Sir Charles Spencer

8/7/2019 Sir Charles Spencer

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sir-charles-spencer 1/24

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE (16 April 1889 ± 25 December 1977) was an

English comic actor and film director of thesilent film era.[2]

He became one of the best-known film stars in

the world before the end of the First World War . Chaplin used mime,slapstick and other visual

comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies, though his films decreased in frequency

from the end of the 1920s. His most famous role was that of The Tramp, which he first played in

the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914.[3]

From the April 1914 one-reeler Twenty

Minutes of Love onwards he was writing and directing most of his films, by 1916 he was also producing,

and from 1918 composing the music. With Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, he co-

founded United Artists in 1919.[4]

Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era. He was influenced

by his predecessor, the French silent movie comedian Max Linder , to whom he dedicated one of his

films.[5] His working life in entertainment spanned over 75 years, from the Victorian stage and the Music

Hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer, until close to his death at the age of 88. His high-profile

public and private life encompassed both adulation and controversy. Chaplin's identification with the left

ultimately forced him to resettle in Europe during the McCarthy era in the early 1950s.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Chaplin the 10th greatest male screen legend of all time.[6] In

2008, Martin Sieff, in a review of the book Chaplin: A Life, wrote: "Chaplin was not just 'big', he was

gigantic. In 1915, he burst onto a war-torn world bringing it the gift of comedy, laughter and relief while it

was tearing itself apart through World War I. Over the next 25 years, through the Great Depression and

the rise of Adolf Hitler , he stayed on the job. ... It is doubtful any individual has ever given more

entertainment, pleasure and relief to so many human beings when they needed it the most".[7] George

Bernard Shaw called Chaplin "the only genius to come out of the movie industry

Early life in London (1889±1909)

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on 16 April 1889, in East Street, Walworth, London, England.[9]

His

parents were both entertainers in the music hall tradition; his father, Charles Spencer Chaplin Sr, was a

vocalist and an actor and his mother, Hannah Chaplin, a singer and an actress who went by the stage

name Lilly Harley.[10] They separated before Charlie was three. He learned singing from his parents. The

1891 census shows that his mother lived with Charlie and his older half-brother Sydney on Barlow Street,

Walworth.

As a small child, Chaplin also lived with his mother in various addresses in and around Kennington

Road in Lambeth, including 3 Pownall Terrace, Chester Street and 39 Methley Street. His paternal

grandmother's mother was from the Smith family of Romanichals,[11]

a fact of which he was extremely



proud,[12]

though he described it in his autobiography as "the skeleton in our family

cupboard".[13] Chaplin's father, Charles Chaplin Sr., was an alcoholic and had little contact with his son,

though Chaplin and his half-brother briefly lived with their father and his mistress, Louise, at 287

Kennington Road.[14][15]

The half-brothers lived there while their mentally ill mother lived at Cane

Hill Asylum at Coulsdon. Chaplin's father's mistress sent the boy to Archbishop Temples Boys School. His

father died of cirrhosis when Charlie was twelve in 1901. [16] As of the 1901 Census, Chaplin resided at 94

Ferndale Road, Lambeth, as part of a troupe of young male dancers, The Eight Lancashire

Lads,[17] managed by a William Jackson.[18]

A larynx condition ended the singing career of Chaplin's mother.[19] After Chaplin's mother was again

admitted to the Cane Hill Asylum, her son was left in the workhouse at Lambeth in south London, moving

after several weeks to the Central London District School for paupers in Hanwell.

In 1903 Chaplin secured the role of Billy the pageboy in S herlock Holmes, written by William Gillette and

starring English actor H. A. Saintsbury. Saintsbury took Chaplin under his wing and taught him to marshal

his talents. In 1905 Gillette came to England with Marie Doro to debut his new play, Clarice, but the play

did not go over well. When Gillette staged his one-act curtain-raiser, The Painful Predicament of S herlock

Holmes as a joke on the British press, Chaplin was brought in from the provinces to play Billy.

When S herlock Holmes was substituted for Clarice, Chaplin remained as Billy until the production ended

on December 2. During the run, Gillette coached Chaplin in his restrained acting style. It was during this

engagement that the teenage Chaplin fell hopelessly in love with Doro, but his love went unrequited and

Doro returned to America with Gillette when the production closed.[20]

They met again in Hollywood eleven years later. She had forgotten his name but, when introduced to her,

Chaplin told her of being silently in love with her and how she had broken his young heart. Over dinner,

he laid it on thick about his unrequited love. Nothing came of it until two years later, when they were both

in New York and she invited him to dinner and a drive. Instead, Chaplin noted, they simply ³dined quietly

in Marie¶s apartment alone.´ However, as Kenneth Lynn pointed out, ³Chaplin would not have been

Chaplin if he had simply dined quietly with Marie.´[21]

First years in the United States (1910±1913)



