>Bronson was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky, the 11th of 15

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>Bronson was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky, the 11th of 15 children, in a Roman Catholic family of Lithuanian descent in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania in the coal region of the Allegheny Mountains north of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.[3][4] His father was a Lithuanian immigrant and his mother was an American of Lithuanian descent.[5][6][7][8] They were of Lipka Tatar roots, which explains the "exotic" features of the actor, "as his cheekbones and eyes were often mistaken for Mexican or Native American but were in fact Lipka Tatar from Lithuania."[9]

>His father, Valteris P. Bučinskis (who later adjusted his name to Walter Buchinsky to sound more "American"),[3] [10] [11] hailed from the town of Druskininkai in southern Lithuania. Bronson's mother, Mary Valinsky, whose parents were from Lithuania, was born in the coal mining town of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. He learned to speak English when he was a teenager; before that, he spoke Lithuanian and Russian.[12]

>Bronson was the first member of his family to graduate from high school. When Bronson was 10 years old, his father died and he went to work in the coal mines, first in the mining office and then in the mine.[3] He later said he earned one dollar for each ton of coal that he mined.[12] He worked in the mine until he entered military service during World War II.[3] His family was so poor that, at one time, he had to wear his sister's dress to school for lack of clothing.[13][14]