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Charles Blühdorn (September 20, 1926-February 20, 1983) was an Vienna Austrian-born American industrialist.

Per a Who's Who in Ridgefield (CT) he was considered such a "hellion" that his father sent the 11-year-old to an English boarding school for disciplining. At 16, he came to New York, studying at City College and Columbia and, in 1946, went to work at the Cotton Exchange, earning $15 a week.

Three years later, he formed a company that would make him a millionaire at 30; in 1956, he acquired Michigan Bumper, a small auto parts company that eventually grew into Gulf and Western Industries, a conglomerate that ranked 61st in the Fortune 500 by 1981.

Subholdings of G + W were blue chip names such as Paramount Pictures, Madison Square Garden, and Simon & Schuster publishing as well as less glamorous holdings such as mining, New Jersey Zinc. It was during Gulf and Western's ownership of Paramount that it went from being Number 9 at the boxoffice, based upon total receipt sales, to number 1 with such hits as The Godfather and Chinatown.

In 1974 he hired Barry Diller as Paramount's chairman and chief executive. Making Diller, at age 32, the youngest studio chief ever and the first to come from the TV business.

Blüdhorn was known to be an incredibly energetic and workaholic dubbed once as "The Mad Austrian of Wall Street". He maintained his position as chairman of Gulf and Western Industries until his death.

He died of a heart attack on his private jet while returning to the United States from his Casa de Campo resort in the Dominican Republic.

While Jewish by birth his private funeral services were held at St. Mary's Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut was friend and former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger.

At Tufts University in Boston, there is the Charles G. Bluhdorn Prize in Economics, awarded annually to an undergraduate majoring in economics who has demonstrated outstanding scholastic ability. This prize was founded in 1983 by Donald Gaston in memory of Charles G. Bluhdorn.

Blüdhorn's rocky relationship with appointed Paramount executive Robert Evans was documented in Evan's 1994 biographical book The Kid Stays in the Picture and in the 2002 film of the same title. Bludhorn initially hired Evans in 1966 to head European production for Paramount Pictures. He would promote Evans almost immediately to head of production at Paramount Pictures.

The Godfather Part III was dedicated to his memory, "for inspiring it."

Casa de Campo, an hour away from Santo Domingo, was a 7,000 acre exclusive retreat founded by Bluhdorn in 1974. His wife, Yvette, would sell the property after his death 1984 to the Fanjul family of Palm Beach, Florida.

In February 2007 the Bedford, New York estate of his late wife, Yvette, was put on the market for the highest price ever asked for a Westchester County residence. Acquired in 1990 with 25 acres, Mrs. Bluhdorn expanded the estate to 70 acres. It included a restored 20,000-square-foot, 23-room Georgian mansion built in the 1920s, another six-bedroom home of 8,000 square feet, several guest houses and two pools.

A portion of his fortune continues with the Charles G. & Yvette Bluhdorn Charitable Trust. As of December 2005 it was reporting $2,396,383 in assets. [via Form 990 IRS]

In 2007, Charles Bluhdorn's son and daughter-in-law, Paige and Paul Bluhdorn, continued the family interest in the Dominican Republic with the launch of eatdrinksleep.com, a travel and lifestyle guide to the Dominican Republic with a strong focus on Altos de Chavon and other local accomplishments of Charles Bluhdorn.

• New York Times December 28, 1986 "A Dominican Respite From Reality"
• Who's Who in Ridgefield CT A-F
• Tuffs University Scholarships
• Cinema "Who Is Robert Evans?"
• New York Post Feb 8, 2007 "Real Estate"
• Tax Exempt Organization: Charles G. & Yvette Bluhdorn Charitable Trust
• The Bluhdorns' guide to the Dominican Republic