It was the renowned playwright George Bernard Shaw who bestowed the title of creator of the most famous image in world cinema—the “tramp Charlie.” This stoic, silent character, adorned with an aristocratic bowler hat, gentlemanly manners, and empty pockets, became the embodiment of dignity for the little man with great self-respect. Charlie Chaplin himself learned to maintain his composure even in the direst situations of life, becoming a universal master who conveyed something profoundly important to the world.
Charlie Chaplin, 1918.
75-Year Career
In his official biography, he is described as an English actor, director, screenwriter, composer, producer, and editor, although the British-born artist gained his fame and professional recognition in the United States, where he worked starting in 1912.
Chaplin began collaborating with the Keystone film company in Los Angeles at the age of 18. By 1914, he had become a director and screenwriter for films in which he starred, and by 1916, he started producing his films independently. In 1918, he began composing music as well. His long creative career kicked off with his first appearance on stage in a British music hall during the Victorian era and lasted 75 years, ending with the death of the 88-year-old artist.
Orphan School
Born on April 16, 1889, to London music hall performers Charles Spencer Chaplin Sr. and Hannah Chaplin, Charlie first stepped onto the stage at the age of five. He earned his first coins performing in place of his sick mother (who had permanently lost her voice), collecting them with childlike innocence from the wings during her act. From his earliest years, Charlie shone in his parents’ profession, performing his own acts for the audience. A re-trained left-handed performer, he mastered the violin, sang well, parodied, danced, and even earned money teaching choreography.
At the same time, by the time he reached adulthood, he also learned the value of hard work as a servant, printer, woodcutter, and glassblower. Charlie Chaplin Jr. had to start working at the age of nine not out of choice: after his parents’ divorce, the two sons (who had different fathers) sought refuge from poverty in a workhouse. With their mother hospitalized in a mental health clinic, the children experienced what could be called an “orphan school,” living in a shelter and wandering the streets. They sometimes went without food, relying solely on free meals from benefactors.
Seven-year-old Chaplin (center, slightly bent) at the Central London District School for the Poor, 1897.
A Terrible Secret
Charlie’s older brother, Sydney Hill, was born to the same mother by a Jewish man named Hawks, while Charlie’s paternal grandmother came from a gypsy family. Chaplin described this fact in his autobiography as a “skeleton in the closet” and a “terrible secret.” Charlie’s mother passed away when he was not yet six years old, and at the age of 37, his father also died in his second marriage, having struggled with alcoholism.
Charlie learned to read later than he learned to perform on stage. His first role came in 1903, along with a steady job in theater. During rehearsals for the play “Sherlock Holmes,” based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the 14-year-old boy was most afraid of being exposed for his illiteracy. To avoid being fired for not knowing his lines, he cleverly avoided reading his text in front of other actors, memorizing his part at home with the help of his brother.
Teenage Chaplin in the play “Sherlock Holmes.”
Going Full Throttle
No matter what Charlie was doing, he poured himself into it completely. Pushing the limits of his strength and talent, he earned his salary in Fred Karno’s troupe (some of the sketches he later adapted for the screen), acted in films, and wrote scripts. Charlie Chaplin was the author of 24 out of 35 films for his first American employer, the Keystone studio. Additionally, the workaholic managed to shoot a dozen 15-minute short films for the Chicago studio Essanay in 1915, creating the most recognizable image of silent cinema—a bumbling little vagabond with a cane, dressed in a tattered tailcoat and oversized shoes (for comedic effect, he wore a size 47 shoe on his left foot and a size 46 on his right).
Advertisement for Chaplin’s American tour with Fred Karno’s comedy company, 1913.
Chaplin’s record creative output was rewarded by Hollywood with a staggering contract worth $670,000—an unprecedented sum at the time. The Mutual studio did not suffer losses either; its investment in this valuable acquisition was recouped through the release of monthly film hits. In 1917, First National Pictures signed a contract with Chaplin for $1 million, making him the highest-paid actor in history at that time. By 1922, the new millionaire owned a 40-room house in Beverly Hills, complete with its own movie theater and organ.
The Great Silent One
Despite his modest height of 5’5″, Chaplin managed to overshadow the most prominent actors in Hollywood with his personal charisma. A vibrant symbol of silent cinema, he developed the “slapstick comedy,” imbuing his comedic character with lyrical depth. This idea was inspired by the audience. In “The Pawnshop,” Chaplin’s character gestures to a clerk about the many children he cannot feed, moving viewers to tears. People cried out of sympathy for this unfortunate man. Starting with pantomime and buffoonery, by the 1920s, Chaplin began to tackle increasingly sharp social themes in his work.
The Tramp eats a shoe in the film “The Gold Rush,” 1925.
Chaplin’s convincing performances in silent scenes were achieved through studying sign language. He honed his pantomime skills through friendly interactions with a famous landscape artist who had lost his hearing. As a token of gratitude, the artist, Grenville Redmond, received a studio from Charlie and the opportunity to appear in films.
Having tasted fame during the silent film era, Chaplin remained loyal to his polished acting technique for over a decade after the advent of sound in 1927.
No to War!
Chaplin’s first sound film, “The Great Dictator,” was released in 1940 and marked the last cinematic work featuring the image of the Tramp. Paramount Pictures took a risk by producing a satire on Hitler (it is said that he easily recognized himself in the film’s main character). Chaplin presented his perspective on military events in Europe despite America’s official neutrality regarding the opening of the second front. The film’s heroes were twins: the tyrannical dictator Hinkel and a simple barber named Charlie, who, by fate, found himself in the role of the brother and delivered a revealing speech against the evil intentions of war financiers.
