retired NBA player Charles Barkley was part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic "Dream Team" and was named one of the league's 50 greatest players in 1996.

Charles Baudelaire was a French poet best known for his controversial volume of poems, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil).

Charles H. Best was a physiologist and medical researcher who co-discovered the use of insulin as a treatment for diabetes.

Charles Boyer was an Oscar-nominated French actor of stage, film and television with a career that spanned almost six decades.

American film Charles Bronson is best known for playing tough-guy, vigilante roles in films like The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Death Wish (1974).

Blues Singer Charles Brown belonged to John Moore’s Three Blazers and gained fame when the band released “Driftin’ Blues.”

Author and poet Charles Bukowski wrote the gritty poetry book Love is a Dog from Hell, and the novels Barfly and Factotum, both of which were made into films.

Charles of Blois was a rival duke of Brittany in the mid-1300s.

Charles I of Hungary was forced to surrender his power to Wenceslas of Bohemia, but later reclaimed the throne and formed a defensive alliance with Poland.

Charles I was a monarch of the Hapsburg line who was the last emperor of Austria and king of Hungary. He lost his throne at the end of World War I.

Charles II was the monarch of England, Ireland and Scotland during much of the latter half of the 17th century, marking the Restoration era.

Charles IX was King of France from 1560 until 1574 during the turbulent time of the Wars of Religion.

Charles VI, nicknamed Charles the Mad, was king of France from 1380 to 1422—a period marked by political chaos and France’s defeat by England at Agincourt.

Charles Chesnutt was a trailblazing short-story author and novelist who presented African-American life in works like The Conjure Woman and The Colonel's Dream.

Charles Darwin is best known for his work as a naturalist, developing a theory of evolution to explain biological change.

Charles G. Dawes was a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize who became the 30th U.S. vice president under Calvin Coolidge.

Charles de Gaulle rose from French soldier in World War I to exiled leader and, eventually, president of the Fifth Republic. He served as president from 1959 to 1969.

Charles Dickens was the well-loved and prolific British author of numerous works that are now considered classics.

Charles Drew was an African-American surgeon who pioneered methods of storing blood plasma for transfusion and organized the first large-scale blood bank in the U.S.

Actor Charles Durning appeared in such films as The Sting, Tootsie and Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. He also had roles on such shows as Rescue Me, Everybody Loves Raymond and Evening Shade.

Charles W. Fairbanks was a U.S. attorney and senator who was the country’s 26th vice president under Theodore Roosevelt.

Pretty Boy Floyd is best known for his constant run-ins with police and violent bank robberies.

American inventor Charles Goodyear discovered the process of vulcanizing rubber. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was posthumously named after him.

Charles Goren was an American lawyer and world champion bridge player known for his books and television program on the game.

Charles Grodin is an actor, comedian and talk show host known for his roles in The Heartbreak Kid and Beethoven.

Charles Julius Guiteau was an American lawyer best known for assassinating President James Garfield in 1881 for denying him an ambassadorship position in Paris.

Charles Hamilton was an autograph dealer, handwriting expert and author of works like Great Forgers and Famous Fakes.

Charles Melville Hays was president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and a victim of the Titanic disaster of 1912.

Charles H. Houston was an attorney and vice-dean who worked in important civil rights cases, ultimately helping to end Jim Crow laws.

During his career, jurist Charles Hughes became the governor of New York, U.S. secretary of state and the 11th Supreme Court justice.

Charles Kuralt was a multiple Emmy and Peabody Award-winning broadcast journalist who produced the well-loved "On The Road" segments for the CBS Evening News.

Charles Lamb was an English poet and essayist who wrote Tales from Shakespeare and "Essays of Elia."

Anglo-American stage and film actor Charles Laughton starred in The Old Dark House and Mutiny on the Bounty. He also directed The Night of the Hunter.

Aviator Charles Lindbergh became famous for making the first solo transatlantic airplane flight in 1927.

Charles Manson is an American cult leader whose followers carried out several notorious murders in the late 1960s and inspired the book Helter Skelter.

Charles Edward Merrill was an American investment banker who co-founded Merrill Lynch & Company and arranged the merger that created the Safeway food chain.

Charles Ng is a Chinese-American mass murderer who was sentenced to death after torturing and killing up to 25 people at Leonard Lake’s California ranch.

Broadcast journalist Charles Osgood anchored CBS Morning News, the Sunday Night News and Sunday Morning. More recently, he has hosted The Osgood File.

Charles Willson Peale was an American painter best known as one of the most prolific artists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He painted more than a dozen heroic portraits of George Washington.

Charles Perrault was a French poet and author known for writing the Mother Goose fairy tales.

Charles Pinckney was an American Founding Father, governor of South Carolina and signer of the U.S. Constitution.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was an American Revolutionary War veteran, South Carolina legislator and two-time presidential candidate.

Charles Ponzi was best known for the financial crimes he committed when he conned investors into giving him millions of dollars, and paid them returns with other investors' money.

Prince Charles is the oldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip and is the heir apparent to the British throne.

Charles Nelson Reilly was a Tony-Award winning actor also known for a variety of roles on TV programs, including The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and The Match Game.

Charles Ringling co-founded the Ringling Bros., and later co-owned the Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Charles Schulz was a cartoonist best known for creating the one of the world's most successful comic strips, Peanuts.

Charles Scribner co-founded the publishing house Baker & Scribner, which became Charles Scribner's Sons.

Charles Sobhraj was a famous serial killer in the 1970's, known for drugging and killing between 12 and 24 western tourists in Asia. His several successful escapes from prison coined him the nickname, "The Serpent."

After murdering a gas station attendant in 1957, Nebraska native Charles Starkweather embarked on a murderous rampage with girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate in 1958. Together, they killed 10 people.

Charles Sumner was a U.S. Representative best known an anti-slavery advocate who authored the nation’s first civil rights legislation.

Entrepreneur Charles Tiffany co-founded Tiffany & Young, which later became the premier jewelry store Tiffany & Co.

Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend of Raynham, was an 18th century British secretary of state who became known as "Turnip Townshend" for his agricultural innovations.

Tex Watson was a member of Charles Manson's "Family," and was Manson's right-hand man. He was convicted of the family's infamous 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders, which were orchestrated by Manson.

Charles Whitman was a former Marine and sniper who killed 16 people at the University of Texas in 1966.