Charles "Buddy" Rogers (born on August 13, 1904; died on April 21, 1999) was an American actor and jazz musician.
Born in Olathe, Kansas, Rogers studied at the University of Kansas where he became an active member of Phi Kappa Psi. In the mid-1920's he began acting professionally in Hollywood films. Nicknamed "Buddy", his most remembered performance in film was opposite Clara Bow in the 1927 Academy Award winning Wings, the first film ever honored as "Best Picture." A talented trombonist skilled on several other musical instruments, Rogers performed with his own jazz band in motion pictures and on radio.
In 1937, Rogers became the third husband of silent film legend Mary Pickford, a woman twelve years his senior. The couple had two children—Roxanne (born 1944, adopted in 1944) and Ronald Charles (born 1937, adopted in 1943)—and remained married for 42 years until Pickford's death in 1979.
During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy as a flight training instructor.
Respected by his peers for his work in film and for his humanitarianism, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Rogers in 1985 with The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
A longtime resident and benefactor of California's Coachella Valley, Rogers was honored by having a children's symphony orchestra he and second wife, Beverley Ricondo, a real estate agent he married in 1981, helped found named after him. A street in Cathedral City, California is named after him as well.
Buddy Rogers died in Rancho Mirage, California in 1999 at the age of 94 of natural causes, and was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City) near Palm Springs, California.