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Charlie Chaplin

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   Charles Chaplin
   Chaplin in his costume as "The Tramp"
   Birth name    Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr.
   Born          April 16, 1889
                 England Walworth, London, England
   Died          December 25, 1977
                 Switzerland Vevey, Switzerland
   Notable roles The Tramp

   Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr. KBE, ( 16 April 1889 – 25 December
   1977), better known as Charlie Chaplin, was an English comedy actor,
   becoming one of the most famous performers in the early to mid
   Hollywood cinema era, and also a notable director. He is considered to
   be one of the finest mimes and clowns caught on film and his influence
   on performers in both fields is great.

   Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities in
   the silent film era: he acted in, directed, scripted, produced, and
   eventually even scored his own films. His working life in entertainment
   spanned over 65 years, from the British Victorian stage and music hall
   in England as a child performer, almost until his death at the age of
   88. He led one of the most remarkable and colourful lives of the 20th
   century, from a Dickensian London childhood to the pinnacle of world
   fame in the film industry and as a cultural icon.

   His principal character was " The Tramp" (known as "Charlot" in France,
   Italy and Spain): a vagrant with the refined manners and dignity of a
   gentleman who wears a tight coat, oversized trousers and shoes, a
   bowler hat, carries a bamboo cane, and has a signature toothbrush
   moustache. Chaplin's high-profile public and private life encompassed
   highs and lows of both adulation and controversy.

Childhood

   Charlie Chaplin was born on the 16th April 1889 in East Street,
   Walworth, London. His parents, both entertainers in the Music Hall
   tradition, separated before he was three. As a child he lived with his
   mother, Hannah, of Roma ancestry in various addresses in and around
   Kennington Road. His father, an alcoholic, who had little contact with
   his family, died when Charlie was twelve, leaving him and his older
   half-brother, Sydney Chaplin, in the sole care of his mother. Hannah
   Chaplin suffered from schizophrenia, and was eventually admitted to the
   Cane Hill Asylum at Coulsdon. Chaplin had to be left in the workhouse
   at Lambeth, London, moving after several weeks to the Central London
   District School for paupers in Hanwell. The young Chaplin brothers
   forged a close relationship to survive. They gravitated to the Music
   Hall while still very young, and both proved to have considerable
   natural stage talent.

   Unknown to Charlie and Sydney until years later, they had a
   half-brother through their mother, Wheeler Dryden, who was raised
   abroad by his father. He was later reconciled with the family, and
   worked for Chaplin at his Hollywood studio.

   Chaplin's mother died in 1928 in Hollywood, seven years after being
   brought to the U.S. by her sons.

Stage

   Charlie first took to the stage in 1894, when, at the age of five, he
   gave an impromptu performance at a theatre in Aldershot, standing in
   for his mother. As a child, he was confined to a bed for weeks due to a
   serious illness, and, at night, his mother would sit at the window and
   act out what was going on outside. His first professional work came
   when he joined The Eight Lancashire Lads, a troupe of dancers who
   played the music halls of Great Britain. In 1900, at the age of 11, his
   half-brother Sydney helped get him the role of a comic cat in the
   pantomime Cinderella at the London Hippodrome. In 1903 he appeared in
   Jim: A Romance of Cockayne, followed by his first regular job, as the
   newspaper boy Billy in Sherlock Holmes, a part he played into 1906.
   This was followed by Casey's 'Court Circus' variety show, and, the
   following year, he became a clown in Fred Karno's 'Fun Factory'
   slapstick comedy company, where Chaplin became the star of the troupe.

America

   Chaplin first toured America with the Karno troupe from 1910 to 1912.
   Then, after five months back in England, he returned for a second tour
   and arrived in the United States with the Karno Troupe on October 2,
   1912. In the Karno Company was Arthur Stanley Jefferson, who would
   later become known as Stan Laurel. Chaplin and Laurel wound up sharing
   a room in a boarding house. Stan Laurel returned to England but Chaplin
   remained in the United States. In late 1913, Chaplin's act with the
   Karno Troupe was seen by film producer Mack Sennett, who hired him for
   his studio, the Keystone Film Company. Chaplin's first film appearance
   was in Making a Living a one-reel comedy released on February 2, 1914.

Pioneering film auteur

   Kid Auto Races in Venice (1914): Chaplin's second film and the debut of
   his "Tramp" costume.
   Enlarge
   Kid Auto Races in Venice (1914): Chaplin's second film and the debut of
   his "Tramp" costume.

