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Sir Charles Chaplin, KBE
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Portrait 1933
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| Born |
Charles Spencer Chaplin
16 April 1889 London, United Kingdom
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| Died | 25 December 1977 (aged 88)
Vevey, Switzerland
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| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, composer |
| Years active | 1899–1976 |
| Spouse(s) |
Mildred Harris (m. 1918–1920)
Lita Grey (m. 1924–1927)
Paulette Goddard (m. 1936–1942)
Oona O’Neill (m. 1943–1977)
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Sir Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin (April 16, 1889 – December 25, 1977) was a famous English actor, comedian, movie maker, screenwriter, editor, musician, and author. He was very famous in silent movies (where there was no talking or sound). He acted, directed, scripted, and produced most of them.
Charlie Chaplin was a performer for almost 70 years. He started working when he was 5, and worked until he was 80. The character that Charlie Chaplin played most was called “the Little Tramp”. The “Tramp” was a man of good manners, who wore a coat, a pair of big trousers, shoes, and a black hat.
Chaplin growing up
Charlie first started acting at age five. He acted in a music hall in 1894, standing in for his mother. When Charlie was a child, he was kept in bed for many weeks from a bad illness. At night, his mother would sit at the window and act out what was going on outside. His first important work came when he joined The Eight Lancashire Lads. In 1900, his brother Sydney helped him get the role of a comic cat in the pantomime Cinderella. In 1903 he was in a play called “Jim: A Romance of Cockayne”. Chaplin was in Casey’s ‘Court Circus’ variety show. The next year, he became a clown in Fred Karno’s ‘Fun Factory’ comedy company.
Awards
Chaplin won two special Oscars. Chaplin had first been chosen for both “Best Actor” and “Best Comedy Directing”. But then, instead, he was given a special award “for versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing”. Chaplin’s second special award came 44 years later, in 1972. When getting this award, Chaplin had the longest standing ovation (people standing up and clapping) in Academy Award history. In 1976 he was given the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, a lifetime achievement award. Chaplin became the first actor to have appeared in the cover of Time in 1925.
Chaplin once entered in a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contest. Chaplin lost the contest.
He was knighted by the Queen of England and became Sir Charles Chapman.
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The Kid (1921), with Jackie Coogan, combined comedy with drama and was Chaplin’s first film to exceed an hour.
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The Tramp resorts to eating his boot in a famous scene from The Gold Rush (1925).
(edited from source)