Biography: Charlie Chaplin
(April 16, 1889 December
25, 1977)
Charlie Chaplin, who brought laughter to
millions worldwide as the silent "Little
Tramp" clown, had the type
of deprived childhood that one would expect to find
in a Dickens novel. Born in East Street, Walworth, London on 16 April, 1889,
Charles Spencer Chaplin was the son of a music hall singer and his
wife. Charlie
Chaplin's parents divorced early in his life, with his father providing little to no
support, either financial or otherwise, leaving his mother to
support them as best
she could. Chaplin's mother Hannah was the brightest spot in
Charlie's
childhood; formerly an actor on stage, she had lost her ability to
perform, and
managed to earn a subsistence living for herself, Charlie, and
Charlie's older
halfbrother
Sidney by sewing. She was an integral part of Charlie's young life,
and he credited her with much of his success. Sadly, she slowly succumbed to
mental illness, and by the time that
Charlie was 7 years old, she was confined
to an asylum; Charlie and Sidney were relegated to a workhouse (a
government
facility for orphaned and abandoned children) not
for the last time. After 2
months, she was released, and the family was happily reunited, for
a time. In
later years, she was readmitted for an 8month
stretch later, during which time
Charlie lived with his alcoholic
father and stepmother, in a strained
environment.
Charlie Chaplin's first taste of show
business
Sidney left home first, working first on a
sailing
ship, and later on the stage, opening the door for
Charlie to follow in his footsteps later. Young Charlie
felt more alone than ever without the presence of
his brother, his closest friend and confidant.
However, there was a bright spot as well in
Chaplin's 9th year he
toured with a stage
company, the 8 Lancashire Lads, with a kindhearted
couple who led the troupe, and gave Chaplin his
first taste of stage life. He also met a young Stan
Laurel as part of the troupe.
At the age of 12, Charlie's father died quite young.
At the age of 14, Charlie's mother is readmitted to
the asylum, while Sidney is out of town on an
extended trip. Charlie provides for himself as best
he can, desperate to avoid returning to the
workhouse, until Sydney
returns home. With Sidney's
return, young Chaplin's
luck begins to turn for the better. He wins a part in the stage
play "Jim, A
Romance of Cockney" to glowing reviews.
Later in the same year, he earns the
part of Billy in a stage adaptation of "Sherlock
Holmes," again to sterling reviews,
and tours with the company playing that part. The tour continues
through the next
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year, and Hannah is again released, seemingly in her right mind.
All seems to be
going well, until Hannah relapses, and is institutionalized for the next 7 years;
Charlie is 16 years old.
Charlie Chaplin tours with the Karno
troupe, and enters
films
Charlie continues in his acting career, as his brother Sidney
joins the Karno
troupe, again opening the way
there for Charlie. Charlie joins the Karno troupe
the next year, again working alongside Stan Laurel. Two years
later, Chaplin
(along with the rest of the Karno troupe) tours the United States' vaudeville
circuit. Two years later, in
1912, Charlie returns with the Karno troupe to the
USA, but this time decides to stay. The next year, Chaplin leaves the stage to
join Mack Sennet's Keystone Films Studio, marking a milestone both in his own
life and in the history of film.
Charlie Chaplin's famous Tramp character
is born
The pace of film making in early Hollywood seems impossible by today's
standards. In just two months, Chaplin appeared in the following
Keystone films:
Making a Living, Kid Auto Races, Mabel's Strange Predicament,
Between
Showers, A Film Johnnie, Tango Tangles, His Favourite Pastime,
Cruel, Cruel
Love. Although Chaplin started at the Keystone Company as a bit
player, with the
introduction of his worldfamous
tramp character he quickly exploded into a
major star. By April, at the age of
25, Chaplin directs his first film, 'Twenty
Minutes of Love.'
By November of that year, Chaplin is leaving Keystone, having
signed an
exclusive contract for the newly formed Essanay Film Company. Sidney follows
in Charlie's steps this time, and joins the Keystone Company
shortly before
Charlie left it.
