Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, better known to us as Charlie Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin - I owe everything to my mother Last years and death

On December 25, 1977, Charlie Chaplin, a truly legendary personality, died. Silent cinema has become history today, but even children recognize the images created by this brilliant actor. Neither world fame nor two Oscars could protect this great director and actor-comedian, who was active off the screen, from disgrace by the authorities. political personality and sought to achieve the notorious “world peace.”

Chaplin's career lasted 75 years

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889 in Walworth (UK) into a family of music hall performers. He first appeared on stage at the age of 5, when it was necessary to replace his mother in the program, who had problems with her larynx. Little Charlie managed to get a standing ovation from the audience, who pelted him with coins and bills. The young actor captivated the audience even more when he began, with childish spontaneity, to collect this money from the stage right during the performance.
From that moment, Chaplin's career began, which, stretching for 75 years, continued until the death of the great comedian.

Charlie Chaplin got his first role before he could read

Chaplin's childhood was spent in hopeless poverty. The father left the family, and Charlie and his brother were forced to go to an orphan school. Charlie Chaplin worked as a newspaper salesman, as an errand boy in a printing house, as a doctor's assistant, and never lost hope that he could someday make money as an actor.

Charlie Chaplin received his first role in the theater at the age of 14 - the role of the messenger Billy in the play "Sherlock Holmes". Chaplin was illiterate at the time and was very afraid that he would be asked to read a few paragraphs out loud. He learned the role with the help of his brother Sidney.

Charlie Chaplin became the youngest and most expensive actor of his time

On September 23, 1913, Chaplin signed a contract with the Keystone film company. His salary then was $150. In 1914, he made his first film, “Caught in the Rain,” where he acted as a director, actor and screenwriter. His earnings are growing exponentially. Already in 1915 he received $1250, and in 1916 Mutual Film paid the comedian $10 thousand a week. In 1917, Chaplin signed a $1 million contract with First National Pictures and became, at that time, the most expensive actor in history.

Receiving fabulous fees, Chaplin kept the checks in his suitcase

It is known that even after Charlie Chaplin managed to earn his first million, he continued to live in a more than modest hotel room, and kept the checks he received in the studio in an old suitcase all his life. In 1922, Charlie Chaplin built his own house in Beverly Hills. The house had 40 rooms, an organ and a cinema hall.

After the film "The Great Dictator" Chaplin began to be called a communist

At the end of 1940, Chaplin finished filming his film “The Great Dictator,” which, in fact, was a political satire on Nazism in general and Hitler in particular. It was last film, where Chaplin used the image of tramp Charlie. The film was refused to be shown in cinemas in England and the USA because they were afraid of disturbing the fragile peace with Germany, and Chaplin was accused of inciting hysteria. A commission was even appointed to investigate the actor's anti-American actions. After Hitler watched the film, the actor was called a “scoundrel.”

During World War II, Chaplin spoke at one of the rallies and called for opening a second front as quickly as possible. The first word in his speech was “comrades,” after which Western propaganda began to call the actor a “communist.”

In the USA, Chaplin was persona non grata

In 1952, Chaplin completed work on his painting “Lights of Footlights,” which tells the story of creativity and the fate of a creative person. On September 17 of the same year, he went to the world premiere of his film in London, and was unable to return back to the USA. The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, managed to get immigration authorities to ban Chaplin from entering the country. By the way, Charlie Chaplin lived in the USA for more than 40 years, but never received American citizenship. Official reason refusal to enter the country was the presence of the comedian's name on Orwell's list. After this, Chaplin settled in the city of Vevey in Switzerland.

Chaplin's last child was born when he was 72 years old.

Charlie Chaplin was a success with women. He had 11 children, and in 1943 a certain Joan Berry tried to impose a twelfth on him through the court, but an examination proved that her child had nothing to do with Chaplin.

Charlie Chaplin's first wife in 1918 was 16-year-old Mildred Harris. The marriage lasted only 2 years. In his autobiography, Chaplin wrote: " Mildred wasn't evil, but she was hopelessly zoological. I could never get to her soul - it was filled with some kind of pink rag and all sorts of nonsense».

