Charlie Chaplin was a superstar in comedies and one of the great fans of
20-th century film. Charles Spenser Chaplin was born in London on 16
April 1889. The son of music hall performers from England, he began
working on the stage at the age of five. Charlie was a popular child
dancer, and then he got work in the theatre and began playing small
And in 1906 he worked as a pantomime in several show groups traveling
throughout Europe and America.
Beginning of his career-Top Star
When he was about 14, he got his first his first chance appeared in show
In 1913, the young Chaplin was hired as an actor by the Keystone Film
Production Company. He agree to appear before the cameras in November
1913, and his entrance in the cinema world took place that month. He’s
got $150 a week.
In 1914 Chaplin made his first film “Making a Living”. That same year
he made thirty-four and more short films. His early films were not very
successful but in 1915, he made hiss masterpiece “The Tramp”, in which
he appeared in buggy trousers and with the hat and cane.
He changed a few studios and finally he moved to First National Studios
where he made his comedy “The Kid”. Soon he had had his own studio built
and was making his own film which included ”The Gold Rush”, “The
Circus”, “Modern Times” and “The Great Dictator”.
Chaplin resisted making a talkie all through the 1930s, although
’talkies’ (movies without sounds) became the dominant mode of
moviemaking. “City Lights” was Charlie Chaplin’s first non-silent film.
But it still was not a ‘talking’ picture. Chaplin included the musical
soundtrack, and used sound effects, but nobody spoke in the picture yet.
So, that’s why he was a top star: his films were both a financial and
critical success, and many believe it to be one of Chaplin’s best films.
He doesn’t think about the … POPULARITY
Although Chaplin had his major successes in the United States, he
refused to accept US citizenship. Later, he was accused of ‘un-American
activities’ and left the United States in 1952 because of increased
political pressure. He settled in Switzerland. Chaplin won Oscar twice.
In 1975 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth 2. He married three times
and only his third marriage with Oona O’Neill, daughter of the dramatist
Eugene O’Neill was a long and happy one.
The end of his life
Charlie Chaplin lived for over 25 years in Switzerland where he saw the
birth of for of his 10 children. His last child was born when Charlie
Chaplin was 73 years old.
He died on Christmas Day in 1977. Charlie Chaplin and his wife are
rests in the Corsier cemetery. Today, there is a square named in his
honour and a statue erected to his effigy on the shore Lake Geneva, in
A newspaper – “English weekly- language & culture”, №39