In February of 1915, Chaplin begins work for Essanay, with greater
control over
his films than ever before but
not enough to avoid 'creative differences' with
his bosses at Essanay. However, another milestone occurs at the
same time he
meets Edna Purviance, who was to be his leading lady for many of
his films,
as well as an offagain,
onagain
romance. At Essanay, Chaplin created many of
the classic short films he's best remembered for, including His
New Job, A Jitney
Elopement, The Tramp, A Night in the Show, and The Immigrant. In
February of
1916, Chaplin again jumps to another film company, Mutual, where
he continues
to create some of his finest shorts, including The Floorwalker,
The Vagabond,
The Pawnshop, Behind the Screen, and The Rink. In both his
personal and
professional life, his inner circle began to expand. He first
hired Henry Bergman
(the 'heavy villain' in so many of Chaplin's films), as well as
hiring Tom Harrington
as his personal secretary, a position which he kept for many
decades, becoming
Chaplin's righthand
man in many respects.
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Desiring even more creative control, Chaplin began
building his own studio in the fall of 1917, and
signed with yet another studio, First National. For
the first time, Chaplin has complete control over
every step of his films. For First National, Chaplin
continues to create classic shorts: A Dog's Life,
Shoulder Arms, and The Bond. In 1918, he also
marries for the first (but not the last) time, to
Mildred Harris.
Charlie Chaplin's woman troubles
Charlie begins in his personal life a recurring,
destructive pattern he
chases (and frequently
marries) a young woman, loses interest in her
(being consumed by his creative energies), goes
through a messy breakup (or divorce), typically
impacting his professional life, and then repeats the
pattern. In November of that year, his first true love, Hetty
Kelly, dies although
Chaplin doesn't find this out until he visits England in
1921.
Charlie Chaplin pathos
and comedy
1919 was a year of both great gains and losses for Charlie. One of
his most
popular short films, Sunnyside, is released demonstrating
a degree of both
pathos and comedy mixed together to a high degree. Chaplin had
been slowly
moving the Little Tramp towards this more balanced
characterization for some
time and
now Charlie the tramp is maturing. Sadly, Charlie the human being
suffered a terrible loss, as his & Mildred's infant child is
born, horribly deformed,
and dies after only 3 days. Charlie sought solace in his work,
alienating his wife
even more. In that same year, he formed United Artists with his closest friend
Douglas Fairbanks and Fairbanks'
wife, screen legend Mary Pickford in
a
successful effort to keep the major studios from monopolizing and
controlling all
aspects of production. In December of that year, A Day's Pleasure was
released,
dealing with a happy family trying to enjoy a quiet day at the
beach somewhat
ironically, considering the state of Charlie Chaplin's personal
life at that stage.
But something new was on the horizon Charlie
Chaplin had begun production
of The Kid.
Charlie Chaplin with Dog
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Charlie Chaplin The
Kid
The Kid was Charlie Chaplin's first fulllength
movie. It, more than anything
else to
that date, made Chaplin a living legend. It
took over a year to produce, and was an
incredible success for Chaplin, both
financially and artistically.
Over the next year, Charlie Chaplin continues
working on The Kid, as his perfectionism
takes more and more time in creating his film
masterpieces. Sadly, he and Mildred Harris
divorce at this time, in one of the most bitter
Hollywood divorces seen up to this point. But
there is light at the end of the tunnel, as The
Kid is finally released to unanimous praise,
and record box office success, in 1921.
Charlie Chaplin had gone through a very
difficult time, and needed time to relax, and
renew himself. He took his first vacation,
returning to Europe to crowds
that were
beyond his wildest dreams. In a bittersweet
moment, he learns of Hetty Kelly's death from her brother while in
London. More
cheerfully, he begins several friendships in London that become lifelong,
including with the famous writer H. G. Welles. In addition, he and
Sydney brought
their mother, Hannah, to the States, where she lived the rest of
her life, under the
best medical care that Charlie's money could provide.