Bain News Service photo of Chaplin at his desk c. 1910

Chaplin first toured the United States with the Fred Karno troupe from 1910 to 1912. After five months

back in England, he returned to the U.S. for a second tour, arriving with the Karno Troupe on 2 October

1912. In the Karno Company was Arthur Stanley Jefferson, who later became known as Stan Laurel.

Chaplin and Laurel shared 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 Mack

Sennett, Mabel Normand, Minta Durfee, and Fatty Arbuckle. Sennett hired him for his studio,

the Keystone Film Company as a replacement for Ford Sterling.[22] Chaplin had considerable initial

difficulty adjusting to the demands of film acting and his performance suffered for it. After Chaplin's first

film appearance, Making a Living was filmed, Sennett felt he had made a costly mistake.[23]

Most

historians agree it was Normand who persuaded him to give Chaplin another chance.[24]

Mack Sennett did not warm to Chaplin right away, and Chaplin believed Sennett intended to fire him

following a disagreement with Normand.[25]

However, Chaplin's pictures were soon a success, and he

became one of the biggest stars at Keystone.[25][26]

Chaplin was given over to Normand, who directed and wrote a handful of his earliest films.[25] Chaplin did

not enjoy being directed by a woman, and they often disagreed.[25]

Eventually, the two worked out their

differences and remained friends long after Chaplin left Keystone.

The Tramp (1914±1915)



Chaplin on the right in his film debutMaking a Living (1914)

The Tramp debuted during the silent film era in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice (released

on 7 February 1914). However, Chaplin had devised the tramp costume for a f ilm produced a few days

earlier but released later (9 February 1914), Mabel's S trange Predicament . Mack Sennett had requested

that Chaplin "get into a comedy make-up".[27] 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 thought 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 Sennett had expected me to

be a much older man, I added a small moustache, which I reasoned, would add age without hiding my

expression. 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.[28]

"The Tramp" is a vagrant with the refined manners, clothes, and dignity of a gentleman. "Fatty" Arbuckle contributed his father-in-law's derbyand his own pants (of generous proportions). Chester

Conklin provided the little cutaway tailcoat, and Ford Sterling the size-14 shoes, which were so big,

Chaplin had to wear each on the wrong foot to keep them on. He devised the moustache from a bit of

crepe hair belonging toMack Swain. The only thing Chaplin himself owned was the whangee cane.[27]

Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914): Chaplin's second film and the debut of his "tramp" costume



Chaplin, with his Little Tramp character, quickly became the most popular star in Keystone director Mack

Sennett's company of players. He immediately gain enormous popularity among cinema audiences. "The

Tramp", Chaplin's principal character, was known as "Charlot" in theFrench-speaking world, Italy,

Spain, Andorra, Portugal, Greece, Romania and Turkey, "Carlitos" in Brazil and Argentina, and "Der

Vagabund" in Germany.

Chaplin continued to play the Tramp through dozens of short films and, later, feature-length productions

(in only a handful of other productions did he play characters other than the Tramp). He portrayed

a Keystone Kop in A Thief Catcher filmed Jan. 5±26, 1914.[29]

The Tramp was closely identified with the silent era, and was considered an international character; when

the sound era began in the late 1920s, Chaplin refused to make a talkie featuring the character. The 1931

production City Lights featured no dialogue. Chaplin officially retired the character in the film Modern

Times (released 5 February 1936), which appropriately ended with the Tramp walking down an endless

highway toward the horizon. The film was only a partial talkie and is often called the last silent film. The

Tramp remains silent until near the end of the film when, for the first time, his voice is finally heard, albeit

only as part of a French/Italian-derived gibberish song.

Two films Chaplin made in 1915, The Tramp and The Bank , created the characteristics of his screen

persona. While in the end the Tramp manages to shake off his disappointment and resume his carefree

ways, ³the pathos lies in The Tramp's hope for a more permanent transformation through love, and his

failure to achieve this.´[citation needed ]

Chaplin in character in the 1910s

Chaplin's early Keystones use the standard Mack Sennett formula of extreme physical comedy and

exaggerated gestures. Chaplin's pantomime was subtler, more suitable to romantic and domestic farces

than to the usual Keystone chases and mob scenes. The visual gags were pure Keystone, however; the



tramp character would aggressively assault his enemies with kicks and bricks. Moviegoers loved this

cheerfully earthy new comedian, even though critics warned that his antics bordered on vulgarity. Chaplin

was soon entrusted with directing and editing his own films. He made 34 shorts for Sennett during his first

year in pictures, as well as the landmark comedy feature Tillie's Punctured Romance.

The Tramp character was featured in the first movie trailer to be exhibited in a U.S. cinema, a slide

promotion developed by Nils Granlund, advertising manager for the Marcus Loew theatre chain, and

shown at the Loew's Seventh Avenue Theatre in Harlem in 1914.[30]

In 1915, Chaplin signed a much more

favourable contract with Essanay Studios, and further developed his cinematic skills, adding new levels of

depth and pathos to the Keystone-style slapstick. Most of the Essanay films were more ambitious,

running twice as long as the average Keystone comedy. Chaplin also developed his own stock company,

including ingénue Edna Purviance and comic villains Leo White and Bud Jamison.

