# Mr. Bronson is dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542 "2005-09-01T02:52:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/1 "2005-09-01T02:52:46Z")
[Michael Sheard](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4200884.stm), the actor who played Mr. Bronson (if you need to ask, you don’t need to know) and was memorably strangled as Admiral Wozzel in The Empire Strikes Back died yesterday. Of all the minor celebrity deaths, this one makes me more sad than most, for some reason. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/2 "2005-09-01T03:00:11Z")
Admiral _Ozzel_. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/3 "2005-09-01T05:11:09Z")
Is it just me, or was Charles Bronson the first thought in anyone else’s mind? ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/4 "2005-09-01T05:18:18Z")
> [@Kat](#): > > Is it just me, or was Charles Bronson the first thought in anyone else’s mind? Me too. My first though was ‘God better watch it, Bronson might just kick his ass’. Slee ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/5 "2005-09-01T05:35:26Z")
I was ready to make a Death Wish joke. too bad. “Admiral Ozzle came out of lightspeed too close to the system. He’s as clumsey as he is stupid!” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/6 "2005-09-01T06:28:32Z")
Hmm, for those who were ready with “Death Wish” jokes, you do know that Charles Bronson has been dead for a couple years, right? RIP Ozzel. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/7 "2005-09-01T06:56:45Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > Hmm, for those who were ready with “Death Wish” jokes, you do know that Charles Bronson has been dead for a couple years, right? Actually, I wondered if he was earlier. Now that you mention it, I do remember. It’s just sometimes hard to remember when a movie star is dead as opposed to a character they played. For some reason, I keep thinking James Earl Jones is dead, so I was suprised to learn he came back to do Darth Vader for Episode 3. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/8 "2005-09-01T08:54:11Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > Hmm, for those who were ready with “Death Wish” jokes, you do know that Charles Bronson has been dead for a couple years, right? > > RIP Ozzel. > > Sir Rhosis Actually I didn’t know that. Bummer. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/9 "2005-09-01T11:34:51Z")
According to the Dead People Server, Charles Bronson died in 2003. I never heard about it. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/10 "2005-09-01T12:33:19Z")
Nice to see that a Michael Sheard memorial thread is immediately hijacked into a Charles Bronson thread. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/11 "2005-09-01T12:38:52Z")
Mr. Sheard was a really sweet old man. I met him at one of the local sad-ass gaming conventions. He ran the trivia sessions and was an all around friendly guy. Apparently he was always at MidSouth Con. My friends all thought he was obnoxious but I always thought he was a really sweet old man in a tuxedo. I wonder if god will make him do the Vader choke gag all the time? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/12 "2005-09-01T13:27:37Z")
He was a good friend of the Doctor Who fan circuit as well, and helps out on a lot of extra features of the _Pyramids of Mars_ disk. ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/13 "2005-09-01T14:10:00Z")
I see he also played Hitler four different times. Do you think casting agents would say “damn it, we need a Hitler for this scene - get me Sheard!” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/14 "2005-09-01T16:07:58Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Nice to see that a Michael Sheard memorial thread is immediately hijacked into a Charles Bronson thread. :rolleyes: Get over yourself. The OP went with an ambiguous thread title, intentionally or otherwise. Posts from people who’d assumed from a thread title that it referred to something else are commonplace. As for me, I apparantly don’t need to know who “Mr. Bronson” is, in this context. ---
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/15 "2005-09-01T16:30:03Z")
Mr. Sheard was, indeed, always at MidSouthCon, and he was a charming and gracious man. I always felt he livened up the proceedings whenever he was involved, and I’m very sad to hear he’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/16 "2005-09-01T17:28:50Z")
Courtesy of IMDB: > [@](#): > > [Darth Vader has just learned of Admiral Ozzel’s big blunder, and activates a viewscreen] > Admiral Ozzel: [appearing onscreen with Captain Piett] Lord Vader, the fleet has moved out of lightspeed and we’re preparing to… > [Ozzel stops, and suddenly begins to choke, clutching at his throat] > Darth Vader: You have failed me for the last time, Admiral. Captain Piett? > Captain Piett: Yes, my lord? > Darth Vader: Make ready to land our troops beyond their energy field, and deploy the fleet, so that nothing gets off the system. > [beside Piett, Admiral Ozzel utters one last strangled gasp, and falls over dead] > Darth Vader: You are in command now, Admiral Piett. > Admiral Piett: Thank you, Lord Vader. BTW, Sheard also played the U-Boat captain in Raiders of the Lost Ark as well as Hitler in IJ and the Last Crusade. ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/17 "2005-09-02T04:50:42Z")
> [@Bren\_Cameron](#): > > Mr. Sheard was, indeed, always at MidSouthCon, and he was a charming and gracious man. I always felt he livened up the proceedings whenever he was involved, and I’m very sad to hear he’s gone. I am on the board of directors of MidSouthCon, and I have to say that he was one of the most gracious gentlemen I have ever met in my life. You just didn’t want to get him started on David Prowse :). My favorite memory of him was at this year’s MSC. He made it to the end of the dead dog party, and was only one of a dozen or so people (guests and Concomm members) to make it to the very end. During said party he and our toastmaster started singing various show tunes, including “Oklahoma!”, “Major General’s Song” and others. He regaled us for hours with stories of his years in showbiz. We all loved him and there will most certainly be a large hole in our convention. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/18 "2005-09-02T05:26:04Z")
I knew him mostly as the nasty Mr Bronson in _Grange Hill_, as those were the Zammo Maguire, Fay Lucas, Gripper Stebson years that coincided with my own High School life. It’s good to hear that he wasn’t as awful a person as his character was. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bronson-is-dead/319542/19 "2005-09-02T14:28:16Z")
> [@JerH](#): > > I see he also played Hitler four different times. Do you think casting agents would say “damn it, we need a Hitler for this scene - get me Sheard!” You’d think he would have learned how to spell Adolf by the time he did Last Crusade…