In 1924, Charlie Chaplin married 16-year-old Lita Gray. The marriage took place in Mexico, which avoided problems with American legislation, which did not allow marriage at 16 years of age. After the divorce in 1928, Chaplin paid Lita a record amount for that time - $825 thousand, which led to an investigation by the tax authorities. According to Joyce Milton, Chaplin's biographer, this relationship was the basis for Nabokov's novel Lolita.

Chaplin's third wife was actress Paulette Goddard, who starred in his films Modern Times and The Great Dictator. They separated in 1940, and Goddard’s second husband was the writer Erich Maria Remarque.

Chaplin's fourth wife, Oona O'Neill, was 36 years younger than him. When Una got married in 1943, her father stopped communicating with her. In 1952, leaving for London, Chaplin gave his wife a power of attorney for his bank account, which allowed Una to take Chaplin’s property out of the USA. She later renounced her American citizenship.

Chaplin and O'Neill had three sons and five daughters. Last child was born when the comedian was 72 years old.

Chaplin's coffin was stolen

Charlie Chaplin died on December 25, 1977 at the age of 88. 2 months after the funeral of the great actor, sensational news spread around the world - the coffin with the comedian’s body was stolen from the cemetery at the Anglican Church in Vevey. On the morning of March 2, 1978, the cemetery caretaker reported this to the police, and in the evening unknown people called Chaplin’s widow and stated that the sarcophagus with the body of her husband was in a “safe place.”

Negotiations with the robbers, who demanded 600 thousand Swiss francs, lasted almost a month. The police detected the criminals on the 27th call. The attackers turned out to be 38-year-old Gancho Ganev and 24-year-old Roman Vardas.

Charlie Chaplin's bowler hat and cane sold for more than $60,000

In 2012, Charlie Chaplin's bowler hat and cane were auctioned at Bonhams in Los Angeles were sold for $62.5 thousand. The auction organizers said that these were the accessories that the great comedian used on the set of the films “Modern Times” and “Lights.” big city" True, it is not known for certain how many canes and bowler hats that were filmed with Chaplin have survived to this day.

At the Oscars, the audience gave Chaplin a standing ovation for 12 minutes.

Charlie Chaplin's first Oscar came from The Great Dictator. In 1941, the actor received a statuette for “Best Actor”. In 1948, Chaplin was once again awarded an Oscar. This time - for best scenario(“Monsieur Verdoux”). In 1962, Charlie Chaplin became a doctor at Oxford University, and in 1975, Elizabeth II awarded him the Order of the Knight Commander British Empire. In 1970, Charlie Chaplin's star was laid on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And his photos today are among the famous photographers.

In 1972, 82-year-old Charlie Chaplin was awarded an honorary Oscar “for his invaluable contribution to the art of cinema in this century.” The audience gave the great comedian a standing ovation for 12 minutes.

Over the course of his film career, Chaplin starred in 82 films. Chaplin earned about $10.5 million from his films.

23.06.2018

Biography and personal life of an outstanding comedian

Most people know Charlie Chaplin as silent film actor. But this man's talents were truly limitless. Let's try to find out a little more about who this unique person was.

The future famous actor was born in April 1889, in England, on the banks of the Thames, in London. The boy's parents were artists and performed in various music halls. He was the couple's first child. His mother had another child, born to another man.

But during the marriage, Charlie’s father adopted this boy as well. So both brothers bore the surname Chaplin. Charlie's father died early, when the boy was only 12 years old, because of his addiction to alcohol. The mother was seriously ill. And two brothers, Charlie and Sid went to a school for orphans and poor children.

Little Chaplin's acting debut is considered to be 1894 when, as a five-year-old child, he replaced his mother at a performance. And already the first performance was marked by success, Charlie received the approval of the public, and money flew onto the stage.

The little boy picked up all the money and only then continued to sing. He did all this directly and sweetly, as only children can, and for this he was remembered by the audience for a long time. But no one could have guessed who this child would become.

At the age of 9, Chaplin began performing in a dance group. "Eight Lancashire Lads". And the next year, Charlie plays the role of a cat in the pantomime “Cinderella” and, probably, this is his debut as a comedian. The audience laughed heartily.