As new immigrant groups arrived in waves to America silent movies were able to cross all the barriers of

language, and spoke to every level of the American Tower of Babel, precisely because they were silent.

Chaplin was emerging as the supreme exponent of silent movies, an emigrant himself from London.

Chaplin's Tramp enacted the difficulties and humiliations of the immigrant underdog, the constant struggle

at the bottom of the American heap and yet he triumphed over adversity without ever rising to the top,

and thereby stayed in touch with his audience. Chaplin's films were also deliciously subversive. The

bumbling officials enabled the immigrants to laugh at those they feared.[31]

Pioneering film artist and global celebrity (1916±1918)

In 1916, the Mutual Film Corporation paid Chaplin US$670,000 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 all cinema. Of his Mutual comedies, the best known

include: E asy S treet , One AM , The Pawnshop, and The Adventurer . Edna Purviance remained the

leading lady, and Chaplin added Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman, and Albert Austin to his stock company;

Campbell, a Gilbert and Sullivanveteran, provided superb villainy, and second bananas Bergman and

Austin would remain with Chaplin for decades. Chaplin regarded the Mutual period as the happiest of his

career, although he also had concerns that the films during that time were becoming formulaic owing to

the stringent production schedule his contract required. Upon the U.S. entering the First World War,

Chaplin became a spokesman for Liberty Bonds with his close friend Douglas Fairbanks and MaryPickford.

[26]

Most of the Chaplin films in circulation date from his Keystone, Essanay, and Mutual periods. After

Chaplin assumed control of his productions in 1918 (and kept exhibitors and audiences waiting for them),

entrepreneurs serviced the demand for Chaplin by bringing back his older comedies. The films were

recut, retitled, and reissued again and again, first for theatres, then for the home-movie market, and in



recent years, for home video. Even Essanay was guilty of this practice, fashioning "new" Chaplin

comedies from old film clips and out-takes. The twelve Mutual comedies were revamped as sound movies

in 1933, when producer Amadee J. Van Beuren added new orchestral scores and sound effects.

A clip from the Charlie Chaplin silent film, "The Bond" (1918).

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 now had his own studio, and he could work at a

more relaxed pace that allowed him to focus on quality. Although First National expected Chaplin to

deliver short comedies like the celebrated Mutuals, Chaplin ambitiously expanded most of his personal

projects into longer, feature-length films, including S houlder Arms (1918), The Pilgrim (1923) and the

feature-length classic The Kid (1921).

United Artists (1919±1939)

Charlie Chaplin Studios, 1922

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 film-maker. He

served on the board of UA until the early 1950s.

All Chaplin's United Artists pictures were of feature length, beginning with the atypical drama in which

Chaplin had only a brief cameo role, A Woman of Paris (1923). This was followed by the classic

comedies The Gold Rush (1925) and The Circus (1928).

After the arrival of sound films, Chaplin continued to focus on silent films; The Circus (1928), City

Lights (1931), and Modern Times (1936) were essentially silent films scored with his own music and

sound effects. City Lights has been praised for its mixture of comedy and sentimentality. Critic James

Agee, for example, wrote in Life magazine in 1949 that the final scene in City Lights was the "greatest

single piece of acting ever committed to celluloid".

Chaplin and Jackie Coogan inThe Kid (1921)

While Modern Times (1936) is a non-talkie, it does contain talk²usually 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, which Chaplin both performed and wrote the nonsense

lyrics to). However, for most viewers it is still considered a silent film.

Although "talkies" became the dominant mode of movie making soon after they were introduced in 1927,

Chaplin resisted making such a film all through the 1930s. He considered cinema essentially a

pantomimic art. He said: "Action is more generally understood than words. Like Chinese symbolism, it will

mean different things according to its scenic connotation. Listen to a description of some unfamiliar

object²an African warthog, for example; then look at a picture of the animal and see how surprised you

are".[32]

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 Circus (1928). The best known of several



songs he composed are "Smile", composed for the film Modern Times (1936) 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 late

1960s (most notably the version by Petula Clark and discovery of an unreleased version in the 1990s

recorded in 1967 by Judith Durham of The Seekers), and Chaplin's theme from Limelight was a hit in the

1950s under the title "Eternally." Chaplin's score to Limelight won an Academy Award in 1972; a delay in

the film premiering in Los Angeles made it eligible decades after it was filmed. Chaplin also wrote scores

for his earlier silent films when they were re-released in the sound era, notably The Kid for its 1971 re-

release.