   Chaplin's earliest films (1914) were made for Keystone Studios, where
   he developed his Tramp character and very quickly learned the art and
   craft of filmmaking. The Tramp was first presented to the public in
   Chaplin's second film Kid Auto Races at Venice (released Feb 7th 1914)
   though Mabel's Strange Predicament, his third film, (released Feb 9th
   1914) was produced a few days before. It was for this film that Chaplin
   first conceived of and played the Tramp. As Chaplin recalled in his
   autobiography:

          I had no idea what makeup to put on. I did not like my get-up as
          the press reporter [in Making a Living]. However on the way to
          the wardrobe I though I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a
          cane and a derby hat. I wanted everything to be a contradiction:
          the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes
          large. I was undecided whether to look old or young, but
          remembering Sennet had expected me to be a much older man, I
          added a small moustache, which I reasoned, would add age without
          hiding my expresion.
          I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed,
          the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I
          began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was
          fully born (Chaplin, My Autobiography: 154).

   By the end of his year at Keystone, he was directing and editing his
   own short films. These were an immediate, runaway success with the
   public, and even today Chaplin's standout screen presence in these
   films is apparent. In 1915 he began a year's contract with Essanay film
   studios, and further developed his film skills, adding new levels of
   depth and pathos to the Keystone-style slapstick. In 1916, he signed a
   lucrative deal with the Mutual Film Corporation to produce a dozen
   two-reel comedies. He was given near complete artistic control, and
   produced twelve films over an eighteen month period that rank among the
   most influential comedy films in cinema. Chaplin later said the Mutual
   period was the happiest of his career.
   Charlie Chaplin Studios, 1922
   Enlarge
   Charlie Chaplin Studios, 1922

   At the conclusion of the Mutual contract in 1917, Chaplin signed a
   contract with First National to produce eight two-reel films. First
   National financed and distributed these pictures (1918-23) but
   otherwise gave him complete creative control over production. Chaplin
   built his own Hollywood studio and using his independence, created a
   remarkable, timeless body of work that remains entertaining and
   influential. The First National films include the comedy shorts: A
   Dog's Life (1918), and Pay Day (1922); longer films, such as: Shoulder
   Arms (1918) and The Pilgrim (1923); and the feature-length classic The
   Kid (1921).

   In 1919 Chaplin co-founded the United Artists film distribution company
   with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, all of whom
   were seeking to escape the growing power consolidation of film
   distributors and financiers in the developing Hollywood studio system.
   This move, along with complete control of his film production through
   his studio, assured Chaplin's independence as a filmaker. He served on
   the board of UA until the early 1950s.

   All Chaplin's United Artists pictures were of feature length, beginning
   with A Woman of Paris (1923). This was followed by the classic The Gold
   Rush (1925), and The Circus (1928).

   After the arrival of sound films, he made what is considered to be his
   greatest film, City Lights (1931), as well as Modern Times (1936)
   before he committed to sound. These were essentially silent films
   scored with his own music and sound effects. City Lights contained
   arguably his most perfect balance of comedy and sentimentality. Of the
   final scene, critic James Agee wrote in Life magazine in 1949 that it
   was the "greatest single piece of acting ever committed to celluloid".

   His dialogue films made in Hollywood were The Great Dictator (1940),
   Monsieur Verdoux (1947), and Limelight (1952).

   While Modern Times (1936) is a non-talkie, it does contain talk—usually
   coming from inanimate objects such as a radio or a TV monitor. This was
   done to help 1930s audiences, who were out of the habit of watching
   silent films, adjust to not hearing dialogue. Modern Times was the
   first film where Chaplin's voice is heard (in the nonsense song at the
   end). However, for most viewers it is still considered a silent film --
   and the end of an era.

   Although " talkies" became the dominant mode of moviemaking soon after
   they were introduced in 1927, Chaplin resisted making such a film all
   through the 1930s. It is a tribute to Chaplin's versatility that he
   also has one film credit for choreography for the 1952 film Limelight,
   and another as a singer for the title music of the 1928's The Circus.
   The best-known of several songs he composed are " Smile", composed for
   the film "Modern Times" and given lyrics to help promote a 1950s
   revival of the film, famously covered by Nat King Cole. "This Is My
   Song" from Chaplin's last film, "A Countess From Hong Kong," was a
   number one hit in several different languages in the 1960s (most
   notably the version by Petula Clark), and Chaplin's theme from
   Limelight was a hit in the 50s under the title "Eternally." Chaplin's
   score to Limelight was nominated for an Academy Award in 1972 due to a
   decades-long delay in the film premiering in Los Angeles making it
   eligible.

The Great Dictator

   His first dialogue picture, The Great Dictator (1940) was an act of
   defiance against Adolf Hitler and Nazism, filmed and released in the
   United States one year before it abandoned its policy of isolationism
   to enter World War II. The film was seen as an act of courage in the
   political environment of the time, both for its ridicule of Nazism and
   for the portrayal of overt Jewish characters and the depiction of their
   persecution. Chaplin played both the role of a Nazi dictator clearly
   modeled on Hitler (with a certain physical likeness), and also that of
   a Jewish barber cruelly persecuted by the Nazis. Hitler, who was a
   great fan of movies, is known to have seen the film twice (records were
   kept of movies ordered for his personal theatre).

Politics

   Chaplin's political sympathies always lay with the left. His politics
   seem tame by modern standards, but in the 1940s his views (in
   conjunction with his influence, fame, and status in the United States
   as a resident foreigner) were seen by many as dangerously communistic.
   His silent films made prior to the Great Depression typically did not
   contain overt political themes or messages, apart from the Tramp's
   plight in poverty and his run-ins with the law. But his films made in
   the 1930s were more openly political. Modern Times depicts workers and
   poor people in dismal conditions. The final dramatic speech in The
   Great Dictator, which was critical of blindly following patriotic
   nationalism without question, and his vocal public support for the
   opening of a second European front in 1942 to assist the Soviet Union
   in World War II were controversial. In at least one of those speeches,
   according to a contemporary account in the Daily Worker, he intimated
   that Communism might sweep the world after the war and equated it with
   "human progress".

   Apart from the controversial 1942 speeches, Chaplin declined to
   patriotically support the war effort as he had done for the First World
   War (although his two sons saw service in the Army in Europe), which
   led to public anger. For most of the war he was fighting serious
   criminal and civil charges related to his involvement with actress Joan
   Berry (see below). After the war, the critical view towards what he
   regarded as capitalism in his 1947 black comedy, Monsieur Verdoux led
   to increased hostility, with the film being the subject of protests in
   many US cities. As a result, Chaplin's final American film, Limelight,
   was less political and more autobiographical in nature. His following
   European-made film, A King in New York (1957), satirised the political
   persecution and paranoia that had forced him to leave the US five years
   earlier (one of the few films of the 1950s to do so). After this film,
   Chaplin lost interest in making overt political statements, later
   saying that comedians and clowns should be "above politics".

McCarthyism

   Although Chaplin had his major successes in the United States and was a
   resident from 1914 to 1952, he always retained his British nationality.
   During the era of McCarthyism, Chaplin was accused of " un-American
   activities" as a suspected communist sympathiser and J. Edgar Hoover,
   who had instructed the FBI to keep extensive secret files on him, tried
   to end his United States residency. FBI pressure on Chaplin grew after
   his 1942 campaign for a second European front in the war, and reached a
   critical level in the late 1940s, when Congressional figures threatened
   to call him as a witness in hearings. This was never done, probably
   from the fear of Chaplin's ability to lampoon the investigators.

   In 1952, Chaplin left the US for what was intended as a brief trip home
   to England; Hoover learned of it and negotiated with the INS to revoke
   his re-entry permit. Chaplin then decided to stay in Europe, and made
   his home in Vevey, Switzerland. He briefly returned to the United
   States in April 1972, with his wife, to receive an Honorary Oscar. Even
   though he was invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
   Sciences (the Academy Awards), he was only issued a one-time entry visa
   valid for a period of two months. However, by this time the animosities
   towards the now elderly and apolitical Chaplin had faded, and his visit
   was a triumphant success.
   Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in The Kid (1921)
   Enlarge
   Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in The Kid (1921)

Academy Awards

   Chaplin won two honorary Oscars. When the first Oscars were awarded on
   May 16, 1929, the voting audit procedures that now exist had not yet
   been put into place, and the categories were still very fluid. Chaplin
   had originally been nominated for both Best Actor and Best Comedy
   Directing for his movie The Circus, but his name was withdrawn and the
   Academy decided to give him a special award "for versatility and genius
   in acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus" instead. The
   other film to receive a special award that year was The Jazz Singer.

   Chaplin's second honorary award came 44 years later in 1972, and was
   for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the
   art form of this century". He came out of his exile to accept his
   award. Upon receiving the award, Chaplin received the longest standing
   ovation in Academy Award history, lasting a full five minutes from the
   studio audience.

   Chaplin was also nominated without success for Best Picture, Best
   Actor, and Best Original Screenplay for The Great Dictator, and again
   for Best Original Screenplay for Monsieur Verdoux (1947). During his
   active years as a filmmaker, Chaplin expressed disdain for the Academy
   Awards; his son Charles Jr. wrote that Chaplin invoked the ire of the
   Academy in the 1930s by jokingly using his 1929 Oscar as a doorstop.
   This might help explain why City Lights, considered by several polls to
   be one of the greatest of all motion pictures, was not nominated for a
   single Academy Award.