At the age of 12, the actor left the group, because he had to take care of his own food. He went to school quite rarely and worked more. His first permanent employment can be called work in the theater, which he began at the age of 14.

At the age of 16, Charlie became interested in playing the violin, and became fanatically interested, on some days he played for sixteen hours.

The year 1908 is considered very important in the life of Sir Charlie, when he entered for service at the Fred Karno Theater. They performed skits and pantomimes for various music halls. Here our hero very quickly became the leading actor. He later used certain plots in films he shot.

From 1910 to 1912 Fred Karno Theater toured the USA. And after looking at life in this country, Chaplin decided to stay and live here. The following year he began collaborating with Keystone Studios.

Popularity came to to the young actor not right away, because he was not a professional artist, but he had enormous talent, which allowed him to get through all the obstacles and create in art something that no one had ever done before. But that will all happen later.

In the meantime, the first film made with Chaplin did not impress the producer so much that he even considered breaking up with the actor. But one of the star actors - Mabel Normand– stood up for him. And Charlie continued to work.

The most famous image of the Tramp, one might say business card actor, got its start in 1914. What does it consist of? Incredibly large trousers, a narrow frock coat (creating the effect of a big bottom - a small top), a bowler hat, and a painted mustache that made him look older.

This image is completely the actor’s find; he came up with it himself and skillfully brought it to life. And a little later a cane appeared in this image. It is this image that viewers all over the world will be unmistakably recognized and to this day.

The same year, Sir Charles made his debut as a director and screenwriter in the film Caught in the Rain. As popularity grows, so do fees, which allows you to start saving for housing.

Five years later, Sir Charlie opens a studio "United Artists". From now on, all his films will be full-length. He is filming “A Woman of Paris,” the genre is psychological drama. This film was very coolly received by the public.

In 1922 he acquired his own home. This was his first home.

In 1940, he made his film debut with sound. "The Great Dictator" is a film directed against the Fuhrer. It was a bold decision for which he later paid. After these filmings, the persecution of the comedian began.

Soon after the film's release, US authorities accused the actor of activities directed against the country.

In 1952, Charlie Chaplin finds himself persona non grata. The elderly actor was again left without a home. Chaplin went to a festival in his hometown, London, but was unable to return home. Sir Charlie moves to Switzerland.

In 1954 he received the International Peace Prize.

He made his last film at the age of 78, it’s called "Countess from Hong Kong" where they played famous actors Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando.

Charlie Chaplin was a multiple award winner and two Oscar winners.

The actor was in married four times, had twelve children. Two of them later became popular actors, and his granddaughter also gained fame in this field.

The comedian with sad eyes died in his home on December 25, 1977, in his sleep. He was buried in the local cemetery in Vevey.

Sir Charles Spencer (Charlie) Chaplin (1889-1977) was an American and English film actor, producer and composer, screenwriter and film director. He created the most famous character in comedy films - tramp Charlie. Became the only person on the Planet, who received an Oscar "for his invaluable contribution to the fact that cinema has become an art in this century."

Birth and family

Charlie was born late in the evening of April 16, 1889 in the British capital London. This happened on East Lane in the Walworth area, where the Chaplin family of artists lived.

His father, Charles Chaplin Sr., had a pleasant baritone voice and was incredibly popular in the London music halls in the 1880s. He toured a lot in European countries and also performed in America. There were also songs in his repertoire that were written personally. But the father of the future great comedian ended his life early and tragically. He drank and died in the spring of 1901 at St. Thomas's Hospital in London while being treated for alcoholism. Chaplin's father was only 37 years old.

His paternal grandmother also died early; baby Charlie was not yet six years old. All he knew about her was that her family had gypsy roots, which Chaplin himself was incredibly proud of all his life.

Charlie's mother, Hannah Chaplin (stage name Lily Gurley) was a variety actress who performed in many London theaters as a dancer and singer. Before her marriage to Charles, Hannah had a relationship with a certain Jew named Hawks, which resulted in the birth of a boy, Sidney Hill. Later, his stepfather gave him his last name, Chaplin. So Charlie had a half-brother on his mother's side, Sydney Chaplin, who also became an actor.