Returning to America,
and to his work, Charlie quickly produces his next film, The
Idle Class. Charlie begins working on his next film, Payday, in
his professional
life, and meets the European actress Pola Negri, with whom he has
an offagain,
onagain
romantic relationship that goes on for nearly a year. Over the
course of
that year, Charlie Chaplin releases his next film, The Pilgrim
(about an escaped
convict who takes on the role of a preacher to avoid recapture),
and prepares for
his first dramatic film, A Woman of Paris, designed to catapult
Edna Purviance
into her own career. Audiences by now had associated the name
Charlie Chaplin
with comedy, however, and were not expecting serious fare.
Although a good
movie, it died at the box office and
gave Charlie Chaplin his first commercial
failure.
Charlie Chaplin with Kid ...
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Charlie Chaplin in
The Gold Rush and
in a family way
That was reversed by his
next film, one of the classics
of the silent era The
Gold
Rush. It is the story of the
Little Tramp going north to
the Alaskan gold rush, and
by more luck than skill both
getting the girl and becoming
rich. It is touching, poignant,
and hilarious, containing
some of Chaplin's most
famous routines. However,
early in the filming of the
movie, Chaplin's leading
lady, Lita Grey, had to be replaced by Georgia Hale since
Charlie Chaplin had
married Lita Grey, and she had become pregnant. She was only 16 at
the time.
Chaplin worried incessantly about his young wife's pregnancy had
felt that the
death of his first son was, in some way, his fault. Thankfully, in
1925 this child
was born healthy Charles
Spencer Chaplin Jr. Charlie had qualms about
naming the child after himself, fearing that the boy would live in
his father's
shadow, but he gave way to Lita. That same year, The Gold Rush
(read review)
was released to critical acclaim and great financial success. Some
believe it is
Chaplin's finest film. Ironically, there was a third birth that
year that would
become integral to Chaplin years later Oona
O'Neil was born.
The next year, Charlie began work on his next film, The Circus
(read review). As
John McCabe noted in his excellent biography of Charlie Chaplin,
The Circus
was not the equal of The Gold Rush, but was a good film in its'
own right and,
given the circumstances under which it was filmed, it was a
miracle that it was
even palatable.
Charlie Chaplin in a messy divorce
Despite the birth of a second son, Sidney, in 1926, Charlie & Lita's
marriage
broke apart bitterly,
and publicly. Charges went back and forth, with
newspapers gleefully displaying the details of the Chaplins'
marital woes. Charlie
Chaplin always refused to discuss his marriage with Lita; Lita,
however, wrote a
onesided
account, Wife of the Life of the Party. The divorce ended in 1927
with
a recordbreaking
divorce settlement of $825,000. The stress was enough to
permanently turn Charlie Chaplin's hair prematurely white. During
all of this,
Charlie continued to film The Circus (read review), one of his
lesserknown,
but
best, films.
Charlie Chaplin The
Gold Rush
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In 1928, Charlie Chaplin released The Circus to popular acclaim,
and also
received a special Oscar for his work on the film as director,
actor, producer.
Sadly, this positive year was also crushingly negative, as
Charlie's beloved
mother died. Chaplin's life continued to be centered around his
work, even in his
grief, as he began work on his next film towards the end of that
year: City Lights
(read review).
Charlie Chaplin the
end of the Tramp
City Lights, released in 1931, was Charlie Chaplin's first
nonsilent
film. But it still
was not a 'talking' picture. Chaplin included the musical
soundtrack, and used
sound effects, but nobody spoke in the picture yet. This was a
major gamble for
Chaplin, since sound pictures had now become the standard. But it
was a
gamble that paid off handsomely. The movie was both a financial
and critical
success, and many believe it to be one of Chaplin's finest films,
if not his best.