The Great Dictator (1940)

Chaplin's first talking picture, The Great Dictator (1940), was an act of defiance against Nazism, filmed

and released in the United States one year before the U.S. entry into the Second World War. Chaplin

played the role of "Adenoid Hynkel",[33] Dictator of Tomania, modelled on German dictator Adolf Hitler , who

was only four days his junior. The film also showcased comedian Jack Oakie as "Benzino Napaloni",

dictator of Bacteria, a jab at Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.[33]

Paulette Goddard filmed with Chaplin again, depicting a woman in the ghetto. 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. In addition to Hynkel, Chaplin also

played a look-alike Jewish barber persecuted by his regime, who physically resembled the Tramp

character.[33]

At the conclusion, the two characters Chaplin portrayed swapped positions through a complex plot, and

he dropped out of his comic character to address the audience directly in a speech.[34]

In the speech, Chaplin says ""I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't

want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible ± Jew, Gentile ± black man ±

white. "We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's

happiness ± not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world

there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone."[34]

He was nominated for Academy awards for Best Picture (producer), Best Original Screenplay

(writer) and Best Actor in The Great Dictator .[35]

McCarthy era

Although Chaplin had his major successes in the United States and was a resident from 1914 to 1953, he

always maintained a neutral nationalistic stance. During the era of McCarthyism, Chaplin was accused of

"un-American activities" as a suspected communist 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 fear of Chaplin's ability to lampoon the investigators.[36]

In 1952, Chaplin left the US for what was intended as a brief trip home to the United Kingdom for the

London premiere of Limelight . Hoover learned of the trip and negotiated with theImmigration and

Naturalization Service to revoke Chaplin's re-entry permit, exiling Chaplin so he could not return for his

alleged political leanings. Chaplin decided not to re-enter the United States, writing: "Since the end of the

last world war, I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who, by

their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press, have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which

liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted. Under these conditions I find it virtually

impossible to continue my motion-picture work, and I have therefore given up my residence in the United

States."[37]

Chaplin then made his home in Vevey, Switzerland. He briefly and triumphantly returned to the United

States in April 1972, with his wife, to receive an Honorary Oscar , and also to discuss how his films would

be re-released and marketed.

Final works (1957±1976)

Charlie Chaplin in 1965

Photo: Erling Mandelmann / photo©ErlingMandelmann.ch

Chaplin's final two films were made in London: A King in New York (1957) in which he starred, wrote,

directed and produced; and A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), which he directed, produced, and wrote.

The latter film stars Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando, and Chaplin made his final on-screen appearance



in a brief cameo role as a seasick steward. He also composed the music for both films with the theme

song from A Countess From Hong Kong, "This is My Song", reaching number one in the UK as sung

by Petula Clark. Chaplin also compiled a film The Chaplin Revue from three First National films A Dog's

Life (1918), S houlder Arms (1918) and The Pilgrim (1923) for which he composed the music and

recorded an introductory narration. As well as directing these final films, Chaplin also wrote My

Autobiography,between 1959 and 1963, which was published in 1964.

In his pictorial autobiography My Life In Pictures, published in 1974, Chaplin indicated that he had written

a screenplay for his daughter, Victoria; entitled The Freak , the film would have cast her as an angel.

According to Chaplin, a script was completed and pre-production rehearsals had begun on the film (the

book includes a photograph of Victoria in costume), but were halted when Victoria married. "I mean to

make it some day," Chaplin wrote. However, his health declined steadily in the 1970s which hampered all

hopes of the film ever being produced.

From 1969 until 1976, Chaplin wrote original music compositions and scores for his silent pictures and re-

released them. He composed the scores of all his First National shorts: The Idle Class in 1971 (paired

with The Kid for re-release in 1972), A Day's Pleasure in 1973, Pay Day in 1972, S unnyside in 1974, and

of his feature length films firstly The Circus in 1969 and The Kid in 1971. Chaplin worked with music

associate Eric James whilst composing all his scores.

Chaplin's last completed work was the score for his 1923 film A Woman of Paris, which was completed in

1976, by which time Chaplin was extremely frail, even finding communication difficult.

Death (1977)

Chaplin's grave in Switzerland

Chaplin's robust health began to slowly fail in the late 1960s, after the completion of his final film A

Countess from Hong Kong , and more rapidly after he received his Academy Award in 1972. By 1977, he

had difficulty communicating, and was using a wheelchair. Chaplin died in his sleep in Vevey, Switzerland

on Christmas Day 1977.[38]



Chaplin was interred in Corsier-Sur-Vevey Cemetery, Vaud, Switzerland.[39]

On 1 March 1978,

his corpse was stolen by a small group of Swiss mechanics in an attempt to extort money from his

family.[40] The plot failed; the robbers were captured, and the corpse was recovered eleven weeks later

near Lake Geneva. His body was reburied under 6 feet (1.8 m) of concrete to prevent further attempts.