Childhood

Charlie Chaplin's early childhood years can be called happy. The father was popular, earned enough money, and the young children had no particular needs. But soon Charles Chaplin Sr. found a new love interest and left his family. From then on, hopeless poverty began in the life of little Charlie.

The boy spent all his time with his mother, standing behind the scenes and watching her performances. The baby knew his mother’s entire song repertoire by heart. Thanks to this, at the age of 5 he first appeared on the theater stage, but this happened by chance.

During the number, Charlie stood backstage and listened to his mother sing. Suddenly Lily Gurley coughed and stopped singing. A disease of the larynx had been tormenting her for a long time, and it had to happen for her to lose her voice during a performance. The rather tipsy audience began to be indignant. And in an instant, five-year-old Charlie had thoughts that now his mother would not be paid and there would be nothing to eat. The kid jumped onto the stage, began to finish singing the song and made funny faces at the same time. The people in the hall were so delighted that they began throwing coins onto the stage. And the boy, without stopping singing, began to collect them, which amused the audience even more.

Her mother’s illness no longer allowed her to go on stage, this caused the poor woman to lose her mind, and she was placed in a clinic for the insane.

In 1896, Charlie was taken in by his own father, but he already had a new family, and the boy lived there for only a short time. At the age of seven, he and his older brother were sent to a workhouse in Lambeth. This is so charitable social institution, where those in need were provided with shelter, food and work, but there were no forced obligations.

Early years

In 1898, Chaplin became a member of the children's dance group "Eight Lancashire Boys", the guys gave concerts in which Charlie often got short comic numbers. In 1900, at Christmas the group staged the pantomime “Cinderella”, Chaplin got the role of the cat. The audience liked it, they laughed at his pantomime, but in the spring of 1901 the boy left the group. He began to earn extra money whenever the opportunity presented itself:

sold newspapers;
assisted doctors, performing the functions of an orderly;
worked as a courier in a printing house.

Chaplin did not stay anywhere for a long time and at the same time always dreamed that the day would come when he would make a living as an actor.

At the age of 14 he finally received permanent place in the theatre. Moreover, in the production of Sherlock Holmes he got to play the messenger Billy. However, having reached that age, the guy was practically illiterate. What he was most afraid of when he was given the text of the role was what he would now be asked to read. Thank God, this did not happen, and his older brother Sidney helped him learn the words.

Along with the theater, Charlie performed in variety shows. He got some money, which at the age of 16 he decided to spend on learning to play the violin; he took lessons from a theater conductor.

When Chaplin was 19 years old, his older brother Sidney, who by that time had already established himself as an actor, brought him to Fred Karno's theatrical enterprise. At first Fred did not like the gloomy, short, overly shy young man. After all, the enterprise was based on comedic pantomimes and sketches, what kind of comedian could this Chaplin make? But Charlie revealed his acting talent to Carnot so much that he soon became a leading artist in some productions.

America and the beginning of a career

In the autumn of 1910 it happened an important event in Chaplin's life, which turned his whole creative destiny. A multi-deck white liner set sail from the shores of Great Britain to America, and Fred Karnot's theater troupe went on tour to the USA.

At one of the performances, film producer of the Keystone studio Mack Sennett drew attention to Charlie. Chaplin was offered to act in films for $150 a week. For him it was a lot of money, he immediately agreed, opened a bank account into which he deposited his first salary. He adored the film industry, one might even say he raved about it, but at the same time his dreams future life Chaplin had more down-to-earth ideas; he wanted to buy a small plot of land in England and start pig farming.

The beginning of his film career did not work out; they even wanted to break the contract with Chaplin, but soon films with his participation began to make a profit.

However, he did not really like the image invented for him - an arrogant swindler and womanizer. Charlie wanted to convey more warmth and lyricism to the viewer. And he came up with a brilliant character - his “little tramp”, who made Charlie Chaplin famous throughout the planet. Wide baggy pants, a tight jacket, a small bowler hat, huge boots, a small mustache and a cane in his hands - in this image he burst into the world of the 20th century film industry.

