Charlie Chaplin (Charles Spencer Chaplin) was born in London, England, on April 16th 1889. His father was an actor; and his mother, known under the stage name of Lily Harley, was an actress and singer.
Charlie was fending for himself before he reached the age of ten as the early death of his father and the subsequent illness of his mother made it necessary for Charlie and his brother Sidney to make their own way.
The youngsters inherited natural talents from their parents and took to the stage as the best opportunity for a career, Charlie having been introduced to the stage when he was five. His professional debut as a member of a juvenile group called “The Eight Lancashire Lads” rapidly won him popular favor as an outstanding tap dancer. He went on to be one of the most financially successful stars of early Holywood, refining the character of “Charlie the Tramp”, which would become his legacy.
Chaplin was a masterful silent film actor and pantomimist who could inspire both laughter and tears from his audiences, He resisted the arrival of sound in movies. In his first film that featured sound (City Lights in 1931), he used only music. His first true sound film was 1940’s The Great Dictator, in which he mocked fascism.
Charlie Chaplin founded United Artists Corporation in 1919 with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and director D.W. Griffith. His fourth wife, Oona O’Neill, who was 18 when she married the 54-year-old actor, was the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill. Though he had lived in the United States for 42 years, Chaplin never became a U.S. citizen.
“A vocal pacifist, Chaplin was accused of communist ties, which he denied. Nevertheless, in 1952, immigration officials prevented Chaplin and his wife from re-entering the United States after a foreign tour. The couple did not return to the United States for 20 years; instead they settled in Switzerland with their eight children. Chaplin returned to America 1972 to accept a special Academy Award for “the incalculable effect he has had on making motion pictures the art for and of this century.” He was knighted Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin in 1975. He died two years later.”
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