Filmmaking techniques

Chaplin never spoke more than cursorily about his filmmaking methods, claiming such a thing would be

tantamount to a magician spoiling his own illusion. In fact, until he began making spoken dialogue films

with The Great Dictator in 1940, Chaplin never shot from a completed script. The method he developed,

once his Essanay contract gave him the freedom to write for and direct himself, was to start from a vague

premise²for example "Charlie enters a health spa" or "Charlie works in a pawn shop." Chaplin then had

sets constructed and worked with his stock company to improvise gags and "business" around them,

almost always working the ideas out on film. As ideas were accepted and discarded, a narrative structure

would emerge, frequently requiring Chaplin to reshoot an already-completed scene that might have

otherwise contradicted the story.[41] Chaplin's unique filmmaking techniques became known only after his

death, when his rare surviving outtakes and cut sequences were carefully examined in the 1983 British

documentary Unknown Chaplin.

This is one reason why Chaplin took so much longer to complete his films than those of his rivals. In

addition, Chaplin was an incredibly exacting director, showing his actors exactly how he wanted them to

perform and shooting scores of takes until he had the shot he wanted. (Animator Chuck Jones, who lived

near Charlie Chaplin's Lone Star studio as a boy, remembered his father saying he watched Chaplin

shoot a scene more than a hundred times until he was satisfied with it.[42] This combination of story

improvisation and relentless perfectionism²which resulted in days of effort and thousands of feet of film

being wasted, all at enormous expense²often proved very taxing for Chaplin, who in frustration would

often lash out at his actors and crew, keep them waiting idly for hours or, in extreme cases, shutting down

production altogether.[41]

Comparison with other silent comics

Since the 1960s, Chaplin's films have been compared to those of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd (the

other two great silent film comedians of the time), especially among the loyal fans of each comic.

The three had 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 1920s optimism, and Keaton

adhered to onscreen stoicism with a cynical tone more suited to modern audiences.

Commercially, Chaplin made some of the highest-grossing films in the silent era; The Gold Rush is the

fifth with US$4.25 million and The Circus is the seventh with US$3.8 million. However, Chaplin's films



combined made about US$10.5 million while Harold Lloyd's grossed US$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.

There is evidence that Chaplin and Keaton, who both got their start in vaudeville, thought highly of one

another: Keaton stated in his autobiography that Chaplin was the greatest comedian that ever lived, and

the greatest comedy director, whereas Chaplin welcomed Keaton 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.

Composer and songwriter

Chaplin wrote or co-wrote the scores and songs for many of his films. Smile, which he composed for his

film Modern Times, hit number 2 on the UK charts when sung by Nat King Colein the 1950s.[43]

It wasalso Michael Jackson's favourite song.

[44] This Is My Song, written and composed by Chaplin for his film A

Countess from Hong Kong, hit number 1 on the UK charts when sung by Petula Clark in the 1960s.[45] In

1973, Chaplin won the Oscar for Best Film Score for his film Limelight.[46] Chaplin was not the only

member of his family with musical talent; his nephew, Spencer Dryden was the drummer for the Rock and

Roll Hall of Fame inducted band, Jefferson Airplane.[47]

Politics

Chaplin together with the American socialist Max Eastman in Hollywood 1919

Chaplin's political sympathies always lay with the left. 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 1930s films 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 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 the Second World

War were controversial.



Chaplin with Mahatma Gandhi in Canning Town, London, 1931.

Chaplin declined to support the war effort as he had done for the First World War which led to public

anger, although his two sons saw service in the Army in Europe. For most of the Second World War he

was fighting serious criminal and civil charges related to his involvement with actress Joan Barry(see

below). After the war, his 1947 black comedy, Monsieur Verdoux showed a critical view of capitalism.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 U.S. five years earlier.

Other controversies

During the First World War , Chaplin was criticised in the British press for not joining the Army. He had in

fact presented himself for service, but was denied for being too small at 5'5" and underweight. Chaplin

raised substantial funds for the war effort during war bond drives not only with public speaking at rallies

but also by making, at his own expense, The Bond , a comedic propaganda film used in 1918. The

lingering controversy may have prevented Chaplin from receiving a knighthood in the 1930s. A 1916

propaganda short film Zepped with Chaplin was discovered in 2009.[48]

For Chaplin's entire career, some level of controversy existed over claims of Jewish ancestry. Nazi

propaganda in the 1930s and 40s prominently portrayed him as Jewish (named Karl Tonstein) relying on

articles published in the U.S. press before,[49] and FBI investigations of Chaplin in the late 1940s also

focused on Chaplin's ethnic origins. There is no documentary evidence of Jewish ancestry for Chaplin

himself. For his entire public life, he fiercely refused to challenge or refute claims that he was Jewish,

saying that to do so would always "play directly into the hands of anti-Semites."[citation

needed ] Although baptised in the Church of England, Chaplin was thought to be an agnostic for most of his

life.[50]

Chaplin's lifelong attraction to younger women remains another enduring source of interest to some. 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 possibly 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.