The audience instantly fell in love with the sophisticated tramp with gentlemanly manners. And Charlie began to understand that he could be not only a successful actor, but also a screenwriter and director, and much more successful and talented than those who filmed him at the Keystone studio. Chaplin left Mack Sennett. And in 1914, the premiere of his first film “Caught in the Rain” took place, where he acted in several guises at once - actor, director and screenwriter.

The path from tramp to genius

Wage Charlie began to grow. In 1915, instead of 150 dollars, he was already paid 1,250 weekly at the Essanay Film studio, and in 1916, 10,000 at the Mutual Film studio. In 1917, Charlie signed a contract for $1 million with the First National Pictures studio and acquired the title of the most expensive actor in history. English newspapers then published his photo with a check in his hands and signed: “Charlie Chaplin is the most expensive thing in the world since the World War.”

In 1919, Charlie founded his own film studio, United Artist, all of the films shot there were full-length:

"Parisian Woman" (1923);
"Gold Rush" (1925);
"Circus" (1928);
"City Lights" (1931);
"Modern Times" (1936).

Charlie became famous in silent films, and he remained faithful to him even after 1927, when sound films began to be made. He managed to turn crude sketches into a comedy genre and made them an art. Charlie had an amazing gift: he not only had a keen sense of humor and knew how to joke perfectly, he could accurately determine time intervals: how long it would take the audience to laugh at one joke and hear the next one.

Despite his huge income, Chaplin lived for a long time in modest hotel rooms, and kept checks received from the film studio in an old suitcase. And only in 1922 he built his own home in Beverly Hills - a house with forty rooms with a cinema hall and an organ.

Persecution and departure from the USA

In 1940, Charlie made his first sound film, it was the anti-Hitler film “The Great Dictator.” In this tape he appeared as a tramp last time.

During World War II, Charlie advocated opening a second front as soon as possible. In the United States they began to see him as a secret communist and suspect him of anti-American activities. They began to collect an extensive dossier on him.

In 1952, Chaplin went on a world tour with the premiere of his new film Footlights, but he was banned from returning to America.

Charlie went to Switzerland, where he settled in the town of Vevey. Here he wrote music for silent films, published memoirs, on the basis of which the biographical film “Chaplin” was created in 1992. In 1967, he wrote and directed his final film, A Countess from Hong Kong, starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando.

In 1941, Chaplin was awarded an Oscar for his performance as “Best Actor” in the film “The Great Dictator.” In 1948, he won the second award for best screenwriter (Monsieur Verdoux). In 1970, his star was placed on Hollywood Alley Glory.

In 1972, Charlie was given a limited visa so that he could come to the United States to present an Oscar statuette for his invaluable contribution to the development and history of cinema. The audience gave the great comedian a standing ovation for exactly 12 minutes. In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Chaplin the Order of the British Empire.

Personal life

Charlie has always been incredibly popular with women.

His first love was the dancer Ketty Halley. They met in London, she was 14, he was 19. There were only five dates in their life, and then he left for America.

In Los Angeles in 1915, Charlie met actress Edna Purviance. Until 1918, they worked together at film studios and were members of love relationships. In 1918, Edna began an affair with another actor, but Chaplin continued to star her in his films until 1923, and then paid her a weekly allowance until she died in 1958.

In the fall of 1918, the actor entered into a legal marriage with Mildred Harris for the first time. He was 13 years older than the girl. The reason for the wedding turned out to be Mildred's pregnancy, and only later it turned out that it was a lie. In 1919, they finally had a boy, Norman, but three days later the child died. In 1920, Charlie filed for divorce. As he wrote in his memoirs, “he never managed to know the soul of his wife, because Mildred filled her with all sorts of nonsense and pink rags.”

In 1924, Charlie married 16-year-old Lita Gray. They had two boys - Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sidney Earle. During the divorce, Charlie paid his wife a record amount at that time - $825 thousand. Chaplin's biographers agree that his marriage to Lita served as the basis for the plot of Nabokov's novel Lolita.

For a long time Charlie had a relationship with actress Paulette Goddard. She lived in his house, starred in his films, and after the separation it became known that in 1936 they secretly got married. Paulette was the only woman Charlie with whom they were able to part peacefully and support until the end of their days friendly relations. As fate would have it, Paulette also spent her last years of life in Switzerland; the woman then married the writer Erich Maria Remarque for the second time.