After City Lights, Charlie Chaplin did
something totally out of character; he
took a vacation. Actually, Chaplin took
vacations quite frequently, both to
refresh himself and to find new ideas for
his films. But this was his first extended
vacation, away from creating a new
movie for nearly two years. He talks at
length about this time in his
autobiography (My Autobiography),
including globetrotting
and how he was
nearly assassinated in Japan; but
perhaps his most pivotal moment was in 1932, when he met Paulette
Goddard,
who would costar in his next film Modern
Times which
would be the Tramp's
final film.
After the release of Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin and Paulette
Goddard were
married in secret, while on vacation in the Orient. Upon his
return, Charlie began
his most audacious comedy yet The
Great Dictator, making fun of Adolph Hitler
himself. Hitler, in many ways, was a natural subject for Chaplin
to satirize. Hitler,
it is said, adopted his mustache in imitation of Charlie. Both
were smaller men, of
slight build. And Chaplin saw the ideas that Hitler was
championing as horrible,
evil; and Charlie was determined to show the world what he saw.
Modern Times
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Charlie Chaplin attacks Hitler in The
Great Dictator
The Great Dictator was Charlie Chaplin's first truly
talking picture, and when it was finally released in
1940, it was a worldwide sensation. Many people
mistakenly think that the character of the Jewish
Barber in the film is the Tramp,
but Charlie Chaplin
was adamant that they are different characters.
Although the barber uses many of the Tramp's
mannerisms, he is also clearly an individual in his
own right. And the barber is far more longwinded,
as the famous "Look Up, Hannah" speech at the end
of the movie reminds us.
Charlie Chaplin unAmerican?
In the same year that Charlie Chaplin began working
on The Great Dictator, the House UnAmerican
Committee begins investigating Charlie. At first glance, there
seems to be no
reason for this until
the second glance. Earlier Chaplin had done his patriotic
part in raising money for the war effort, alongside his long time
friends Douglas
Fairbanks and Mary Pickford raising
large amounts of money for the war.
Charlie was a lifelong pacifist, but he was also a realist who saw
that the
aggression of the Axis powers had to be stopped. In many ways,
Chaplin was
politically naive such
as speaking at fund raisers for the Communist USSR,
whom Chaplin simply saw as our allies in the fight. And by
suggesting that
America immediately open a two front war to help our "friends"
in the Soviet
Union. These were some of the reasons that the government began keeping
tabs
on the immigrant film maker (although he worked for all of these
years in
America, he maintained his British citizenship, and had no intention of
becoming an American citizen).
1942 was a very busy year for Charlie Chaplin, at least in his
personal life.
Paulette Goddard, costar
of Modern Times and The Great Dictator, divorced
Chaplin, and went on to be a star in her own right. In that same
year, Charlie met
another young lady, whom he falls deeply, and permanently, in love
with Oona
O'Neil. Oona, although young, is mature beyond her years perhaps
from
having grown up in the household of her father, Eugene O'Neil, the famous
playwright. Eugene O'Neil was opposed to having his daughter date
Charlie
Chaplin; given Chaplin's track record to date, one can hardly
blame him. In
addition, Chaplin meets another young lady that year, whose
relationship to
Chaplin would almost seem to confirm the playwright's suspicions
Joan
Barry.
By all accounts, Joan Barry was a troubled young woman, who had some talent
for acting. She had met Charlie Chaplin, who had given her a
screen test for a
role, but did not hire her for any of his movies. Although they
dated on and off,
The Great Dictator
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8
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nothing serious came of it. But in Joan Barry's mind, it was very
serious serious
enough that she breaks into Chaplin's home later that year, armed
with a gun.
Charlie eventually talked her out of any violence, got her to
leave quietly, and
then called the police, resulting in a restraining order that should have served to
keep her out of Charlie Chaplin's life.