   It is sometimes overlooked that Chaplin also won a competitive Academy
   Award. In 1973, he received an Oscar for the Best Music in an Original
   Dramatic Score for the 1952 film Limelight, which co-starred Claire
   Bloom. The film also features a cameo with Buster Keaton, which was the
   only time the two great comedians ever appeared together. Because of
   Chaplin's political difficulties, the film did not play a one-week
   theatrical engagement in Los Angeles when it was first produced. This
   criterion for nomination was not fulfilled until 1972.

Final works

   Chaplin's two final films were made in London: A King in New York
   (1957) in which he starred, and (as writer and director) A Countess
   from Hong Kong (1967), starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando, in
   which Chaplin made his final on-screen appearance in a brief cameo role
   as a seasick steward.

   In his autobiographical book My Life in Pictures, published in 1974,
   Chaplin indicated that he had written a screenplay for his youngest
   daughter, Victoria. Entitled The Freak, the film would have cast
   Victoria as an angel. According to Chaplin, a script was completed and
   pre-production rehearsals had already begun on the film (the book
   includes a photograph of Victoria in costume) but were halted when
   Victoria got married. "I mean to make it some day," Chaplin wrote; he
   died before this could happen.

   One of the last known works Chaplin completed was in 1976 when he
   composed a new score for his unsuccessful 1923 film A Woman of Paris.

Notable relationships

   Chaplin's relationships with various women were an important part of
   his life and career, in both positive and negative ways.

Hetty Kelly

   Hetty Kelly was Chaplin's 'true' first love, a dancer, whom he met in
   London when she was 15 (he was 19). Chaplin fell madly in love with her
   and asked her to marry him. When she refused, Chaplin suggested it
   would be best if they did not see each other again. He was crushed when
   she agreed. Years later, her memory would remain a 'fetish' with
   Chaplin. He was devastated in 1921 when he found out that she had died
   of influenza in the great epidemic of 1918. Speculators would later
   agree that it was his original infatuation with Hetty that fueled his
   later relationships with young girls.

Edna Purviance

   Chaplin and his first major leading lady, Edna Purviance, were involved
   in a close romantic relationship during the production of his Essanay
   and Mutual films in 1916–1917. The romance seems to have ended by 1918,
   and Chaplin's marriage to Mildred Harris in late 1918 ended any
   possibility of reconciliation. Purviance would continue as leading lady
   in Chaplin's films until 1923, and would remain on Chaplin's payroll
   until her death in 1958. She and Chaplin spoke warmly of one another
   for the rest of their lives.

Mildred Harris

   On October 23, 1918, the 29-year-old Chaplin married the 16-year-old
   The Wonderful Wizard of Oz actress Mildred Harris. The marriage
   resulted from a false-alarm pregnancy claim from the underage Harris.
   They had one child, Norman Spencer Chaplin (also known as "The Little
   Mouse"), who died in infancy; they divorced in 1920. During the
   divorce, Chaplin claimed Harris had had a lesbian affair with noted
   actress of the time Alla Nazimova, well known for seducing young
   actresses. Harris in turn claimed Chaplin was a sexual addict. Both
   claims have merit.

Pola Negri

   Chaplin was involved in a very public relationship and engagement to
   the actress Pola Negri in 1922–23. Negri was a Polish actress who had
   recently arrived in Hollywood to star in films. The stormy on-off
   engagement was halted after about nine months, but in many ways it
   foreshadowed the modern stereotypes of Hollywood star relationships.
   Chaplin's public involvement with Negri was unique in his public life.
   By comparison he strove to keep his other romances and relationships
   very discreet and private (usually without success). Many biographers
   have concluded the affair with Negri was largely for publicity
   purposes.

Lita Grey

   At 35, he became involved with 16-year-old Lita Grey during
   preparations for The Gold Rush. They married on November 26, 1924 after
   she became pregnant. They had two sons, the actors Charles Chaplin Jr.
   (1925–1968) and Sydney Earle Chaplin (1926–). The marriage was a
   disaster, with the couple hopelessly mismatched. Their extraordinarily
   bitter divorce in 1928 had Chaplin paying Grey a then-record-breaking
   $825,000 settlement, on top of almost a million dollars in legal costs.
   The stress of the sensational divorce, compounded by a federal tax
   dispute, allegedly turned his hair white. The publication of court
   records, which included many intimate details, led to a short-lived
   campaign against him. The Chaplin biographer Joyce Milton asserted in
   Tramp: The Life of Charlie Chaplin that the Grey-Chaplin marriage was
   the inspiration for Vladimir Nabokov's 1950's novel Lolita.

