Charles Fernley Fawcett
Encyclopedia
Charles Fernley Fawcett was a wrestler, resistance worker, soldier, airman, film star, film maker, and co-founder of the International Medical Corps
. He was a recipient of the French
Croix de Guerre
and the American Eisenhower medal.
, Georgia
, where his mother had been caught in a snow storm and died when he was six. His family was of old Virginian
stock, whose family tree included Thomas Jefferson
and James Madison
. Having been orphaned at an early age, Fawcett and his younger brother and two sisters grew up in Greenville, South Carolina
, in the care of their aunt.Here he attended Greenville high school
for three years where he learned to wrestle and play American football.
Aged 15, Fawcett became involved in an affair with his best friend's mother. He remarked "If that's child molestation, I would wish this curse on every young boy." The end of the affair made Fawcett contemplate suicide, and he left the United States to travel to the far East, working his passage on a number of steamships.
By 1937 he had returned to America, and Fawcett stayed for a time in New York
, before making his way to Washington D. C., where he was taken in by his cousin, who happened to be an assistant United States Postmaster General
. Here he ended up wrestling to make a living. Then in 1937 he boarded a ship outside Montreal
bound for France
, where he worked as an artist’s model and again as a wrestler.
he tried to join US Intelligence but his services were declined, so he briefly joined the Section Volontaire des Américains - the ambulance corps. He was on his way to North Africa to join the Free French when he heard about Varian Fry
, who would go on to rescue over 2,000 Jews from Vichy France
with the help of a handful of people, Fawcett among them. Among the most famous people they rescued were Franz Werfel
, Marc Chagall
, Heinrich Mann
and Hannah Arendt
.
“I went to see him and he wasn’t very interested until I told him I’d been a professional wrestler. He said, ‘Maybe we could use you to sort of keep order. Anybody who’s not supposed to be there, you can get rid of them’,” Fawcett recalled in an interview with Dr Stephen D Smith in 1998. “Fry was perhaps one of the most idealistic men I had ever known and certainly the most unassuming. We got rid in a hurry of his little bow-tie and striped suit. Out of place completely in Marseilles. Maybe one of the reasons he got away with a lot was because he looked so innocent.”
Towards the end of the war, Fawcett married six Jewish women in three months. This enabled the women, who had formerly been imprisoned in concentration camps, to leave France with an American visa
.
Eventually, he had to flee France at several hours’ notice after a tip-off that the Gestapo
was coming to arrest him. Having left France, he flew in the RAF and later fought with the French Foreign Legion
.
, Alan Ladd
, and Robert Taylor
. He combined this with smuggling refugees to safety from civil conflict, organizing earthquake relief teams, fighting in several wars, and co-founding the International Medical Corps
.
Fawcett's first wife, with whom he had a daughter, died in 1956. In 1991, he married again, when after a 30 year engagement he married April Ducksbury, a British model agency executive, and settled in London.
In 1979 he went to assist in training the Mujahideen
in Afghanistan
, who were fighting the Soviet Union
. Film footage he shot whilst in Afghanistan was critical in securing American aid to the Mujahideen.
He spent the rest of his life in Chelsea, London
with his wife April Ducksbury. Here he acquired a taste for music, and wrote songs.
In 2006, Fawcett was nominated for recognition as Righteous Among the Nations
at the annual British Holocaust commemoration.
Charles Fawcett died on February 3, 2008 in London, England at the age of 92.
International Medical Corps
International Medical Corps is a global humanitarian nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs...
. He was a recipient of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
and the American Eisenhower medal.
Early life
Charles Fernley Fawcett was born in WaleskaWaleska, Georgia
Waleska is a city in Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 616 at the 2000 census.-History:The first white settlement in the Waleska area began in the early 1830s. Among these first pioneer settlers were the Reinhardt, Heard and Rhyne families, who moved into the region...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, where his mother had been caught in a snow storm and died when he was six. His family was of old Virginian
Virginian
Virginian is an adjective used to describe something as being of, from, or related to the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States.Virginian may also refer to:-Automobiles:...
stock, whose family tree included Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
and James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
. Having been orphaned at an early age, Fawcett and his younger brother and two sisters grew up in Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
, in the care of their aunt.Here he attended Greenville high school
Southside High School (Greenville, South Carolina)
Southside High School is one of 14 public high schools that are part of the Greenville, South Carolina County Schools System. It is the first school in South Carolina to be home to an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. Southside is also the defending state AA Boy's Basketball champions...
for three years where he learned to wrestle and play American football.
Aged 15, Fawcett became involved in an affair with his best friend's mother. He remarked "If that's child molestation, I would wish this curse on every young boy." The end of the affair made Fawcett contemplate suicide, and he left the United States to travel to the far East, working his passage on a number of steamships.
