Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin
Early life
- Sir Charles Spencer (Charlie Chaplin) was an English comic actor and film director of the silent film era, and became one of the most well-known film stars in the world.
- He is well-known for his performances as the tramp and won, a sympathetic comic character with ill-fitting clothes and a moustach.
- He was born in a family of artists on 16 April 1889 in East Street, Walworth, London, England.
- His father, Charles Spencer Chaplin Sr, was a vocalist and an actor and his mother, Hannah Chaplin, was a singer and an actress.
- Chaplin's father, Charles Chaplin Sr., was an alcoholic and had little contact with his son. He died of cirrhosis of the liver when Charlie was twelve in 1901.
- Because their mother was mentally ill, Charlie and his half brother, Sydney, had to unite and struggle desperate poverty in order to survive.
- The two brothers gravitated to the Music Hall while still very young. They proved their natural stage talent.
- Chaplin's mother died in 1928 in Hollywood, seven years after having been brought to the U.S. by her sons.
- Charlie and Sydney didin't know that they had another half-brother through their mother until later until years later, Wheeler Dryden (1892–1957). The latter was briought up abroad by his father. He later joined Chaplin and Sydney and worked for them.
The United States
- During one of his tours to the United Staes, Chaplin was hired by Mac Sennet for his studio, the Keystone Film Company as a replacement for Ford Sterling.
- He performed in Making a living and later invented the tramp character which has become famous all over the world.
- The tramp was associated with the silent era and haplin resisted to make talking films until later in his career when he Chaplin made the tramp sing a nonesense song at the end of the movie.
The Tramp
"The Tramp" is a vagrant with the refined manners, clothes, and dignity of a gentleman. Charlie devised himself the costumes of the tramp.
"I had no idea what makeup to put on. I did not like my get-up as the press reporter [in Making a Living]. However on the way to the wardrobe I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large. I was undecided whether to look old or young, but remembering Sennett had expected me to be a much older man, I added a small moustache, which I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression. I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born."
McCarthy era
Chaplin was accused of "un-American activities" as a suspected communist during the McCarthy era and some FBI officials kept extensive secret files on him and tried to end his United States residency. In 1952, Chaplin left the US for what was intended as a brief trip home to the United Kingdom for the London premiere of
Limelight. But Chaplin decided not to re-enter the United States. He wrote:
".....Since the end of the last world war, I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press, have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted. Under these conditions I find it virtually impossible to continue my motion-picture work, and I have therefore given up my residence in the United States."
Chaplin settled in Switzerland but later in 1972 retuned triumphantly to the United States to recieve an Honorary Oscar.
A list of the greatest films by Charlie Chaplin
- Limelight
- City Lights
- The Great Dictator
- Shoulder Arms
- The Adventurer
- Gold Rush
- Monsieur Verdoux
- A King in New York
- Easy Street
- One AM
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