Wood was born in Seattle, Washington to Cyril Percival Wood and his wife, Edith Florence Chamberlain. They were wed at Trinity Episcopal Parish Church in Seattle on November 6, 1909. Edith Florence Chamberlain Wood is a descendant of John Howland who was among the 102 passengers arriving at Plymouth aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Cyril Percy and his bride resided for one year in Susitna, Alaska where Cyril was an early day official for the Northern Commercial Company. He served as secretary to William Fairbanks, vice president of the Northern Commercial Company, shortly after the turn of the century, and accompanied him on his annual inspection tours of company posts. Later, he was Northern Commercial Company Agent at Iditarod, Alaska and Kodiak, Alaska where the family resided for eight years and one year respectively. Charles was born while the family was on one of many visits to Seattle during this period. The family finally left Alaska in 1919 and resided in Seattle for a year before settling in Redwood City in 1920. Wood attended Lincoln Grammar School in Redwood City and went on to graduate from Redwood City's Sequoia Union High School. Upon moving to New York City to pursue a career as a professional performer, Wood met and, in 1942, married Adelaide Marchena, a native of Manhattan and a first generation American, the daughter of Carlin and Adelaida Marchena, both of Barcelona, Spain.
Charles Wood served in the Army of the United States. He was inducted on January 22, 1942 at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He received an honorable discharge on October 18, 1944 at Fort Dix, New Jersey:
In 1945, shortly after he was cast in Up in Central Park, Wood and his wife moved into an apartment in Midtown Manhattan within walking distance of the Theater District. They continued to reside there until 1972 when the 7-story building was demolished to make way for a residential high-rise tower. During that time, they raised their five children: Charles Jr., Dianne, Barbara, Ronald and Debra. His family includes:
Virginia Louise Chamberlain Denny, was the wife of Victor Winfield Scott Denny Jr., a grandson of David and Louisa Boren Denny of the famed Denny Party who are credited with having founded the city of Seattle in the mid-Nineteenth Century, having named the new city after Chief Seattle who they negotiated with after having claimed land in the area.
Death
Wood died in 1978, at age 62, in New York City at the former Beekman Downtown Hospital in Lower Manhattan, of complications resulting from a stroke he had suffered two years earlier.