“The Great Dictator,” 1940.
Condemnation of militarism was a consistent ideology for Charlie Chaplin, whose pacifist comedy “Shoulder Arms!” and other similar works mocked militarism since the time of World War I. In the 1930s, Chaplin came under the scrutiny of the FBI: his first dossier was opened after the filming of “Modern Times”—a film that cast doubt on the humanity of imperialism.
The “Communist Finger”
Chaplin was warned about potential political complications and financial losses if the film were banned from showing in the U.S. and England. The director also received threats of disruption during screenings. Theaters received alarming messages about planned poison gas attacks during the premiere. Chaplin did not ignore these concerns and ensured security for the audience during the screening. Although the film was ultimately allowed to be shown, the author could not avoid trouble. The influential American publication New York Daily News accused Charlie Chaplin of threatening viewers with a “communist finger” from the screen after the film’s release.
During the editing of his next film, “Monsieur Verdoux” (1947), authorities even investigated Chaplin for anti-American activities: among two dozen “suspects,” he was summoned to a committee meeting in Washington. The summons was canceled after Chaplin announced his intention to attend the hearing dressed in the grotesque attire of the Tramp, which could turn the “serious” event into a farce. However, the screening of the “dangerous” film only took place after revisions: censors pointed out “unacceptable fragments” that needed to be removed. Even this did not stop organized protests with placards labeling him a “red sympathizer” and an “ungrateful foreigner who had overstayed his welcome in patient America.”
“Monsieur Verdoux,” 1947.
The “Unreliable” Millionaire
In 1947, the artist without an American passport was placed under surveillance, including phone tapping. The prolonged denial of citizenship to the Hollywood star seemed like a challenge: was there hidden disloyalty to the system?
Professional and personal scandals cost the exiled actor, screenwriter, and director his expulsion from the U.S. After a trip back to his homeland in 1952, Charlie Chaplin was not allowed to return to the country where he had lived for 40 years. Before heading to a festival in his native London, Charles requested a return visa from immigration services. On his way to Europe, the legendary filmmaker was informed that the issued document had been revoked: he was denied re-entry to America. Permission to enter could be discussed only after the political and moral charges against him were lifted.
Despite Chaplin’s long friendship with influential British politician Winston Churchill, British intelligence services monitored the comedian in agreement with the FBI. In February 2012, the left-liberal British newspaper The Guardian reported on the declassification of the secret dossier from the MI-5 counterintelligence agency. The alleged connection to the communist underground was not confirmed (Chaplin always denied it), as evidenced by the case transferred to the National Archives of the United Kingdom. The intelligence services concluded: “He poses no threat to national security.” After these findings were made public, journalists from The Times labeled the suspicions that plagued the filmmaker as “anti-communist paranoia.”
Goodbye, America!
The 1952 film “Limelight,” which Chaplin considered the pinnacle of his work, became his last American project. Immediately after its premiere, he changed his country of residence. However, the income from the film’s release in Europe was taxed in the U.S. for another three years, until 1955. Even after leaving the country, the American tax department considered Chaplin a resident, and the foreigner could not contest this situation in court.
“Limelight,” 1952.
Out of marital solidarity, actress Una O’Neill (1925–1991), who became Chaplin’s last wife in 1943, renounced her American citizenship during the height of the legal battle regarding his unrecognized paternity. As confirmed by the court, Charlie had no relation to the child of another young actress. This was a vulnerable side of Chaplin’s personality: surrounded by young beauties at work, a normal and interesting man in his prime had a weakness for young actresses.
His first two wives married him at 16, the third (future wife of writer Erich Maria Remarque, Paulette Goddard) at 19, and the fourth at 18. The 54-year-old Chaplin proposed to the 36-year-younger Una O’Neill for life. For Chaplin, Una, who never appeared in any of his films, gave up not only her own film career but also her relationship with her famous father, American playwright Eugene Gladstone O’Neill. After their scandalous wedding, the Nobel Prize winner and four-time Pulitzer Prize winner permanently severed ties with his daughter.
Old Age—A Time for Joy
After five months of traveling through Europe, the exiled artist found a new refuge in paradise-like Switzerland. A luxurious villa in Corsier-sur-Vevey became the place for Charlie’s carefree life with his beloved wife, three sons, and five daughters. In this marriage, the couple would have eight children together (in total, Chaplin had eleven heirs, and one was later determined by genetic testing not to be his), with the last child born when the great father was already 73 years old.
Chaplin with his wife Una and six of their children, 1961.
In 1972, Charlie was nominated for another Oscar, and in 1975, he received the attention of Queen Elizabeth II: he was knighted by the British Empire. Until his death on Christmas Eve in 1977, the king of comedy continued to write scripts, enjoy family life, and relish the fruits of his labor and well-deserved fame.
Shortly after his burial, the genius’s grave was disturbed by two immigrant thieves (a Pole and a Bulgarian) who sought to profit from “trophies,” just like the thieves of the artist’s first Oscar. Not waiting for a ransom, the criminals buried the coffin in a field near Lake Geneva. Yet even under such circumstances, fate proved kind to Charlie: the remains were quickly found, the criminals were arrested, and the body was securely hidden from fetishists under a two-meter layer of reinforced concrete, while the genius was given new honors during a reburial on May 17, 1978.