Charlie Chaplin in the paternity suit
However, two things happened that next year that prevented that
from
happening. First was Joan Barry's
pregnancy; she named Charlie Chaplin as
the father. Second, Charlie married Oona O'Neil and,
in a very real sense, they
lived happily ever after. The couple truly loved each other, were
devoted to each
other, and grew closer as time went on.
In the more immediate term, Charlie Chaplin denied being the
father of Joan
Barry's child, and a blood test proved his innocence. However, the
blood test was
inadmissable in the California
court at the time, and a jury of his peers ordered
Chaplin to pay child support. (This is recreated quite well in the 1992 'Chaplin'
movie starring Robert Downey, and is highly recommended viewing).
In 1946, the first of Oona and Charlie Chaplin's children,
Michael, is born. Over
the years, he will have 7 more siblings (Josephine, Victoria,
Eugene, Jane,
Annette and Christopher). Charlie also begins his next film, a
very great
departure from anything Charlie has ever attempted the
dark comedy Monsieur
Verdoux .
Monsieur Verdoux is a very dark comedy, in which the title
character, a fired
bank clerk, makes his living by marrying rich older women and then
killing them
for their money. Charlie Chaplin used it to make a statement about
the paradox
of killing millions in war is virtuous, for the winning side, but
killing individuals is a
crime. Although it has moments both humorous and engaging, it was
not the fare
that the public was expecting from Chaplin, and it did not do well
domestically,
although it did well overseas, and Chaplin made a tidy profit from
it. He also used
Edna Purviance on screen for the last time, essentially as an
extra.
Charlie Chaplin's final films
In 1951, Charlie Chaplin made one of his finest films, and one of his least
well
known Limelight.
Limelight is the story of a formerly great dance hall tramp
clown, Calvero (portrayed by Chaplin) on a downward spiral,
contrasting with a
young dancer on her way to fame into
the spotlight. A funny, poignant film, it
also teamed two of the great clowns of the silent era, Buster
Keaton and Charlie
Chaplin, for the first and only time.
Limelight did not do well at American movie houses, largely due to
the false
rumors that Chaplin was a communist or communist sympathizer, as
well as an
organized protest by various unions resulting in theaters refusing
to show the
film. As a result, it was not seen widely in the United States of America
for
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decades. Years later, when it finally played in Los Angeles, it was nominated for
the Best
Music Academy
Award and
won.
Charlie Chaplin in Exile
After Limelight, Charlie took another vacation to England,
wanting to show his
new wife and children his native country. Upon leaving the
territorial waters of the
United States of America,
Charlie Chaplin received a cable, informing him that
the State Department had rescinded his reentry permit effectively
locking him
out of the country as an undesirable alien. There were many
reasons for this Chaplin's
unorthodox political views, the false accusation that he was a
Communist, and not least of all, money. There would have been an
attempt by
the federal government to seize Chaplin's assets, which were
enormous.
However, his wife Oona returned to the United States, and promptly took
all of
the liquid assets, as well as liquidating everything she could
leaving
the
government without a penny for its' trouble.
Charlie Chaplin was not, however, a man without a country. He was
still a citizen
of Great
Britain, but he did not desire to live
there. After the stress of the situation
had been dealt with, the Chaplins relocated to Vevey, Switzerland
in 1953, where
they lived for the remainder of their lives together. After their
death, it has been
turned into an international Charlie Chaplin museum.
In 1954, Oona renounced her U.S. citizenship, casting her lot
with her husband.
And, ironically, Charlie Chaplin was awarded World Peace Council
Prize in that
same year. In the next year, he resumes doing what he does best
making
comedies.
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His next film, A King In New York, was a biting
indictment of modern society. In it, he played the
role of King Shadov, an European monarch in exile,
who comes to New York
to promote the peaceful
uses of nuclear power. Along the way, he pokes fun
at the Red Scare, commercials, movies, celebrities,
movie magazines, and life in urban America. Filmed
in England,
it was the last film in which he was on
screen as a major character.