Fourth and last wife Charlie, Una Oneil (daughter famous writer And Nobel laureate), was younger than husband for 36 years. After the marriage, her father stopped communicating with his daughter. But this union finally turned out to be happy for Chaplin; Una gave birth to three sons (Eugene, Michael and Christopher) and five daughters (Anna-Emile, Josephine, Geraldine, Victoria and Joanna).

Among all Chaplin's children, the famous film actress was his daughter Geraldine and his son Sydney, a theater actor. Also great success Granddaughter Oona Chaplin achieved success in Spanish cinema.

Death

In the autumn of 1977, in the small Swiss town of Vevey, in an old park, every day a tall brunette rolled in front of her wheelchair, in which an elderly man was sitting in dark glasses and a hat. His legs were carefully wrapped in a blanket. And no one guessed that this 88-year-old man - The Great Tramp, cinematic genius Charlie Chaplin. He was happier these days than he had ever been in his life.

Charlie died in his sleep. This happened on December 25, 1977, he was 88 years old. The actor was buried in the city cemetery of Vevey.

Two months later, vandals removed Charlie's coffin from the grave and stole it to demand and receive a ransom. The villains were detained by the police, and the body was reburied in Corsier-sur-Vevey at the Meruz cemetery. To prevent such kidnapping attempts, 6 feet of concrete was poured on top.

On December 25, 1977, Charlie Chaplin, a truly legendary personality, died. Silent cinema has become history today, but even children recognize the images created by this brilliant actor. Neither world fame nor two Oscars could protect this great director and actor-comedian from the disgrace of the authorities, who was an active political personality off the screen and strove to achieve the notorious “peace in the world.”

Chaplin's career lasted 75 years
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889 in Walworth (UK) into a family of music hall performers. He first appeared on stage at the age of 5, when it was necessary to replace his mother in the program, who had problems with her larynx. Little Charlie managed to get a standing ovation from the audience, who pelted him with coins and bills. The young actor captivated the audience even more when he began, with childish spontaneity, to collect this money from the stage right during the performance.
From that moment, Chaplin's career began, which, stretching for 75 years, continued until the death of the great comedian.

Charlie Chaplin got his first role before he could read
Chaplin's childhood was spent in hopeless poverty. The father left the family, and Charlie and his brother were forced to go to an orphan school. Charlie Chaplin worked as a newspaper salesman, as an errand boy in a printing house, as a doctor's assistant, and never lost hope that he could someday make money as an actor.

Charlie Chaplin became the youngest and most expensive actor of his time
On September 23, 1913, Chaplin signed a contract with the Keystone film company. His salary then was $150. In 1914, he made his first film, “Caught in the Rain,” where he acted as a director, actor and screenwriter. His earnings are growing exponentially. Already in 1915 he received $1250, and in 1916 Mutual Film paid the comedian $10 thousand a week. In 1917, Chaplin signed a $1 million contract with First National Pictures and became, at that time, the most expensive actor in history.

Receiving fabulous fees, Chaplin kept the checks in his suitcase
It is known that even after Charlie Chaplin managed to earn his first million, he continued to live in a more than modest hotel room, and kept the checks he received in the studio in an old suitcase all his life. In 1922, Charlie Chaplin built his own house in Beverly Hills. The house had 40 rooms, an organ and a cinema hall.

After the film “The Great Dictator,” Chaplin began to be called a communist. At the end of 1940, Chaplin finished filming his film “The Great Dictator,” which, in fact, was a political satire on Nazism in general and Hitler in particular. This was the last film where Chaplin used the tramp Charlie character. The film was refused to be shown in cinemas in England and the USA because they were afraid of disturbing the fragile peace with Germany, and Chaplin was accused of inciting hysteria. A commission was even appointed to investigate the actor's anti-American actions. After Hitler watched the film, the actor was called a “scoundrel.”