May Reeves

   May Reeves was originally hired to be Chaplin' secretary on his
   1931-1932 extended trip to Europe, dealing mostly with reading his
   personal correspondence. She worked only one morning, and then was
   introduced to Chaplin, who was instantly infatuated by her. May became
   his constant companion and lover on the trip, much to the disgust of
   Chaplin's brother Syd. After Reeves also became involved with Syd,
   Chaplin ended the relationship and she left his entourage. Reeves
   chronicled her short time with Chaplin in her book, "The Intimate
   Charlie Chaplin".

Paulette Goddard

   Chaplin and actress Paulette Goddard were involved in a romantic and
   professional relationship between 1932 and 1940, with Goddard living
   with Chaplin in his Beverly Hills home for most of this time. Chaplin
   "discovered" Goddard and gave her starring roles in Modern Times and
   The Great Dictator. Refusal to clarify their marital status is often
   claimed to have eliminated Goddard from final consideration for the
   role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. After the relationship
   ended in 1940, Chaplin and Goddard made public statements that they had
   been secretly married in 1936. But these claims were likely a mutual
   effort to prevent any lasting damage to Goddard's career, because
   Chaplin privately confirmed they were never officially married. In any
   case, their common-law marriage ended amicably in 1942, with Goddard
   being granted a settlement. Goddard went on to a major career in films
   at Paramount in the 1940s, working several times with Cecil B. DeMille,
   whose politics could not have been further from those of Goddard's
   former spousal equivalent. She also lived her later life in
   Switzerland, like Chaplin.

Joan Berry

   Chaplin had a brief affair with Joan Berry in 1942, whom he was
   considering for a starring role in a proposed film, but the
   relationship ended when she began harassing him and displaying signs of
   severe mental illness (similar to those of his mother). Chaplin's brief
   involvement with Berry proved to be a nightmare for him. After having a
   child, she filed a paternity suit against him in 1943. Although blood
   tests proved Chaplin was not the father of Berry's child, the tests
   were then inadmissible as evidence in court, and he was ordered to
   support the child. The injustice of the ruling later led to a change in
   California law to allow blood tests as evidence. Federal prosecutors
   also brought Mann Act charges against Chaplin related to Berry in 1944,
   of which he was acquitted. Chaplin's public image in America was
   permanently damaged by these sensational trials.

Oona O'Neill

   During Chaplin's legal trouble over the Berry affair, he met Oona
   O'Neill, daughter of Eugene O'Neill, and married her on June 16, 1943.
   He was 54; she was 17. The elder O'Neill refused all contact with Oona
   after the marriage, up until his death. O'Neill and Chaplin each seemed
   to provide elements missing in the others' lives: she longed for the
   love of a father figure, and Chaplin craved her loyalty and support as
   his public popularity declined. The marriage was a long and happy one,
   with eight children. They had three sons: Christopher, Eugene and
   Michael Chaplin and five daughters: Geraldine, Josephine, Jane,
   Victoria and Annette-Emilie Chaplin. Oona survived Chaplin by fourteen
   years, but her final years were unhappy, with grief over Chaplin's
   death eventually leading to alcoholism. She died from pancreatic cancer
   in 1991.

Knighthood

   On March 4, 1975, he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the British
   Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. The honour was first proposed in
   1931, and again in 1956, when it was vetoed by the then Conservative
   government for fears of damage to relations with the United States at
   the height of the Cold War and planned invasion of Suez of that year.

Death

   Chaplin died on Christmas Day, 1977, in Vevey, Switzerland, in his
   sleep, aged 88, and was interred in Corsier-Sur-Vevey Cemetery in
   Corsier-Sur-Vevey, Vaud. On March 1, 1978, his body was stolen by a
   small group of Polish and Bulgarian mechanics in an attempt to extort
   money from his family. The plot failed, the robbers were captured, and
   the body was recovered 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva (and reburied
   under six feet of concrete to prevent another attempt).

Other controversies

   During World War I, from March 1916, Chaplin was criticized in the
   British press for not joining the Army. He had in fact presented
   himself for service, but was denied for being too small and
   underweight. However, Chaplin also raised substantial funds for the war
   effort during War bond drives, and by making, at his own expense, The
   Bond, a comedic propaganda film used in 1918. This lingering
   controversy reportedly prevented Chaplin's knighthood in the early
   1930s.

