Researching Charles Foster

He was born in Cheshire, England. During World War II he was a pilot with the Royal Air Force. The RAF sent him to a base in Alberta, Canada for flight training and while on leave he visited Hollywood. There, he met Sidney Olcott, a Canadian-born silent film star who introduced him to numerous other expatriate Canadian actors in Hollywood including Mary Pickford. After the war, Foster used these contacts to begin a career as a publicist in London and in Hollywood, working for such well-known performers as Marilyn Monroe, Richard Burton, Boris Karloff, Errol Flynn and Benny Hill. He was also a songwriter, contributing such titles as "Goodnight Till Tomorrow" (as Basil Foster) for Issy Bonn and others. Foster later became a writer for comedians in the 1960s including Bob Hope and Jack Benny and contributed scripts to a number of 1960s sitcoms including The Beverly Hillbillies.

He returned to Canada in the 1960s where he became editor at the Brampton Times and Conservator. In the 1970s he worked as a speechwriter for the Canadian Government, and eventually came to Riverview, New Brunswick, where he resided until his death. There, he begin as newspaper editor for the Moncton Free Press. In his retirement he delved into his remarkable store of memories to publish three books on Canadians in Hollywood: Stardust and Shadows (about the silent film era), and Once Upon a Time in Paradise (about the period from the late 1920s to the 1950s), and most recent book, Donald Brian: the King of Broadway, about the nearly forgotten performer Donald Brian.

For nearly a decade he has contributed monthly articles to the Seniors Advocate in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He wrote more than 100 articles for the bi-weekly Albert County Chronicle, a community newspaper, until it ceased publication in 2010. In 2010-2011, he had articles published in 21 magazines and newspapers in Canada, the United States, England, and Australia. His autobiography, From Old Hollywood to New Brunswick, was released in November 2013.

As the original publicist for the world's longest running play, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, in London, England, he prepared a 60-page booklet of memories of Christie and the early days of the play for the 60th anniversary performance, in September 2012.

Foster died in April 2017, at age 94.

Foster, son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Foster, was born in Lansingburgh, Rensselaer County, N. Y., September 2, 1823. In 1836, his parents removed to Pompey, Onondaga County, where he was prepared for College. He graduated from Yale College in 1844. He studied law successively with Hon. Victor Birdseye, of Pompey, Hon. B. D. Noxon, of Syracuse, and Hon. John Van Buren, of Albany. In October, 1847, he was admitted to the bar, but on account of health was advised to try a more active life, and occupied himself in the cattle-trade, until January, 1853, when he began practice as a lawyer in Cortland, N. Y., where he remained until his death. He was in partnership with R. H. Duell, from January, 1857, till 1874, when failing health compelled him to give up his profession. He had been for some years subject to pulmonary difficulties, and spent the three succeeding winters in Washington, but without any marked improvement. From November, 1875, to February, 1877, he was employed as an examiner in the U. S. Patent Office. He died, of consumption, in Cortland, May 23, 1877, aged 53 years. Besides local offices of trust and honor, the only public position which he filled was that of member of the New York State Assembly in 1870.

He was married, Oct. 13, 1853, to Jane M., daughter of Richard G. Fowler, of Cortland, who survived him. They had no children.