Charlie Chaplin Biography

Growing up in vaudeville in England, Charles Chaplin started his performance career at a very young age. He first performed on stage at age five, starred in a musical at age eight and during his teen years he toured with Fred Karno's English vaudeville troupe, which brought him to New York in 1910, when he was just 21. In December, 1913, he moved to Hollywood, where he started making films (starting with 1914's Making a Living) at the rate of 15-20 per year (he made 35 that first year). A career-defining moment came with Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), in which he wore baggy pants, size 14 shoes, a tiny jacket, a bowler hat and a thick fake mustache trimmed down to toothbrush size. The "Little Tramp" was born. In 1918 he joined First National (later absorbed by Warner Bros.) and in 1919 formed United Artists along with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith. His first full-length film was The Kid (1921), his first for UA, which he produced and directed himself. In 1929, at the first Academy Awards, he was given the special award "for versatility and genius in writing, acting, directing and producing" for The Circus (1928). He had become the world's most recognizable silent film actor, most often portraying his signature scamp. In 1952 Charlie was frustrated with Hollywood (namely all the blacklisting going on) and moved to Switzerland, where he published his memoirs. He returned to Hollywood in 1972 to claim a special Oscar honoring his lifetime contributions to movies. He died in his sleep on Christmas day, 1977.


1. He went by the nicknames Charlie, Charlot and, most famously, The Little Tramp.
2. Chaplin was extremely humble and even after he had earned millions in the film industry, he continued to live in a shabby hotel room, keeping his checks in trunks.
3. It is rumored that Vladimir Nabokov's controversial classic, Lolita, was inspired by Chaplin's relationship with Lita Grey, who was just 16 when the 35-year-old Chaplin married her.
4. He was named Knight Commander of the British Empire in 1975.
5. In 1978, Chaplin's corpse was stolen from its grave and was not recovered for three months; he was re-buried in a vault surrounded by cement.


"A day without laughter is a day wasted."


Wife: Mildred Harris, married 1918; divorced 1920
Wife: Lita Grey, married 1924; divorced 1927
Wife: Paulette Goddard, married 1936; divorced 1942
Wife: Oona O'Neill, daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill, married 1943
Sons: Norman Spencer Chaplin (with Harris), Charles Chaplin Jr. (with Grey), Sydney Chaplin (with Grey), Michael Chaplin (with O'Neill), Eugene (with O'Neill), Christopher Chaplin (with O'Neill)
Daughters: Geraldine Chaplin (with O'Neill), Josephine Chaplin (with O'Neill), Victoria Chaplin (with O'Neill), Jane (with O'Neill), Annette-Emilie (with O'Neill)


1973: Academy Award: Best Music, Original Dramatic Score, Limelight

1972: Honarary Oscar: For the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century.

1948: Academy Award nomination: Best Writing, Original Screenplay, Monsieur Verdoux

1941: Academy Award nomination: Best Actor in a Leading Role, The Great Dictator; Academy Award: Best Writing, Original Screenplay, The Great Dictator

1929: Honarry Oscar: For versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus.


Charlie Chaplin/Buster Keaton - Legends of the Silver Screen - (2004) - Actor
Chaplin - Hollywood Classics: Vol. 1 - (1999) - Actor
Chaplin - Hollywood Classics Vol. 2 - (1999) - Actor
Slapstick, Too - (1998) - Featured
Silent Stage: Charlie Chaplin - (1998) - Actor
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http://www.charliechaplin.com/