   For Chaplin's entire career, some level of controversy existed over
   claims of Jewish ancestry. Nazi propaganda in the 1930s prominently
   portrayed Chaplin as Jewish (named Karl Tonstein) relying on articles
   published in the US press before, and FBI investigations of Chaplin in
   the late 1940s also focused on Chaplin's racial origins. Paranoia about
   alleged Jewish domination of the movie industry was probably the root
   cause underlying this controversy. There is no evidence of Jewish
   ancestry for Chaplin himself. Chaplin's half-brother, Sydney, was
   three-fourths-Jewish , but he was never a practising Jew. For his
   entire public life, Chaplin fiercely refused to challenge or refute
   such claims, saying that to do so would always "play directly into the
   hands of anti-Semites". His fearless portrayal of Jewish persecution in
   The Great Dictator bears this conviction out. In the biographical film,
   Chaplin, there is a fictional confrontation with a Nazi in which
   Chaplin responded to his query if he was a Jew with, "I'm afraid I
   don't have that honour."

   Chaplin has also figured in the mysterious events surrounding the death
   of producer Thomas Ince aboard the yacht of William Randolph Hearst in
   1924, one of Hollywood's greatest mysteries. A fictionalised version of
   these events are depicted in the 2001 film The Cat's Meow. The precise
   circumstances of Ince's death will likely never be known.

   Chaplin's lifelong attraction to younger women remains another enduring
   source of controversy. His biographers have attributed this to a
   teenage infatuation with Hetty Kelly, whom he met in Britain while
   performing in the music hall, and which defined his feminine ideal.
   Chaplin clearly relished the role of discovering and closely guiding
   young female stars; with the exception of Mildred Harris, all of his
   marriages and most of his major relationships began in this manner.

Legacy

     * There is a statue of Chaplin in front of the alimentarium in Vevey
       to commemorate the last part of his life, and a replica also stands
       in Leicester Square in London.
     * Amongst his many honours, Chaplin has a star on the Hollywood Walk
       of Fame (Chaplin's star was not dedicated until the 1970s, due to
       controversies over his politics in the 1950s and 1960s). In 1985 he
       was honoured with his image on a postage stamp of the United
       Kingdom, and in 1994 he appeared on a United States postage stamp
       designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. He has also a bronze statue
       in Waterville, County Kerry in Ireland, to show Irish appreciation
       for his love of the country.
     * Chaplin has a waxwork in Madame Tussauds.
     * In 1992 a film was made about his life entitled Chaplin, directed
       by Oscar-winner Richard Attenborough, and starring Robert Downey
       Jr., Dan Aykroyd, and Geraldine Chaplin (Charlie's daughter,
       portraying Charlie's mother, her own grandmother). Downey was
       nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in 1993 for his portrayal of
       Chaplin.
     * In 2001, British comedian Eddie Izzard played Chaplin in the film,
       The Cat's Meow, which speculated about the still-unsolved death of
       producer Thomas Ince aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht, of
       which Chaplin was a passenger of at the time.
     * Chaplin's Tramp character was portrayed by Steve Fairnie in a
       famous 1980s advertising campaign for the IBM PC personal computer
       and later IBM PCjr.
     * In Spanish, charlotada means a show of comedy bullfight, and a
       ridicule or grotesque public performance. It is named after the
       comedy bullfighter Carmelo Tusquellas, nicknamed Charlot because
       his attire and show reminded that of Chaplin (also named Charlot in
       Spanish markets).

Comparison with other silent comics

   Since the 1960s, Chaplin's films have been unendingly compared to those
   of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd (the other two great silent film
   comedians alongside Charlie Chaplin), especially among the loyal fans
   of each comic.

   The three had very different styles: Chaplin had a strong affinity for
   sentimentality and pathos (which was popular in the 1920s), Lloyd was
   renowned for his everyman persona and classic 1920s optimism, and
   Keaton adhered to onscreen stoicism with a cynical tone more suited to
   modern audiences. On a historical level, Chaplin was behind the
   pioneering generation of film comedians, and both the younger Keaton
   and Harold Lloyd built upon his groundwork (in fact, Lloyd's early
   characters "Willie Work" and "Lonesome Luke" were obvious Chaplin
   ripoffs, something that Lloyd acknowledged and tried hard to move away
   from - eventually succeeding). Chaplin's period of film experimentation
   ended after the Mutual period (1916-1917), just before Keaton entered
   films.

   Commercially, Charlie Chaplin made some of the highest-grossing films
   in the silent era; The Gold Rush is the fifth with $4.25 million and
   The Circus is the seventh with $3.8 million. However, Chaplin's films
   combined made about $10.5 million while Harold Lloyd's grossed $15.7
   million (Lloyd was far more prolific, releasing twelve feature films in
   the 1920s while Chaplin released just three). Buster Keaton's films
   were not nearly as commercially successful as Chaplin's or Lloyd's even
   at the height of his popularity, and only received belated critical
   acclaim in the late 1950s and 1960s.