In the USA, Chaplin was persona non grata
In 1952, Chaplin completed work on his painting “Lights of Footlights,” which tells the story of creativity and the fate of a creative person. On September 17 of the same year, he went to the world premiere of his film in London, and was unable to return back to the USA. The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, managed to get immigration authorities to ban Chaplin from entering the country. By the way, Charlie Chaplin lived in the USA for more than 40 years, but never received American citizenship. The official reason for refusal to enter the country was the presence of the comedian's name on Orwell's list. After this, Chaplin settled in the city of Vevey in Switzerland.

Chaplin's last child was born when he was 72. Charlie Chaplin was a hit with women. He had 11 children, and in 1943 a certain Joan Berry tried to impose a twelfth on him through the court, but an examination proved that her child had nothing to do with Chaplin.

Chaplin and O'Neill had three sons and five daughters. The last child was born when the comedian was 72 years old.

Chaplin's coffin was stolen. Charlie Chaplin died on December 25, 1977 at the age of 88. 2 months after the funeral of the great actor, sensational news spread around the world - the coffin with the comedian’s body was stolen from the cemetery at the Anglican Church in Vevey. On the morning of March 2, 1978, the cemetery caretaker reported this to the police, and in the evening unknown people called Chaplin’s widow and stated that the sarcophagus with the body of her husband was in a “safe place.”

Charlie Chaplin's bowler hat and cane sold for more than $60,000

In 2012, Charlie Chaplin's bowler hat and cane were sold for $62.5 thousand at the Bonhams auction house in Los Angeles. The auction organizers said that these were the accessories that the great comedian used on the set of the films “Modern Times” and “City Lights.” True, it is not known for certain how many canes and bowler hats that were filmed with Chaplin have survived to this day.

At the Oscars, the audience gave Chaplin a standing ovation for 12 minutes. The film “The Great Dictator” brought Charlie Chaplin his first Oscar. In 1941, the actor received a statuette for “Best Actor”. In 1948, Chaplin was once again awarded an Oscar. This time - for the best script (“Monsieur Verdoux”). In 1962, Charlie Chaplin became a doctor at Oxford University, and in 1975, Elizabeth II awarded him the Order of the Commander of the British Empire. In 1970, Charlie Chaplin's star was laid on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And his photos today are included in collections of the most iconic photographs famous photographers.

Over the course of his film career, Chaplin starred in 82 films. Chaplin earned about $10.5 million from his films.

Charlie Chaplin is a film actor, screenwriter, composer, film director, producer and editor. The creator of one of the most famous images of world cinema and one of the most influential people in the silent film era.
Twice winner of a non-competitive honorary Oscar “for his invaluable contribution to the transformation of cinema into art.”

Charles Spencer (Charlie) Chaplin was born in London into a family of stage actors. The parents separated, the boy spent his early years with my mother and older brother. Mom performed in the evenings and often took her son with her so as not to leave him at home alone. Little Charlie loved his mother very much and she had a huge influence on him. According to the actor, she gave him faith in herself, in the “kingdom of her dreams,” in love, mercy and humanity.

Charles also owes his first performance on stage at the age of 5 to his mother. Somehow her voice broke, she had to leave the stage and the director allowed her to leave little Charlie, which immediately received a standing ovation. The audience began throwing coins onto the stage, and the boy began to collect them, which further touched and amused the audience. Charles felt at home on stage, chatting with the audience, dancing and singing. When his mother followed him onto the stage, the audience greeted her with thunderous applause. This was Charlie's first performance and his mother's last.

She was never able to return to the stage and a long difficult period began in their lives. The family was literally begging, constantly changing housing. The children wandered, tried to earn money, at one time lived in a shelter for the poor, for some period in new family father. The mother was ill and periodically lay in psychiatric clinics and the children at this time were left to their own devices.

If the older brother managed to get some elementary education, then Charlie was completely illiterate by the age of 12. In an orphanage, he learned to write his name and was very proud of it. At the school for the poor, where Charlie briefly went, he also learned almost nothing. But he achieved “incredible success” by reading funny poems and the fame of his talent spread throughout the school.