Personal life and family

This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You canhelp by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help isavailable. (February 2010)

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may

be challenged and removed. (September 2009)

S ee also: Chaplin family

Chaplin's mother died in 1928 in Glendale, California,[51] seven years after having been brought to the

U.S. by her sons. Unknown to Charlie and Sydney until years later, they had a half-brother through their

mother. The boy, Wheeler Dryden (1892±1957), was raised abroad by his father but later connected with

the rest of the family and went to work for Chaplin at hisHollywood studio.[52]

The South African duo Locnville, Andrew and Brian Chaplin, are related to Chaplin (their grandfather was

Chaplin's first cousin).

Relationships

Hetty Kelly was Chaplin's first love, a dancer with whom he fell in love when she was fifteen and

almost married when he was nineteen, in 1908.[53] It is said 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 reportedly crushed when she agreed. Years later, her memory would

remain an obsession with Chaplin. He was devastated in 1921 when he learned that she had died

of influenza during the 1918 flu pandemic.[54]

Chaplin with Edna Purviance in The Immigrant (1917).



Edna Purviance was Chaplin's first major leading lady after Mabel Normand. Purviance and Chaplin

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, c. 1918±1920

Mildred Harris: On 23 October 1918, Chaplin, age 29, married the popular child actress, Harris, who

was 16 at the time. They had one son, Norman Spencer "The Little Mouse" Chaplin, born on 7 July

1919, who died three days later and is interred under the name The Little Mouse at Inglewood Park

Cemetery, Inglewood California. Chaplin separated from Harris by late 1919, moving back into

the Los Angeles Athletic Club.[55] The couple divorced in November 1920, with Harris getting some of

their community property and a US$100,000 settlement.[55]

Chaplin admitted that he "was not in love,

now that [he] was married [he] wanted to be and wanted the marriage to be a success." During the

divorce, Chaplin claimed Harris had an affair with noted actress of the time Alla Nazimova, rumoured

to be fond of seducing young actresses.[56]

Pola Negri: Chaplin was involved in a very public relationship and engagement with the Polish

actress, Negri, in 1922±23, after she 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 during this period very discreet and



private (usually without success). Many biographers have concluded the affair with Negri was largely

for publicity purposes.

Marion Davies: In 1924, during the time he was involved with the underage Lita Grey, Chaplin was

rumoured to have had a fling with actress Davies, companion of William Randolph Hearst. Davies

and Chaplin were both present on Hearst's yacht the weekend preceding the mysterious death

of Thomas Harper Ince. Charlie allegedly tried to persuade her to leave Hearst and remain with him,

but she refused and stayed by Hearst's side until his death in 1951. Chaplin made a rare cameo

appearance in Davies' 1928 film S how People, and by some accounts supposedly continued an affair

with her until 1931.

Lita Grey: Chaplin first met Grey during the filming of The Kid . Three years later, at age 35, he

became involved with the then 16-year-old Grey during preparations for The Gold Rush in which she

was to star as the female lead. They married on 26 November 1924, after she became pregnant (a

development that resulted in her being removed from the cast of the film). They had two sons, theactors Charles Chaplin, Jr. (1925±1968) andSydney Chaplin (1926±2009). The marriage was a

disaster, with the couple hopelessly mismatched. The couple divorced on 22 August 1927.[57]Their

extraordinarily bitter divorce had Chaplin paying Grey a then-record-breaking US$825,000 settlement,

on top of almost one million dollars in legal costs. The stress of the sensational divorce, compounded

by a federal tax dispute, allegedly turned his hair white. 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 1950s novel Lolita.

Merna Kennedy: Lita Grey's friend, Kennedy was a dancer who Chaplin hired as the lead actress

in The Circus (1928). It is rumoured that the two had an affair during shooting. Grey used the

rumoured infidelity in her divorce proceedings.

Georgia Hale was Lita Grey's replacement on The Gold Rush. In the documentary series, Unknown

Chaplin, (directed and written by film historians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill), Hale, in a 1980s

interview states that she had idolised Chaplin since childhood and that the then-19-year-old actress

and Chaplin began an affair that continued for several years, which she details in her memoir, Charlie

Chaplin: Intimate Close-Ups. During production of Chaplin's film City Lights in 1929±30, Hale, who by

then was Chaplin's closest companion, was called in to replace Virginia Cherrill as the flower girl.

Seven minutes of test footage survives from this recasting, and is included on the 2003 DVD release

of the film, but economics forced Chaplin to rehire Cherrill. In discussing the situation in Unknown

Chaplin, Hale states that her relationship with Chaplin was as strong as ever during filming. Their

romance apparently ended sometime after Chaplin's return from his world tour in 1933.