   Beyond a healthy professional rivalry, the two former vaudevillians and
   Harold Lloyd (who was a dramatic actor by training) thought highly of
   each other. Keaton stated that Chaplin was the greatest comedian that
   ever lived, and the greatest comedy director. Chaplin also greatly
   admired Keaton: he welcomed him to United Artists in 1925, advised him
   against his disastrous move to MGM in 1928, and for his last American
   film, Limelight, wrote a part specifically for Keaton as his first
   on-screen comedy partner since 1915.

Trivia

     * A bronze statue to Chaplin was erected in the small seaside town of
       Waterville, County Kerry, Ireland where the star spent many
       holidays in later life.
     * A young Chaplin is a character in Shanghai Knights; the movie
       presented the fictional idea that Chaplin originally came to
       America by stowing away with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson's
       characters.
     * Elemental, querido Chaplin, by Rafael Marín (2005, ISBN
       84-480-7542-X), is presented as a unpublished manuscript in which
       Chaplin tells how, as a London poor child, he helped Sherlock
       Holmes in an adventure against Fu Manchu.
     * As Chaplin became popular throughout America, "Charlie Chaplin
       look-alike" contests became popular. It is said that Chaplin once
       entered in such a contest and came in third. Other stories claim he
       came in second. The real story is actually worse: he did take part
       in such a contest at a San Francisco theatre and did in fact lose.
       But his final standing was not recorded because he did not even
       make the finals. In another such contest, a rising young actor
       named Milton Berle took first prize.
     * Chaplin befriended Luis Buñuel in the early 30s. The Spanish
       filmmaker had been brought to shoot parallel versions of Hollywood
       films and found it easier to join Chaplin's parties than other more
       exclusive ones. Chaplin had long been popular in surrealist and
       dadaist circles.
     * He once called Cantinflas "the greatest comedian in the world"
     * In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted among
       the top 20 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy
       insiders.
     * Although baptised in the Church of England, Chaplin was an agnostic
       for most of his life.
     * In his later years Chaplin was a fan of Benny Hill (a big Chaplin
       fan himself), a compliment that touched Benny deeply when he
       visited Chaplin's home on invitation from Chaplin's family in 1991
       and discovered that Charlie had a vast collection of Benny Hill
       videos.
     * During a visit to Chaplin's home with the Great Britain Davis Cup
       lawn tennis team in 1921, multi-talented sportsman Maxwell Woosnam
       — an Olympic and Wimbledon tennis champion and one-time captain of
       the England national football team — defeated Chaplin at table
       tennis while playing with a butter knife instead of a bat. In an
       effort to cheer Chaplin up after this loss, Woosnam threw the actor
       into his own swimming pool, after which Woosnam and his team-mates
       were asked to leave.
     * A Canadian cartoon show called Kevin Spencer mocked Charlie
       Chaplin's apparent love of young women when an old character, who
       would have been alive and a young woman during Chaplin's career,
       claims to somebody questioning whether she has done anything
       interesting in her life that she 'once had sex with Charlie
       Chaplin'. The character responds dismissively, saying 'everybody
       had sex with Charlie Chaplin'.
     * Chaplin, who grew up in dire poverty, managed his wealth very
       cautiously. He was often derided for being paranoid and a
       "tightwad" over his finances, but over the course of his life it
       served him well. He liquidated his stocks into cash just before the
       crash of 1929, unlike many of his contemporaries. Similarly, when
       he was refused re-entry into the US in 1952, he was able to extract
       his wealth with little difficulty (his wife Oona reportedly sewed
       $1000 bills into the lining of her coat). Because he preferred
       liquid assets, the IRS hounded him for over thirty years on tax
       issues, resulting in at least three large settlements.
     * One of the most prominent new wave bands from former Yugoslavia,
       Šarlo akrobata (Charlot the Acrobat), got its name after the usual
       translation of the Chaplin character's name in Yugoslavia in the
       1920's and 30's.
     * An old Indonesian comedy show Spontan occasionally airs a mute,
       black and white humor series revolving a character called 'Den
       Bagus'. He is dressed in a similar manner with and is possibly a
       homage to Charlie Chaplin.
     * Was home educated when he was a boy.
     * In 1999, the American Film Institute named Chaplin among the
       Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at No. 10.