This is what Charles himself recalled about his school period: “The facts and information did not arouse any particular interest in me, they were confusing. If only one of the teachers could show the “product face”, making an enticing preface to his subject, could stir my imagination and ignite my fantasy instead of hammering facts into my head, would reveal to me the secrets of numbers and romance geographical maps, would have helped me to feel the idea in history and music in poetry - who knows, maybe I would have become a scientist.” Living in a poor area, my mother always monitored the speech of Charlie and his brother and corrected mistakes so that the children did not adopt the “clumsy speech of the slums” that the neighbors used. She read to the children, talked about the theater, acted out skits and historical jokes.

At the age of 9, Charlie joined the children's dance group "Eight Lancashire Boys" and traveled around the English province for two years. This provided a small income, but Charlie wanted to perform alone and make people laugh. As a result, he left the team.

Charlie sold newspapers, glued toys, worked in a printing house, a glassblowing workshop, in a doctor's office, was a servant, a dance teacher, but whatever he did, he, like his brother, remembered that all this was temporary and in the end he would become actor.

After each dismissal, Charlie polished his boots and suit and went to the theatrical agency.
This went on for quite some time, but one day 12-year-old Charlie was unexpectedly invited to play in the troupe and go on tour. Charlie lied that he was 14, they handed him the text and he was afraid that he would be asked to read it right away, because he practically could not read. Fortunately, he was sent home and Charlie learned the lyrics with the help of his brother.

The role was big, but three days later Charlie spoke it without hesitation.
After the first rehearsal, the director asked if he had ever acted before? “I had no idea that there was a rhythm of action, the ability to pause, the ability to easily enter into the mise-en-scène proposed by the director. All this came to me naturally.” It must be said that Charlie accepted praise as if it were due to him from birth.

But success was still far away. Charlie faced years of loneliness, disappointment and unsuccessful, disgraceful performances. In moments of despair, he wanted to give up everything, but Charles understood that his lack of education would only allow him to be a lackey, and he continued his work.

When Charles was 23 years old, he came on tour to America, which immediately captivated him. The performance was a failure, but the actor felt that there were other opportunities here and it was not necessary to be chained to the theater. He even thought about becoming a farmer and raising pigs.
Charles bought textbooks and decided to educate himself, but that time he never opened the books.
But he practiced playing the violin and cello for several hours a day, took lessons once a week and dreamed of becoming a concert performer. But over time, I realized that I would not achieve perfection in this and abandoned classes.

Charles still continued to visit second-hand bookstores and was fascinated by idealist philosophers, and then he became acquainted with fiction - Twain, Poe and Irving. “My desire for knowledge was not so disinterested. I was not led pure love to knowledge, but only the desire to protect oneself from the contempt that the ignorant cause.” At one of his performances in America, a young man, a future influential producer, approached him and said that when he gets rich, he will definitely invite him to the cinema. And so it happened. In 1913, the actor signed a contract with the Keystone studio with a salary of $150 per week.

The actor did not immediately adapt to cinema, but over time the public fell in love with Chaplin. Charles himself created a unique image of the Tramp, which soon became recognizable throughout the world.

Soon Chaplin began to work independently, simultaneously performing the role of actor, director and screenwriter. A little later, he began producing films and writing music.

After 4 years, he received a contract for $1 million, which was an unthinkable amount at that time.
Six years later, Charlie Chaplin founded his own film company, United Artists. The pinnacle of the director’s creativity was his film “City Lights” (1931) and “The Great Dictator” (1940), where Chaplin played two roles simultaneously: a fascist dictator and a humble Jewish hairdresser. For this role, Chaplin was awarded the Best Actor Award in New York.

In 1952, Chaplin and his family sailed on tour to England and, already on the way, learned that they had lost their rights to return to the United States. He was accused of anti-American sentiments, connections with communists and reluctance to obtain citizenship.

The actor settled in Switzerland and lived there for the rest of his life in happiness and prosperity.

In 1957, the comedy “A King in New York” was released, which was banned from showing in the United States.
Charlie Chaplin's last film was the comedy A Countess from Hong Kong, starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando.

Chaplin is also the author of four autobiographical books, a successful composer, honorary doctor of the Universities of Oxford and Durham and a Knight of the Legion of Honour. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival, Golden Lion Film Festival and twice Oscar.

In 1975 he was knighted in Great Britain.

George Bernard Shaw called Chaplin "the only genius who came out of the film industry."