By 1937 he had returned to America, and Fawcett stayed for a time in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, before making his way to Washington D. C., where he was taken in by his cousin, who happened to be an assistant United States Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
. Here he ended up wrestling to make a living. Then in 1937 he boarded a ship outside Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
bound for France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where he worked as an artist’s model and again as a wrestler.
World War II
After the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he tried to join US Intelligence but his services were declined, so he briefly joined the Section Volontaire des Américains - the ambulance corps. He was on his way to North Africa to join the Free French when he heard about Varian Fry
Varian Fry
Varian Mackey Fry was an American journalist. Fry ran a rescue network in Vichy France that helped approximately 2,000 to 4,000 anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees to escape Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.-Early life:...
, who would go on to rescue over 2,000 Jews from Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
with the help of a handful of people, Fawcett among them. Among the most famous people they rescued were Franz Werfel
Franz Werfel
Franz Werfel was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet.- Biography :Born in Prague , Werfel was the first of three children of a wealthy manufacturer of gloves and leather goods. His mother, Albine Kussi, was the daughter of a mill owner...
, Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
, Heinrich Mann
Heinrich Mann
Luiz Heinrich Mann was a German novelist who wrote works with strong social themes. His attacks on the authoritarian and increasingly militaristic nature of pre-World War II German society led to his exile in 1933.-Life and work:Born in Lübeck as the oldest child of Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann...
and Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was a German American political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact...
.
“I went to see him and he wasn’t very interested until I told him I’d been a professional wrestler. He said, ‘Maybe we could use you to sort of keep order. Anybody who’s not supposed to be there, you can get rid of them’,” Fawcett recalled in an interview with Dr Stephen D Smith in 1998. “Fry was perhaps one of the most idealistic men I had ever known and certainly the most unassuming. We got rid in a hurry of his little bow-tie and striped suit. Out of place completely in Marseilles. Maybe one of the reasons he got away with a lot was because he looked so innocent.”
Towards the end of the war, Fawcett married six Jewish women in three months. This enabled the women, who had formerly been imprisoned in concentration camps, to leave France with an American visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
.
Eventually, he had to flee France at several hours’ notice after a tip-off that the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
was coming to arrest him. Having left France, he flew in the RAF and later fought with the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
.
Post-war
After the war, he pursued a cinematic career, in which he performed in over 100 films, working with such stars as Errol FlynnErrol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
, Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
, and Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor (actor)
Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
. He combined this with smuggling refugees to safety from civil conflict, organizing earthquake relief teams, fighting in several wars, and co-founding the International Medical Corps
International Medical Corps
International Medical Corps is a global humanitarian nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs...
.
Fawcett's first wife, with whom he had a daughter, died in 1956. In 1991, he married again, when after a 30 year engagement he married April Ducksbury, a British model agency executive, and settled in London.
In 1979 he went to assist in training the Mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, who were fighting the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Film footage he shot whilst in Afghanistan was critical in securing American aid to the Mujahideen.
He spent the rest of his life in Chelsea, London
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
with his wife April Ducksbury. Here he acquired a taste for music, and wrote songs.
In 2006, Fawcett was nominated for recognition as Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
at the annual British Holocaust commemoration.
Charles Fawcett died on February 3, 2008 in London, England at the age of 92.
Partial filmography
- When in RomeWhen in Rome (1952 film)When in Rome is a film starring Van Johnson, Paul Douglas, and Joseph Calleia. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and was based on a story by Robert Buckner, Dorothy Kingsley, and Charles Schnee. When in Rome was one of the last films directed by famed MGM director Clarence Brown.-Plot...
(1952) - Mr. Cates - War and PeaceWar and Peace (1956 film)War and Peace is the first English-language film version of the novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. It is an American/Italian version, directed by King Vidor and produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti. The music score was by Nino Rota and the cinematography by Jack Cardiff...
(1956) - uncredited Russian artillery captain - LonelyheartsLonelyheartsLonelyhearts is a 1958 film noir drama film directed by Vincent J. Donehue. It is based on the play by Howard Teichmann and the 1933 novel Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West....
(1958) - Smitty - Barabbas (1961)
- It Happened in AthensIt Happened In AthensIt Happened in Athens was a 1962 comedy film released by 20th Century Fox. This was film star Jayne Mansfield's last film to be released by studio 20th Century Fox...
(1962) - Ambassador Cyrus T. Gaylord - The 300 SpartansThe 300 SpartansThe 300 Spartans is a 1962 Cinemascope film depicting the Battle of Thermopylae. Made with the cooperation of the Greek government, it was shot in the village of Perachora in the Peloponnese...
(1962) - Megistias - Old ShatterhandOld Shatterhand (film)The film Old Shatterhand is a very successful Eurowestern based on the character Old Shatterhand invented by German novelist Karl May. It is a French, Italian, Yugoslavian, West German co-production filmed in 70mm. With about 5,000,000 DM in production the film was the most expensive Karl May...
(1964) - General Taylor