Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was a British comic actor and filmmaker. Chaplin was one of the most influential figures of the silent era, whose screen character "The Tramp" became a global phenomenon and remains one of cinema's most iconic images. His career in entertainment spanned more than 75 years, from Victorian music hall until close to his death at the age of 88. Chaplin's high-profile public and private life encompassed both adulation and controversy.
Raised in London, Chaplin's childhood was defined by poverty and hardship. He was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine; his father was absent, and his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing from a young age, touring music halls with a clog dancing troupe and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19 he was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company, which took him to America. It was while touring with the comedy troupe that Chaplin was scouted by the film industry.
His first appearances came in 1914 with Keystone Studios, where he developed the Tramp persona and formed a large fan base. Chaplin directed his films from an early stage, and continued to hone his craft as he moved to the Essanay, Mutual, and First National corporations. By 1918, he was one of the richest and most famous men in the world.
Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, scored, and starred in most of his films. He was a perfectionist, and his financial independence meant he often spent years on the development and production of a picture. His films are characterised by slapstick combined with pathos, and often feature the Tramp struggling to survive in a hostile world. Many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements.
Achievements & Facts about Charlie Chaplin
- He was the first actor to appear on Time magazine. Chaplin appeared on the July 6, 1925 issue of Time magazine, a U.S.-based news magazine. He was the first actor ever to appear on the magazine known for its influential cover photo.
- He won only one non-honorary Oscar, and it was 21 years "late". Chaplin won an honorary Academy Award ("Oscar") in 1929, during the first presentation of awards. Originally nominated in a couple of categories, his name was withdrawn and he was presented instead with a special award.
- He also received an honorary award in 1972. The next year, however, he won a Best Music Oscar for Limelight, a film he had made 21 years earlier, yet had not been shown in Los Angeles until 1972, thus enabling his nomination and subsequent award.
- He continues to be held in high regard, with The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked among the greatest films of all time.
- He purposely avoided dialogue in two "talkies". Chaplin wrote, produced, and acted in two movies in the 1930s, well after conversations were prevalent in the "talkies" (motion pictures in which sound was added).
- Surprisingly, the actors did not talk in these two movies, relying instead on the musical score to set the tone for the movies, and the few spoken words coming from objects such as a radio.
- He had a fondness for young wives. Chaplin was married 4 times. He was 29 and his first wife was 16 when they married. His second marriage was to 16-year-old Lita Grey, when he was 35.
- His third and possibly fictional marriage to Paulette Goddard, was rumored to have occurred when he was 47 and she was 28. He married his last wife, Oona O'Neill, daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill, shortly after Oona turned 18. Chaplin was 54.
- Charlie Chaplin was born just four days before Adolf Hitler, in 1889. His exact date of birth is April 16, 1889 in Walworth, London, United Kingdom.
- In 1925, he became the first actor to have appeared on the cover of the Time magazine.
- In 1925, he was the first actor to appear on the cover of Time magazine.
- At the height of his popularity, he failed to win a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contest.
- His imprints were removed (and subsequently lost) from the Hollywood walk of fame because of his suspected communist views.
- Although Adolf Hitler despised Chaplin, he was aware of his popularity, and grew the Chaplin moustache to endear himself to the people.
- Charlie Chaplin never became a U.S. citizen and was exiled from the U.S. in 1953 because he refused to have the American citizenship. He lived in Switzerland during his exiled years and died during sleep there in Vevey, Vaud on December 25, 1977 at the age of 88.
- He composed around 500 melodies for his own films and the last film that he ever saw was Rocky in 1976.
- His dead body was stolen for more than two months in 1978 by a small group of Swiss mechanics to blackmail his family for money. But there attempt failed and it was recovered and reburied in a vault encased in cement to prevent future attempts.
- There is an asteroid named after him in his honour by a Ukrainian astronomer, which is called 3623 Chaplin and resides in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
- He was ordered to pay child support for a child that was not his own. In the 1940s, Charlie had a brief relationship with actress Joan Barry. Several months after their breakup, she claimed that Chaplin was the father of the child to which she had just given birth.
- When blood tests proved that Chaplin was not the father of the child, Barry's attorney moved to have the tests ruled inadmissible as evidence. Because there was little historical precedent to admit the test results into the trial, the judge did not allow them to be used as evidence of Chaplin's non-paternity.
- After a mistrial and a retrial, Chaplin was ordered to pay Barry $75 per week for child support, a respectable amount in those days.
- Never won an Academy Award in an acting category, only in the capacity of a composer.
- His trademark character `The Tramp’ appeared in about 70 movies, shorts and features, during a period of 26 years.
- His film, The Great Dictator (1940), was banned in Germany.
- Charlie Chaplin had blue eyes. Most people guessed he had brown eyes since they only see him in black and white films.
- His daughter portrayed his mother in the movie Chaplin. The accomplished actress, Geraldine Chaplin, is Charlie's daughter with his last wife Oona. In the 1992 Hollywood movie adaptation of Charlie Chaplin's life, Chaplin, she portrayed Hannah Chaplin, Charlie's mother.
- One murder makes a villain, millions a hero. Numbers sanctify, my good fellow.
- Simplicity is a difficult thing to achieve.
- Remember, you can always stoop and pick up nothing.
- I am but one thing, and one thing only - and that is a clown. It places me on a higher plane than any politician.
- I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.
- I do not wish to lose my temper because very shortly I will lose my head. Nevertheless, upon leaving this spark of earthly existence, I have this to say: I shall see you all very soon ... very soon.
- “You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down”
- “I always like walking in the rain, so no one can see me crying.”
- “A man's true character comes out when he's drunk.”
- I always like walking in the rain, so no one can see me crying.”
- “A day without laughter is a day wasted.”
- “Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.”
- “Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself”
- “We think too much and feel too little.”
- “A man’s true character comes out when he’s drunk.”
- “To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it.”
- “Perfect love is the most beautiful of all frustrations because it is more than one can express.”
- “Like everyone else I am what I am: an individual, unique and different, with a lineal history of ancestral promptings and urgings; a history of dreams, desires, and of special experiences, all of which I am the sum total.”
- “Mirror is my best friend because when I cry it never laughs at me”
- Humor is the sublime wisdom of pity and tolerance in which man recognizes the utter futility of his own enterprise and importance.
Major Achievements
- Decorated by the French government for his outstanding work as a filmmaker in 1921
- Elevated to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1952
- Honored with an Academy Award for his “incalculable effect in making motion pictures the art form of the century” in 1972
- Awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 1975 Queen’s Honors List for his services to entertainment
- Ranked #79 in Empire (UK) magazine’s “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list in 1997
- First actor to have a comic strip about him; Ed Carey’s 1916 strip, “Pa’s Imported Son-in-Law”, detailed the adventures of Chaplin.
- He was the first actor to appear on the cover of “Time” magazine, (July 6, 1925).
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