biography
| name: |
Chaplin, Charlie
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popular name of Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1889–1977)
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| biography:
| Film actor, producer, screenwriter, director, and composer, born in London, UK. The son of music-hall entertainers, his mother had a nervous breakdown and his father died when he was five, forcing Charlie to become a street urchin, along with his half-brother, Sydney, dancing for pennies in the street. After a time in an orphanage, he joined a troupe of child dancers and later had small roles on the London stage. At age 17 he joined a troupe of players touring the USA, where in 1912 he joined the Keystone company to appear in his first silent film, Making a Living (1914). He made 35 films in one year at Keystone, many of which he also wrote and directed, meanwhile developing his character of ‘The Little Tramp’. Despite the appearance of spontaneity and improvization in his films, he worked out every last detail to perfection. In 1915 he joined Essanay, making his first masterpiece, The Tramp that year, and was a co-founder of United Artists (1919). The Kid (1921) made him an international star, and he went on to make his major works, City Lights (1928), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), and Limelight (1952), after which his popularity waned. Over the years he was criticized for his many romantic affairs, often with younger women. He never applied for US citizenship and, in 1952, on a ship to England, he was informed that he might not be permitted back into the States because of his alleged leftist views, so he settled in Switzerland with his wife Oona, daughter of Eugene O'Neill, with whom he had eight children. He did not return to the USA until 1972, when he accepted a Special Academy Award. Regarded as one of the few individuals to be a true genius of motion pictures, he was knighted in 1975. |
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