Charles Dingle (December 28, 1887 – January 19, 1956) was an American stage and film actor.
Early life
Dingle was born December 28, 1887,[1] in Wabash, Indiana.[2] His father was John Crockett Dingle, and he was said to be a descendant of Davy Crockett.[3]
Dingle's dramatic debut came in a production of Forgiven. At age 14 he portrayed a 65-year-old man. When he was 18, he became the Woodward Stock Company's leading man. In 1914 he was the Fosberg Players' leading man.[3]
He began selling real estate in New Jersey in 1927, but he made his Broadway debut in Killers in 1928. After that he again sold real estate, but decreasing sales led him back to acting.[3][2] Better roles followed including Duke Theseus in the 1932 revival of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Sheriff Cole in Let Freedom Ring in 1935. He made his musical debut in Irving Berlin's Miss Liberty in 1950.
A veteran of over 50 feature films, he was best known for portraying hard edged businessmen and villains, such as Ben Hubbard, the crafty eldest member of the Hubbard family in The Little Foxes on both stage and screen, and Senator Brockway in the film version of Call Me Madam.
Critic Bosley Crowther wrote of his performance in the film version of The Little Foxes in The New York Times that Dingle was a "perfect villain in respectable garb".[2]
He was married to actress Dorothy L. White. He died on January 19, 1956, after a brief illness at age 68 in Worcester Memorial Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts.[2] He was cremated and his ashes scattered in Germany.[citation needed]
