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Born April
16, 1889, in London, England
Died December 25, 1977, in
Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland
Charlie
Chaplin was a superstar of silent comedies and one of the
great icons of 20th-century film. Chaplin had a rotten childhood
and an early start on stage, performing even as a child in
vaudeville.
He went to Hollywood in 1914 and began acting in silent comedies
for Mack Sennett. By 1915 he controlled most aspects of his
films, in which he usually appeared as a character called
simply "The Little Tramp": a lovably shabby dreamer
with a brushy moustache, bowler hat and cane.
Chaplin was one of the founders of United
Artists Studios (along with actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary
Pickford and director D.W. Griffith) and was one of the first
movie makers to have complete control over his features.
His best-known films include The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights
(1931), and Modern Times (1936). Famously outspoken and sympathetic
to communism, Chaplin left the United States in 1952 because
of increased political pressure. He settled in Switzerland,
where he and his wife Oona raised eight children, including
actress Geraldine Chaplin. In 1972 he returned to the United
States to accept a special Oscar, and in 1975 he was knighted
by Queen Elizabeth II
Family Members:
Hannah Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin Sr., Sydney Chaplin (Brother),
Charlie Chaplin Jr., Sydney Chaplin (Son), Oona O'Neill Chaplin,
Charlie and Oona's Children (Geraldine, Michael, Josephine,
Victoria, Eugene, Jane, Annette and Christopher). I would
also be interested in Leo Dryden, Wheeler Dryden and Charlie's
maternal aunt, Kate Hill.
Ex-wives
and Lovers: Hetty Kelly, Peggy Pearce, Edna Purviance,
Mildred Harris, Clare Sheridan, Sari Maritsa, Peggy Hopkins
Joyce, Pola Negri, Louise Brooks, Marion Davies, Georgia Hale,
Myrna Kennedy, Lita Gray, La Jana, Betty Aman, Jenny Rothstein,
May Reeves, Paulette Goddard, Joan Berry, May Collins, Oona
Chaplin and many others.
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