Louise Brooks was a chorine in the Ziegfeld Follies when she met Chaplin. He had gone to New

York for the opening there of The Gold Rush. For two months in the summer of 1925, the two



cavorted together at the Ritz, and with film financier A.C. Blumenthal and Brooks' fellow Ziegfeld

girl Peggy Fears in Blumenthal's penthouse suite at the Ambassador Hotel. Brooks was with Chaplin

when he spent four hours watching a musician torture a violin in a Lower East Side restaurant, an act

he would recreate in Limelight .

May Reeves was originally hired to be Chaplin's 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 with 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".

Chaplin and Paulette Goddard in The Great Dictator (1940)

Paulette Goddard: Chaplin and actress 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 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. In any case, their

relationship 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. Like

Chaplin, she lived her later life in Switzerland, dying in 1990.

Joan Barry (1920±1996): In 1942, Chaplin had a brief affair with Barry, 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 i llness (not unlike his mother). Chaplin's brief involvement with

Barry 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 Barry's child, Barry's

attorney, Joseph Scott, convinced the court that the tests were inadmissible as evidence, and Chaplin

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 Barry in 1944, of which he was acquitted.[58]

Chaplin's public image in America was gravely

damaged by these sensational trials.[36] Barry was institutionalised in 1953 after she was found

walking the streets barefoot, carrying a pair of baby sandals and a child's ring, and murmuring: "This

is magic".[59]

Chaplin's second wife, Lita Grey, later asserted that Chaplin had paid corrupt

government officials to tamper with the blood test results. She further stated that "there is no doubt

that she [Carol Ann] was his child."[60]

O

onaO'

Neill: During Chaplin's legal trouble over the Barry affair, he met O'Neill, daughter of EugeneO'Neill, and married her on 16 June 1943. He was fifty-four; she had just turned eighteen. The

marriage produced eight children; their last child, Christopher, was born when Chaplin was 73 years

old. Oona survived Chaplin by fourteen years, and died frompancreatic cancer in 1991.[61]

Children

Child Birth Death

Chaplin's Age

at Time of

Birth

Mother Grandchildren

Norman Spencer Chaplin 7 July 191910 July

191930

Mildred

Harris

Charles Spencer Chaplin,

Jr.[62]

5 May 192520 March

196836

Lita Grey

Susan Maree Chaplin (b

1959)

Sydney Earle Chaplin 31 March 19263 March

200936 Stephan Chaplin (b 19xx)

Carol Ann Barry Chaplin

(Disputed)

2 October

194354 Joan Barry Unknown

Geraldine Leigh Chaplin 31 July 1944 55Oona

Shane Saura Chaplin (b

1974)

Oona Castilla Chaplin (b



O' Neill 1986)

Michael John Chaplin 7 March 1946 56

Kathleen Chaplin (b.

1975)

Dolores Chaplin (b. 1979)

Carmen Chaplin (b 19xx)George Chaplin (b 19xx)

Josephine Hannah Chaplin 28 March 1949 59 Julien Ronet (b. 1980)

Victoria Chaplin 19 May 1951 62Aurélia Thiérrée (b. 1971)

James Thiérrée (b. 1974)

Eugene Anthony Chaplin 23 August1953

64 Kiera Chaplin (b. 1982)

Jane Cecil Chaplin 23 May 1957 68

Annette Emily Chaplin3 December

195970

Orson Salkind (b. 1986)

Osceola Salkind (b. 1994)

Christopher James Chaplin 6 July 1962 73

Awards and recognition



Statue of Chaplin in Leicester Square, London

Chaplin was knighted in 1975 at the age of 85 as a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE)

by Queen Elizabeth II.[63][64]

The honour had been first proposed in 1931. Knighthood was suggested

again in 1956, but was vetoed after a Foreign Office report raised concerns over Chaplin's communist

views and his moral behaviour in marrying two 16 year girls; it was felt that honouring him would damage

both the reputation of the British honours system and relations with the United States.[65]

Among other recognitions, Chaplin was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1970; that he had

not been among those originally honoured in 1961 caused some controversy.[66] Chaplin's Swiss mansion

is to be opened as a museum tracing his life from the music halls in London to Hollywood fame.[67][68]

A statue of Charlie Chaplin was made by John Doubleday, to stand in Leicester Square in London, United

Kingdom. It was unveiled by Sir Ralph Richardson in 1981.[69] A bronze statue of him is at Waterville,

County Kerry.

Academy AwardsChaplin received three Academy Awards in his lifetime: one for Best Original Score, and two Honorary

Awards. However, 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.[70] This may help explain why City Lights and Modern



Times, considered by several polls to be two of the greatest of all motion pictures,[71][72] were not

nominated for a single Academy Award.