Filmography

   Dates given are those of first release

   Keystone Studios
   (* denotes not written and directed by Chaplin)
   1914
     * 01. Making a Living (Feb 2) *
     * 02. Kid Auto Races at Venice (Feb 7) *
     * 03. Mabel's Strange Predicament (Feb 9) *
     * 04. Between Showers (Feb 28) *
     * 05. A Film Johnnie (Mar 2) *
     * 06. Tango Tangles (Mar 9) *
     * 07. His Favourite Pastime (Mar 16) *
     * 08. Cruel, Cruel Love (Mar 26) *
     * 09. The Star Boarder (Apr 4) *
     * 10. Mabel At The Wheel (Apr 18) *
     * 11. Twenty Minutes Of Love (Apr 20)
     * 12. Caught in a Cabaret (Apr 27) *
     * 13. Caught in the Rain (May 4)
     * 14. A Busy Day (May 7)
     * 15. The Fatal Mallet (Jun 1) *
     * 16. Her Friend The Bandit (Jun 4) (Chaplin's only lost film)
     * 17. The Knockout (Jun 11) *
     * 18. Mabel's Busy Day (Jun 13) *
     * 19. Mabel's Married Life (Jun 20)
     * 20. Laughing Gas (Jul 9)
     * 21. The Property Man (Aug 1)
     * 22. The Face on the Bar-Room Floor (Aug 10)
     * 23. Recreation (Aug 13)
     * 24. The Masquerader (Aug 27)
     * 25. His New Profession (Aug 31)
     * 26. The Rounders (Sep 7)
     * 27. The New Janitor (Sep 14)
     * 28. Those Love Pangs (Oct 10)
     * 29. Dough and Dynamite (Oct 26)
     * 30. Gentlemen of Nerve (Oct 29)
     * 31. His Musical Career (Nov 7)
     * 32. His Trysting Place (Nov 9)
     * 33. Tillie's Punctured Romance (Nov 14) *
     * 34. Getting Acquainted (Dec 5)
     * 35. His Prehistoric Past (Dec 7)

   Essanay
   1915
     * 36. His New Job (Feb 1)
     * 37. A Night Out (Feb 15)
     * 38. The Champion (Mar 11)
     * 39. In The Park (Mar 18)
     * 40. A Jitney Elopement (Apr 1)
     * 41. The Tramp (Apr 11)
     * 42. By The Sea (Apr 29)
     * His Regeneration (May 7) (cameo: a customer)
     * 43. Work (Jun 21)
     * 44. A Woman (Jul 12)
     * 45. The Bank (Aug 9)
     * 46. Shanghaied (Oct 4)
     * 47. A Night in the Show (Nov 20)
     * 48. Burlesque on Carmen (Dec 18)

   1916
     * 49. Police (May 27)

   1918
     * 50. Triple Trouble (put together by Essanay from unfinished Chaplin
       films two years after he had left the company)

   Miscellaneous:
     * The Nut (Mar 6, 1921) (cameo: chaplin impersonator)
     * Souls For Sale (Mar 27, 1923) (cameo: himself, celebrity director)
     * A Woman of the Sea (1926) (produced by Chaplin)
     * Show People (Nov 11, 1928) (cameo: himself)

   Mutual Film Corporation
   1916
     * 51. The Floorwalker (May 15)
     * 52. The Fireman (Jun 12)
     * 53. The Vagabond (Jul 10)
     * 54. One A.M. (Aug 7)
     * 55. The Count (Sep 4)
     * 56. The Pawnshop (Oct 2)
     * 57. Behind the Screen (Nov 13)
     * 58. The Rink (Dec 4)

   1917
     * 59. Easy Street (Jan 22)
     * 60. The Cure (Apr 16)
     * 61. The Immigrant (Jun 17)
     * 62. The Adventurer (Oct 22)

   First National
   1918
     * 63. A Dog's Life (Apr 14)
     * 64. The Bond (Sep 29)
     * 65. Shoulder Arms (Oct 20)

   1919
     * 66. Sunnyside (Jun 15)
     * 67. A Day's Pleasure (Dec 15)
     * 68. The Professor uncompleted

   1920
     * 68. The Kid (Feb 6)
     * 69. The Idle Class (Sep 25)

   1922
     * 70. Pay Day (Apr 2)

   1923
     * 71. The Pilgrim (Feb 26)

   United Artists
   1923
     * 72. A Woman of Paris (Sep 26) (cameo)

   1925
     * 73. The Gold Rush (Jun 26)

   1928
     * 74. The Circus (Jan 6)

   1931
     * 75. City Lights (Feb 6)

   1936
     * 76. Modern Times (Feb 5)

   1940
     * 77. The Great Dictator (Oct 15)

   1947
     * 78. Monsieur Verdoux (Apr 11)

   1952
     * 79. Limelight (Oct 16)

   Later Productions
   1957
     * 80. A King in New York (Sep 12)

   1959
     * 81. The Chaplin Revue (Sep 1) (First National shorts A Dog’s Life,
       Shoulder Arms and The Pilgrim edited together by Chaplin to form a
       single feature-length film).

   1967
     * 82. A Countess from Hong Kong (Jan 5)

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