In the same year that A King In New York
premiered, Charlie Chaplin's halfbrother
Wheeler
Dryden died. Wheeler had been introduced to
Charlie many years before by Edna Purviance Charlie
had been unaware of him. Wheeler was a
competent, though not gifted, actor, and idolized his
famous brother. He began to work for Charlie in
various roles and positions, and years later served
as Charlie's assistant director on The Great Dictator
and Monsieur Verdoux. Jerome Robinsons' photo
journal, Charlie and Me, contains some interesting anecdotes about
Charlie's
lesserknown
sibling.
Chaplin's professional pace seemed to be slowing down, to an
outside observer.
After all, he was now 69 years old. However, Charlie was not
finished working.
He had been reediting some of his earlier movies, and composing
new music for
some of them. Charlie was musical by nature as well as profession,
and he wrote
some of the most enduring melodies of the century not
least among them the
song 'Smile'. However, before he could release his reedited
movies, now
narrated by Charlie Chaplin himself, death claimed another old
friend Edna
Purviance died in 1958. And, to add insult to injury, Chaplin's
name was removed
from Los Angeles'
Walk of Fame.
11
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In 1959, the Chaplin Revue was released, to
worldwide acclaim. Charlie Chaplin continued his
work in Switzerland,
writing and composing, and
raising his growing brood of children. In 1964 he
published his autobiography, which he humbly titled
'My Autobiography.' It was an interested look into
the life of Charlie Chaplin, although incomplete he
mentioned his marriage to Lita Grey in only one
sentence.
In 1965, death again intruded on Charlie Chaplin's
family life, as his older brother Sidney died. This
was a strong blow to Chaplin, second only to the
loss of him mother in 1928. Sidney
had been his
brother, friend, companion, confidant and business
manager all rolled into one. Charlie grieved deeply
for the loss of his beloved brother.
But Charlie Chaplin did not stop working. After
dealing with his grief as best he could, in 1966 Charlie began
work on his next,
and final, movie, A Countess in Hong Kong.
It was a number of firsts for Chaplin he
did not star in the film, and only had a small, Hitchcockesque
walkon
scene
as a porter. Instead, he directed two of Hollywood's largest stars of the day,
Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. Although an interesting idea, it
was not a hit at
the box office when released in 1967.
In 1968, Chaplin was now 79 years old. It is not
surprising that more and more of his friends and
coworkers died for
example, his longtime
cameraman and assistant Rollie Totheroh died the
previous year. However, Charlie Chaplin's oldest
son, Charles Chaplin Jr., died. Again, Charlie
worked through his grief, and threw himself into his
work. He was preparing a new film, 'The Freak',
about a young girl who sprouts wings, as a vehicle
for his daughter but
it never went past the
planning stages.
In 1972, Charlie Chaplin did something he never
thought he would do he
returned to the United
States of America.
He was returning to accept a
lifetime achievement Academy Award. The
foolishness of 20 years previous had been
forgotten, and Chaplin was greeted by America with
12
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open arms. Correcting another old injustice, Chaplin's name was
added again
to the 'Walk of Fame' in Los
Angeles. Chaplin was also awarded the Golden Lion
at that year's Venice Film Festival .
In 1974, Charlie Chaplin published another book, 'My Life in
Pictures.' The next
year, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and became Sir
Charles Spencer
Chaplin.
In 1977, Charlie Chaplin passed away, on Christmas Day. He left
behind grieving
family and friends, and millions of fans worldwide.
Quotes by Charlie Chaplin:
· "To truly laugh, you must be able to take
your pain, and play with it!"
· "I remain just one thing, and one thing
only and
that is a clown. It places
me on a far higher plane than any politician."
· "Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the
surcease for pain"
Check out reviews of some of Chaplin's finest films, including The
Gold Rush,
The Immigrant, The Kid and Limelight (a personal favorite)
For more images of Chaplin, please check out the Charlie Chaplin
Gallery.
