Charles Washburn left college in Memphis with a degree in Business Major. Some years later he went to school again in Milwaukee, feeling that writing ads was exciting for him. There he discovered directing. The following year he moved to New York and then Los Angeles. In Hollywood he got into an apprentice program. Washburn was the first African-American who applied, and then graduated from the Director Guild of America (DGA)'s trainee program.

His work on The Original Series was Washburn's first professional job following his apprenticeship at the DGA's trainee program. Later people nicknamed him "Charlie Star Trek" because of his association with the now legendary series. In an interview for the fan-magazine Inside Star Trek, Washburn explained that there were two second assistant directors on the production of The Original Series (the other being Tiger Shapiro) and that it was among his duties

to prepare the shooting schedule, creating the call sheets, releasing the calls for the actors, and hire and pay the background extras with the help of Independent Casting. He had also worked with Star Trek alumnus Rex Holman and was instrumental in casting him as Morgan Earp for the third season episode "Spectre of the Gun", after the original actor cast was fired.

Washburn's first job following his time on Star Trek was the part of the second assistant director on adventure movie Skullduggery (1970) on which he also appeared as a Papuan. The film also featured Trek actors Roger C. Carmel and Booker Bradshaw. The following years he worked as assistant director on the comedy series The Bill Cosby Show (1969-1971),

the drama Brother John (1971, directed by James Goldstone), the television science fiction film Earth II (1971, with Gary Lockwood and Mariette Hartley), the crime drama Melinda (1972), the music drama Lady Sings the Blues (1972), the do