The 1st Academy Awards ceremony: When the first Oscars were awarded on 16 May 1929, the

voting audit procedures that now exists had not yet been put into place, and the categories were still

very fluid. Chaplin's The Circus was set to be heavily recognised, as Chaplin had originally been

nominated for Best Production, Best Director in a Comedy Picture, Best Actor and Best Writing

(Original Story). However, the Academy decided to withdraw his name from all the competitive

categories and instead give him a Special Award "for versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing

and producing The Circus". The only other film to receive a Special Award that year was The Jazz

S inger .[73]

The 13th Academy Awards ceremony: In 1941, The Great Dictator was nominated for five awards,

including two for Chaplin: Best Writing and Best Actor. Chaplin lost out on both counts. For writing, he

lost to Preston Sturges for The Great McGinty , and for acting to James Stewart for The Philadelphia

S tory .

The 20th Academy Awards ceremony: In 1948, Chaplin's screenplay for Monsieur Verdoux was

nominated, but the award went instead to Sidney Sheldon for The Bachelor and the Bobby-S oxer .

The 44th Academy Awards ceremony: Chaplin's second Oscar was awarded forty-three years after

his first, in 1972. Chaplin came out of exile to accept the Honorary Award for "the incalculable effect

he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century". Stepping onto the stage of

the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Chaplin received the longeststanding ovation in Academy Award

history, lasting a full twelve minutes.[74]

The 45th Academy Awards ceremony: In 1973, Chaplin's film Limelight was honoured with an

Oscar for Best Original Score. Though the film had originally been released in 1952, due to Chaplin's

political difficulties at the time, the film did not play for one week in Los Angeles, and thus did not

meet the criterion for nomination until it was re-released in 1972.

Legacy

This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can

help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is

available. (February 2010)

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant

information into appropriate sections or articles. (February 2010)



Bronze statue at Waterville, County Kerry

Chaplin's "tramp" character is possibly the most imitated on all levels of entertainment. It is said[who?]

that

Chaplin once entered a "Chaplin look-alike" competition and came in third.

From 1917 to 1918, silent film actor Billy West made more than 20 films as a comedian precisely

imitating Chaplin's tramp character, makeup and costume.[75]

The third of composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann's 1929±30 composition Wachsfigurenkabinett: Fünf

kleine Opern (Waxworks: Five Little Operas) is entitled 'Chaplin-Ford-Trot', and features the character

of Charlie Chaplin (in a speaking rather than operatic role).

Kamal Haasan moulded his character "Chaplin Chellappa" on Chaplin in the Tamil film Punnagai

Mannan[76]

From September to November 1977 (just before Chaplin's death in December of that year), DePatie-

Freleng Enterprises produced a cartoon series starring a Chaplin-like character called Baggy Pants.

In 1985, Chaplin 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.

IBM ran a series of commercials for their personal computers during the 1980s featuring a Chaplin

impersonator.

John Woo directed a parody film of Chaplin's "The Kid" called Hua ji shi dai (1981), also known as

"Laughing Times."

A minor planet, 3623 Chaplin, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Georgievna Karachkina in

1981, is named after Chaplin.[77]

In 1992, a film was made about Chaplin's life entitled Chaplin, directed by Oscar-winner Richard

Attenborough, and starring Robert Downey, Jr., in an Oscar-nominated performance, and Geraldine

Chaplin playing the part Charlie Chaplin's mother (who, in reality, was her own grandmother).



In 2001, British comedian Eddie Izzard played Chaplin in Peter Bogdanovich's film, The Cat's Meow ,

which speculated about the still-unsolved death of producer Thomas H. Ince during a yachting party

thrown by William Randolph Hearst, of which Chaplin was a guest.

Filmography and current rights issues

Main article: Charlie Chaplin filmography

Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in dozens of feature films and short subjects. Highlights include The

Immigrant (1917), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times(1936), and The Great

Dictator (1940), all of which have been selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry. Three of these

films made the AFI's 100 Years«100 Movies and AFI's 100 Years«100 Movies (10th Anniversary

Edition) lists: The Gold Rush", City Lights, and Modern Times.

A listing of the dozens of Chaplin films and alternate versions can be found in the Ted Okuda-David

Maska book Charlie Chaplin at Keystone and E

ssanay: Dawn of the Tramp. Thanks to The ChaplinKeystone Project, efforts to produce definitive versions of Chaplin's pre-1918 short films have come to a

successful end: after ten years of research and clinical international cooperation work, 34 Keystone films

have been fully restored and published in October 2010 on a 4-dvd box set. All twelve Mutual films were

restored in 1975 by archivist David Shepardand Blackhawk Films, and new restorations with even more

footage were released on DVD in 2006.

Today, nearly all of Chaplin's output is owned by Roy Export S.A.S. in Paris, which enforces the library's

copyrights and decides how and when this material can be released. French company MK2 acts as

worldwide distribution agent for the Export company. In the U.S. as of 2010, distribution is handled under

license by Janus Films, with home video releases fromCriterion Collection, affiliated with Janus.

Date post:	09-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	vicna-raj
View:	220 times
Download:	0 times

Sir Charles Spencer

Documents