Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was an English comedian, filmmaker, and composer who became famous during the silent film era.
Before establishing his imprint on the big screen, Charlie Chaplin worked with a children's dancing team. His character "The Tramp" became an iconic figure of the silent-film period because of pantomime and peculiar gestures. Chaplin went on to become a director and co-founder of the United Artists Corporation, directing films such as City Lights and Modern Times.
Childhood & Early Life
Charlie Chaplin was an iconic figure of the silent-film period and one of the first superstars, elevating the business in ways few could have anticipated. He was most known for his character "The Tramp," a lovely little man with a bowler hat, mustache, and cane.
Chaplin was born Charles Spencer Chaplin on April 16, 1889, in London, England. His climb to stardom is a true rags-to-riches tale. Soon after Chaplin's birth, his father, a known alcoholic, abandoned him, his mother, and his older half-brother, Sydney. Chaplin and his brother were placed in the care of their mother, a vaudevillian and music hall singer known as Lily Harley.
For a few years, Chaplin's mother, who would eventually suffer from serious mental illness and be committed to an asylum, was able to maintain her family. Hannah, however, lost her voice in the middle of a play that would bring her youngest son to the spotlight, causing the production manager to shove the five-year-old Chaplin, whom he'd heard sing, onto the stage to replace her.
Chaplin wowed the audience with his natural presence and comic viewpoint (he imitated his mother's cracked voice at one point). However, Hannah's story came to an end with this episode. Her singing voice never came back, and she ran out of money. Chaplin and Sydney had to find a new, temporary home in London's brutal workhouses for a while.
Career
Chaplin was anxious to follow in his mother's footsteps into show business, and in 1897, he landed with a clog-dancing band known as the Eight Lancashire Lads, thanks to his mother's connections. It was only a brief appearance, and it wasn't particularly lucrative, leaving Chaplin to eke out a living in whatever way he could.
"I (was) a newsvendor, printer, toymaker, doctor's boy, and so on," Chaplin later recalled, "but I never lost sight of my ultimate goal to become an actor during these occupational digressions." "So, in between jobs, I'd polish my shoes, brush my clothes, put on a clean collar, and phone a theatrical agency on a regular basis."
Other stage jobs eventually came his way. Chaplin made his acting debut as a pageboy in a Sherlock Holmes performance. From there, he toured with Casey's Court Circus before joining the Fred Karno pantomime troupe in 1908, where he became one of its stars as the Drunk in the hilarious piece A Night in an English Music Hall.
Chaplin got his first experience of America with the Karno company when he drew the attention of film producer Mack Sennett, who hired Chaplin to a $150-a-week contract.
Chaplin made his cinema debut in 1914 with Make a Living, a mediocre one-reeler. Chaplin wanted to portray a single recognizable character to distinguish himself from the myriad of other actors in Sennett films, and "The Little Tramp" was born, with audiences having their first taste of him in Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914).
Chaplin starred in 35 films during the next year, including Tillie's Punctured Romance, the first full-length comedy. Chaplin left Sennett in 1915 to join the Essanay Company, which offered him $1,250 per week. Chaplin, who had engaged his brother Sydney as his business manager by this time, soared to popularity with Essanay.
Chaplin made 14 movies in his first year with the studio, including The Tramp (1915). The plot portrays Chaplin's character as the unexpected hero when he saves the farmer's daughter from a gang of robbers. It is widely recognized as the actor's first classic.
Chaplin was a superstar by the age of 26, only three years gone from his vaudeville days. He'd switched to the Mutual Company, which offered him a salary of $670,000 each year. Chaplin became wealthy as a result of the money, but it didn't appear to stifle his artistic ambitions. One A.M. (1916), The Rink (1916), The Vagabond (1916), and Easy Street (1916) were among his best films made with Mutual (1917).
Chaplin had a reputation as a ruthless perfectionist as a result of his work. His penchant for experimentation resulted in endless takes, and he was known to order the rebuilding of entire sets. It was also not uncommon for him to start filming with one major actor, discover he'd made a casting error, and start again with someone fresh.
However, the findings were difficult to reject. Chaplin's career grew considerably further during the 1920s. The Kid (1921), The Pilgrim (1923), A Woman in Paris (1923), The Gold Rush (1925), a picture Chaplin would later claim he wished to be known for, and The Circus (1926) were among the films he made during this decade (1928). United Artists, which Chaplin co-founded in 1919 with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D.W. Griffith, released the last three films.
Wives & Children
Chaplin's off-screen life became as famous as his on-screen existence. He had multiple affairs with actresses who had roles in his films. Some, on the other hand, fared better than others.
In 1918, he married Mildred Harris, a 16-year-old girl. After a two-year marriage to actress Lita Grey, whom he'd cast in The Gold Rush, he married for the second time in 1924. An unanticipated pregnancy had precipitated the marriage, and the resultant union, which produced two boys for Chaplin (Charles Jr. and Sydney), was unhappy for both spouses. In 1927, they divorced.
Chaplin married for the second time in 1936, this time to Paulette Goddard, a chorus girl. They were in place until 1942. Following that, Chaplin was involved in a contentious paternity battle with another actress, Joan Barry, in which testing revealed that he was not the father of her daughter, but a jury nonetheless ordered him to pay child support.
Chaplin married Oona O'Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill, in 1943. Surprisingly, the two would go on to have a successful marriage, with eight children as a result.
Final Years & Death
Chaplin made one more trip to the United States in 1972 when he was honored with an honorary Academy Award, as he was nearing the end of his life. The voyage took place barely five years after Chaplin's final film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), which was also his first and only color film. Despite having a star cast that featured Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando, the picture was a box office flop. Chaplin was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975, bringing him even more fame.
Chaplin died on December 25, 1977, in the early hours of the morning at his house in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. At the time of his death, his wife, Oona, and seven of his children were at his bedside. Chaplin's remains were kidnapped from his tomb near Lake Geneva in Switzerland by two guys who demanded $400,000 for its return, in a twist that could have come straight out of one of his comedies. Chaplin's body was discovered 11 weeks after the men were apprehended.
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