Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London, England on 16 April 1889.

His parents were Charles Chaplin Senior and Hannah Hill. They were music hall entertainers but separated shortly after Charlie was born, leaving Hannah to provide for her children.

In 1896 when Hannah was no longer able to care for her children, Charlie and his brother Sydney were admitted to Lambeth Workhouse and later, Hanwell School for Orphans and Destitute Children.

Chaplin became one of the most famous actors as well as a notable film-maker, composer and musician in the early to mid Hollywood cinema era. He is considered one of the finest mimes and clowns ever captured on film. He greatly influenced other performers.

Chaplin acted in, directed, scripted, produced, and eventually scored his own films as one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era. His working life in entertainment spanned over 65 years, from the Victorian stage and the Music Hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer almost until his death at the age of 88. His high-profile public and private life encompassed both adulation and controversy. With Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith Chaplin co-founded United Artists in 1919.

Chaplin’s principal character was “The Tramp” (known as “Charlot” in France, and the French-speaking world, Italy, Spain, Andorra, Portugal, Greece, Romania, and Turkey, “Carlitos” in Brazil and Argentina, and “Vagabund” in Germany). “The Tramp” is a vagrant with the refined manners and dignity of a gentleman. The character wears a tight coat, oversized trousers and shoes, and a derby; carries a bamboo cane; and has a signature toothbrush moustache.

Chaplin was named in the New Year’s Honours List in 1975. On March 4, was knighted at age eighty-five as a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. The honour was first proposed in 1931, and again in 1956, when it was vetoed by the then Conservative government for fears of damage to relations with the United States at the height of the Cold War and planned invasion of Suez of that year.

By 1977 Charlie Chaplin could no longer communicate and was confined to a wheelchair. He died in his sleep on Christmas Day, 1977, in Vevey, Switzerland, at the age of 88.

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*NOTE* Personally I don’t like to re-produce wikipedia entries. But this was well written with some good sources. So I had no choice 🙂

References:

Monash University

Wikipedia

Some videos of this great artist

Modern Times: