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Charlie Chaplin
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WIKIMAG n. 10 - Settembre 2013
Charlie Chaplin
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Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin,
KBE (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic
actor and filmmaker who rose to fame in the
silent film era. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen
persona "the
Tramp" and is considered one of the most important figures of the
film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from a child in
the
Victorian era to close to his death at the age of 88, and
encompassed both adulation and controversy.
Raised in London, Chaplin's childhood was defined by poverty and
hardship. He was sent to a
workhouse twice before the age of nine; his father was absent, and
his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing
from a young age, touring
music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19
he was signed to the prestigious
Fred Karno company, which took him to America. Chaplin was scouted
by the film industry, and made his first appearances in 1914 with
Keystone Studios. He soon developed the Tramp persona and formed a
large fan base. Chaplin directed his films from an early stage, and
continued to hone his craft as he moved to the
Essanay,
Mutual, and
First National corporations. By 1918, he was one of the most famous
men in the world.
In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company
United Artists, giving him complete control over his films. His
first
feature-length picture was
The Kid (1921), followed by
A Woman of Paris (1923),
The Gold Rush (1925), and
The Circus (1928). He refused to move to
sound films in the 1930s, instead producing
City Lights (1931) and
Modern Times (1936) without dialogue. Chaplin became
increasingly political and his next film,
The Great Dictator (1940), satirised
Adolf Hitler. The 1940s was a decade marked with controversy for
Chaplin, and his popularity declined rapidly. He was accused of
communist sympathies, while his involvement in a
paternity suit and marriages to much younger women were considered
scandalous. An
FBI investigation was opened on Chaplin, and he was eventually
forced to leave the United States and settle in Switzerland. He
abandoned the Tramp for his later films, which include
Monsieur Verdoux (1947),
Limelight (1952),
A King in New York (1957), and
A Countess From Hong Kong (1967).
Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, scored, and starred in
most of his films. He was a perfectionist, and his financial
independence meant he often spent years on the development and
production of a picture. His films are characterised by
slapstick combined with
pathos,
and often feature the Tramp struggling against adversity. Many contain
social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements. In
1972, as part of a renewed appreciation for his work, Chaplin received
an
Honorary Academy Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in
making motion pictures the art form of this century". He continues to be
held in high regard, with The Gold Rush, City Lights,
Modern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked among the
greatest films of all time.
Biography
Early years (1889–1913)
Background and childhood hardship
Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on 16 April 1889 to
Hannah Chaplin (née Hill, 1865–1928) and
Charles Chaplin, Sr. (1863–1901). There is no official record of his
birth, although Chaplin believed he was born at
East Street,
Walworth, in
South London.[1][note
1] His mother and father had married four years previously, at
which time Charles Sr. became the legal carer of Hannah's illegitimate
son,
Sydney John (1885–1965).[4][note
2] At the time of his birth, Chaplin's parents were both
entertainers in the
music hall tradition. Hannah, the daughter of a shoemaker,[5]
had a brief and unsuccessful career under the stage name Lily Harley,[6]
while Charles Sr., a butcher's son,[7]
worked as a popular singer.[8]
Chaplin's parents were estranged by around 1891.[9]
In 1892, Hannah gave birth to a third son –
George Wheeler Dryden – fathered by music hall entertainer
Leo
Dryden. The child was taken by Dryden at six months old, and did not
re-enter Chaplin's life for 30 years.[10]
Chaplin's childhood was fraught with poverty and hardship, making his
eventual trajectory "the most dramatic of all the rags to riches stories
ever told" according to his authorised biographer
David Robinson.[11]
His early years were spent with his mother and brother in the London
district of
Kennington; Hannah had no means of income, other than occasional
nursing and dressmaking, and Chaplin Sr. provided no support for his
sons.[12]
As the situation deteriorated, Chaplin was sent to a
workhouse when seven years old.[note
3] The council housed him at the
Central London District School for
paupers, which Chaplin remembered as "a forlorn existence".[14]
He was briefly reunited with his mother at nine years of age, before
Hannah was forced to readmit her family to the workhouse in July 1898.
The boys were promptly sent to Norwood Schools, another institution for
destitute children.[15]
"I was hardly aware of a crisis because we lived in a
continual crisis; and, being a boy, I dismissed our troubles
with gracious forgetfulness." [16]
– Chaplin on his childhood
In September 1898, Hannah Chaplin was committed to
Cane Hill mental asylum – she had developed a
psychosis seemingly brought on by
malnutrition and an infection of
syphilis.[17]
Chaplin recalled his anguish at the news, "Why had she done this?
Mother, so light-hearted and gay, how could she go insane?"[18]
For the two months she was there, Chaplin and his brother were sent to
live with their father, whom the young boy scarcely knew.[19]
Charles Sr. was by then a severe alcoholic, and life with the man was
bad enough to provoke a visit from the
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.[20]
He died two years later, at 38 years old, from
cirrhosis of the liver.[21]
Hannah entered a period of remission, but in May 1903 became ill
again. Chaplin, then 14, had the task of taking his mother to the
infirmary.[22]
He lived alone for several days, searching for food and occasionally
sleeping rough, until his brother Sydney returned from the navy.[23]
Hannah was released from the asylum eight months later,[24]
but in March 1905 her madness returned, this time permanently. "There
was nothing we could do but accept poor mother's fate," Chaplin later
wrote, and she remained in care until her death in 1928.[25]
Young performer
Chaplin recalled that his first stage appearance came at five years
of age, when he took over from his mother one night in
Aldershot.[note
4] It was an isolated performance, but at nine years, Chaplin
became interested in the theatre. He credited his mother, later writing,
"[she] imbued me with the feeling that I had some sort of talent."[27]
Through his father's connections, Chaplin became a member of the
Eight Lancashire Lads
clog-dancing troupe.[28]
He began his professional career in this way, as he toured English music
halls with the group throughout 1899 and 1900.[note
5] Chaplin worked hard and the act was popular with audiences,
but dancing did not satisfy the child and he dreamt of forming a comedy
act.[30]
"What had happened? It seemed the world had suddenly
changed, had taken me into its fond embrace and adopted me." [31]
—Chaplin reflecting on his change in fortunes
By age 13 Chaplin had fully abandoned education.[32][note
6] He supported himself with a range of jobs, but said he,
"never lost sight" of his "ultimate aim to become an actor."[34]
At 14, shortly after his mother's relapse, he registered with a
theatrical agency in London's
West End. The manager sensed potential in Chaplin and he was soon on
the stage.[35]
His first role was a newsboy in
H. A. Saintsbury's Jim, a Romance of Cockayne. It opened in
July 1903 in
Kingston upon Thames, but the show was unsuccessful and it closed
after two weeks. Chaplin's comic performance, however, was singled out
for praise in many of the reviews.[36]
From October 1903 to June 1904, Chaplin toured with Saintsbury in
"legendary impresario"
Charles Frohman's production of
Sherlock Holmes.[37]
He repeated his performance of Billy the pageboy for two subsequent
tours,[38]
and was so successful that he was called to London to play the role
alongside
William Gillette, the original Holmes.[note
7] "It was like tidings from heaven," Chaplin recalled.[40]
At 16-years-old, Chaplin starred in the West End production at the
Duke of York's Theatre from 17 October to 2 December 1905.[41]
He completed one final tour of Sherlock Holmes in early 1906,
eventually leaving the play after more than two and a half years.[42]
Stage
comedy and vaudeville
Star of the
Karno comedy company, c. 1912
Chaplin quickly began work in another role, touring with his brother
– who was also pursuing an acting career – in a
comedy sketch called Repairs.[43]
He left the troupe in May 1906, and joined the juvenile comedy act
Casey's Circus.[44]
Chaplin's speciality with the company was a
burlesque of
Dick Turpin and the music hall star "Dr.
Bodie". It was popular with audiences and Chaplin became the star of
the show. When they finished touring in July 1907, the 18-year-old was
an accomplished comedy performer.[45]
Several months of unemployment followed, however, and Chaplin lived a
solitary existence while lodging with a family in Kennington. He
attempted to develop a solo comedy act, but his Jewish impersonation was
poorly received and he performed it only once.[46]
By 1908, Sydney Chaplin had become a star of
Fred Karno's prestigious comedy company.[47]
In February, he managed to secure a two-week trial for his younger
brother. Karno was initially wary, thinking Chaplin a "pale, puny,
sullen-looking youngster" who "looked much too shy to do any good in the
theatre."[48]
But the teenager made an impact on his first night at the
London Coliseum, winning more laughs in his small role than the
star, and he was quickly signed to a contract. His salary was £3 10s
a week.[49][note
8] Chaplin began by playing a series of minor parts,
eventually progressing to starring roles in 1909.[51]
In April 1910, he was given the lead in a new sketch, Jimmy the
Fearless. It was a big success, and Chaplin received considerable
press attention.[52]
Karno selected his new star to join a fraction of the company that
toured North America's
vaudeville circuit; he also signed Chaplin to a new contract, which
doubled his pay.[53]
The young comedian headed the show and impressed American reviewers,
being described as "one of the best pantomime artists ever seen here."[54]
His most successful role was a drunk called the Inebriate Swell, which
drew him considerable recognition.[55]
The tour lasted 21 months, and the troupe – which also included
Stan Laurel of later
Laurel and Hardy fame – returned to England in June 1912.[56]
Chaplin recalled that he "had a disquieting feeling of sinking back into
a depressing commonplaceness", and was therefore "elated" when a new
tour began in October.[57]
Entering films (1914–1917)
Keystone
Chaplin was six months into the second American tour when his manager
received a telegram from the New York Motion Picture Company (NYMPC). It
asked, "Is there a man named Chaffin in your company or something like
that", with a request that that this comedian contact the company. A
member of NYMPC had seen Chaplin perform (accounts of whom and where
vary) and felt that he would make a good replacement for
Fred
Mace, star of their
Keystone Studios who intended to leave.[58]
Chaplin thought the Keystone comedies "a crude mélange of rough and
rumble", but liked the idea of working in films and justified, "Besides,
it would mean a new life."[59]
He met with the company, and a contract was drawn up in July 1913. After
some adjustments, Chaplin signed with Keystone on 25 September.[60]
The contract stipulated a year's work at $150 a week.[61]
Chaplin arrived in Los Angeles, home of the Keystone studio, in early
December 1913.[62]
His boss was
Mack Sennett, who initially expressed concern that the 24-year-old
looked too young. Chaplin reassured him, "I can make up as old as you
like."[63]
He was not used in a picture until late January, during which time the
comedian attempted to learn the processes of filmmaking.[64]
Making a Living marked his film debut, released 2 February 1914.
Chaplin strongly disliked the picture, but one review picked him out as
"a comedian of the first water."[65]
For his second appearance in front of cameras, Chaplin selected the
costume with which he became identified. He described the process in his
autobiography:
"I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the
coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large ... 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." [66][note
9]
The film was
Mabel's Strange Predicament, but "the
Tramp" character, as it became known, debuted to audiences in
Kid Auto Races at Venice – shot later but released two days
earlier.[68]
Chaplin adopted the character as his screen persona, and attempted to
make suggestions for the films he appeared in. These ideas were
dismissed by his directors.[69]
During the filming of his tenth picture he clashed with director
Mabel Normand, and was almost released from his contract. Sennett
kept him on, however, when a request arrived for more Chaplin films.
With an insurance of $1,500 promised in case of failure, Sennett also
allowed Chaplin to direct his own film.[70]
Caught in the Rain (issued 4 May 1914), Chaplin's directorial
debut, was among Keystone's most successful releases to date.[71]
Chaplin proceeded to direct almost every short film in which he appeared
for Keystone,[72]
approximately one per week,[73]
which he remembered as the most exciting time of his career.[74]
His films introduced a slower, more expressive form of comedy than the
typical Keystone farce,[68]
and he developed a large fan base.[75]
In November 1914, Chaplin appeared in the first
feature length comedy film,
Tillie's Punctured Romance, directed by Sennett and starring
Marie Dressler. Chaplin had only a supporting role, but the movie's
success meant it was pivotal in advancing his career.[76]
When Chaplin's contract came up for renewal at the end of the year, he
asked for $1,000 a week. Sennett refused this amount as too large, and
so the comedian waited to receive an offer from another studio.[77]
Essanay
The
Essanay Film Manufacturing Company sent Chaplin an offer of $1,250 a
week with a signing bonus of $10,000. This large amount was irresistible
to him, and in late December 1914 he travelled to Chicago to join the
studio.[78]
Chaplin was unimpressed with the conditions there, and after making one
film he moved to the company's small studio in
Niles, California.[79]
There, Chaplin began to form a stock company of regular players,
including
Leo
White,
Bud Jamison, Paddy McGuire and Billy Armstrong. In San Francisco he
recruited a leading lady –
Edna Purviance.[80]
She went on to appear in 35 films with Chaplin over eight years.[81]
The pair also formed a romantic relationship which lasted into 1917.[82]
Chaplin asserted a high level of control over his pictures, and
started to put more time and care into each film.[83]
There was a month-long wait between the release of his second
production,
A Night Out, and his third,
The Champion.[84]
The final seven Essanay films, of which there were 14, were all produced
with this slower pace.[85]
Chaplin also began to alter his screen persona, which had attracted some
criticism at Keystone for its "mean, crude, and brutish" nature.[86]
The character became more gentle and romantic,[87]
with
The Tramp (April 1915) considered a particular turning point in
his development.[88]
The use of pathos was developed further with
The Bank, as Chaplin adopted a sad ending. Robinson notes that
this was an innovation in comedy films, and marked the time when serious
critics began to appreciate his work.[89]
At Essanay, writes film scholar
Simon Louvish, Chaplin "found the themes and the settings that would
define the Tramp's world."[90]
During 1915, Chaplin became a cultural phenomenon. Shops were stocked
with Chaplin merchandise, he was featured in cartoons and comic strips,
and several songs were written about the star.[91]
In July, a journalist for
Motion Picture Magazine wrote that "Chaplinitis" had spread
across America.[92]
As his fame grew worldwide, he became the first international film star.[93]
With his Essanay contract coming to an end, and fully aware of his
popularity, Chaplin requested a $150,000 signing bonus from his next
studio. He received several offers, including
Universal,
Fox, and
Vitagraph, the best of which came from the
Mutual Film Corporation at $10,000 a week.[94]
Mutual
By 1916, Chaplin was a global phenomenon. Here he shows off
some of his merchandise, c. 1918
A contract was negotiated with Mutual that amounted to $670,000 a
year, which Robinson says made Chaplin – at 26 years old – one of the
highest paid people in the world.[95]
The high salary shocked the public and was widely reported in the press.[96]
John R. Freuler, the studio President, explained, "We can afford to pay
Mr Chaplin this large sum annually because the public wants Chaplin and
will pay for him."[97]
Mutual gave Chaplin his own Los Angeles studio to work in, which
opened in March 1916.[98]
He added two key members to his stock company,
Albert Austin and
Eric Campbell,[99]
and embarked on a series of elaborate productions:
The Floorwalker,
The Fireman,
The Vagabond,
One A.M. and
The Count.[100]
For
The Pawnshop he recruited the actor
Henry Bergman, who was to work with Chaplin for 30 years.[101]
Behind the Screen and
The Rink finished off Chaplin's releases for 1916. The Mutual
contract stipulated that Chaplin release a
two-reel film every four weeks, which he had managed to meet. With
the new year, however, Chaplin began to demand more time.[102]
He made only four more films for Mutual over the next ten months of
1917:
Easy Street,
The Cure,
The Immigrant and
The Adventurer.[103]
With their careful construction – and in the case of Easy Street
and The Immigrant, their social commentary – these films are
considered by Chaplin scholars to be among his finest work.[104][105]
Later in life, Chaplin referred to his Mutual years as "the happiest
period of my career".[106]
Chaplin was the subject of a backlash in the British media for not
fighting in
World War I.[107]
He defended himself, revealing that he had registered for the draft but
was not asked to fight.[108]
Despite this campaign Chaplin was a favourite with the troops,[109]
and his popularity continued to grow worldwide. The name of Charlie
Chaplin was said to be "a part of the common language of almost every
country", and according to
Harper's Weekly his "little, baggy-trousered figure" was
"universally familiar".[110]
In 1917, Chaplin imitators were widespread enough for the star to take
legal action,[111]
and it was reported that nine out of ten men attended costume parties
dressed as the Tramp.[112]
The same year, a study by the
Boston Society for Psychical Research concluded that Chaplin was "an
American obsession."[112]
The actress
Minnie Maddern Fiske wrote in Harper's Weekly that "a
constantly increasing body of cultured, artistic people are beginning to
regard the young English buffoon, Charles Chaplin, as an extraordinary
artist, as well as a comic genius."[110]
First National (1918–1922)
A Dog's Life (1918). It was around this time that
Chaplin began to conceive the Tramp as "a sort of
Pierrot", or sad clown.
Mutual were patient with Chaplin's decreased rate of output, and the
contract ended amicably. The star's primary concern in finding a new
distributor was independence; Sydney Chaplin, then his business manager,
told the press, "Charlie [must] be allowed all the time he needs and all
the money for producing [films] the way he wants ... It is quality, not
quantity, we are after."[113]
In June 1917, Chaplin signed to complete eight films for
First National Exhibitors' Circuit in return for $1 million.[114]
He chose to build a new studio, situated on five acres of land off
Sunset Boulevard, with production facilities of the highest order.[115]
It was completed in January 1918,[116]
and Chaplin was given freedom over the making of his pictures.[117]
A Dog's Life, released April 1918, was the first film under the
new contract. Chaplin paid yet more concern to story construction, and
began treating the Tramp as "a sort of
Pierrot."[118]
The film was described by
Louis Delluc as "cinema's first total work of art."[119]
Chaplin cast his friend
Granville Redmond, a landscape painter who was deaf and mute, in a
bit part in the film.[120]
Chaplin then embarked on the
Third Liberty Bond campaign, touring the United States for one month
to raise money for the Allies of World War I.[121]
He also produced a short
propaganda film, donated to the government for fund-raising, called
The
Bond.[122]
Chaplin's next release was war-based, placing the Tramp in the trenches
for
Shoulder Arms. Associates warned him against making a comedy
about the war, but he recalled, "Dangerous or not, the idea excited me."[123]
It took four months to produce, eventually being released in October
1918, 45 minutes in length, and was highly successful.[124]
Mildred Harris, founding United Artists, and The Kid
In September 1918, Chaplin married the 17-year-old actress
Mildred Harris. It was a hushed affair conducted at a registry
office; Harris had revealed that she was pregnant, and the star was
eager to avoid controversy.[125]
Soon after, this pregnancy was found to be a false alarm.[126]
Chaplin's unhappiness with the union was matched by his dissatisfaction
with First National.[127]
After the release of Shoulder Arms, he requested more money from
the company, which was refused. Frustrated with their lack of concern
for quality and worried about rumours of a possible merger between the
company and
Famous Players-Lasky,[128]
Chaplin joined forces with
Douglas Fairbanks,
Mary Pickford, and
D. W. Griffith to form a new distribution company –
United Artists, established in January 1919.[129]
The "revolutionary" arrangement gave the four partners complete control
over their pictures, which they were to fund personally.[130]
Chaplin was eager to start with the new company, and offered to buy out
his contract with First National. They declined this, and insisted that
he complete the final six films he owed them.[131]
The Kid (1921), with
Jackie Coogan, combined comedy with drama and was
Chaplin's first film to exceed an hour.
Chaplin felt that marriage stunted his creativity, and he struggled
over the production of his next film,
Sunnyside.[132]
Harris was pregnant during this period, and on 7 July 1919, she gave
birth to a boy. Norman Spencer Chaplin was born malformed, and died
three days later.[133]
The event seems to have influenced Chaplin's work, as he planned a film
which turned the Tramp into the caretaker of a young boy.[134]
For this new venture, Chaplin also wished to "do something more" than
comedy and, according to Louvish, "make his mark on a changed world."[135]
Filming on
The Kid began in August 1919, with four-year-old
Jackie Coogan his co-star.[136]
It soon occurred to Chaplin that it was turning into a large project, so
to placate First National, he halted production and quickly filmed
A Day's Pleasure. Both it and Sunnyside were considered a
disappointment by viewers.[137]
The Kid was in production until May 1920.[138]
Shortly before this, Chaplin and his wife had separated after 18 months
of marriage – they were "irreconcilably mismated", he remembered.[139]
Chaplin became fearful that Harris would claim The Kid as part of
the divorce proceedings, so he packed the 400,000-foot negative into
crates and travelled to Salt Lake City to cut the film in a hotel room.[140]
At 68 minutes, it was his longest picture to date. Dealing with issues
of poverty and parent–child separation, The Kid is thought to be
influenced by Chaplin's own childhood[117]
and was the first film to combine comedy and drama.[141]
It was released in January 1921 to instant success, and by 1924 had been
screened in over 50 countries.[142]
Chaplin spent five months on his next film, the two-reeler
The Idle Class.[130]
Following its September 1921 release, Chaplin chose to return to England
for the first time in almost a decade. Robinson writes, "The scenes that
awaited him in London were astonishing. His homecoming was a triumph
hardly paralleled in the twentieth century".[143]
Chaplin was away for five weeks, and later wrote a book about the trip.[144]
He subsequently worked to fulfil his First National contract, and
released
Pay Day, his final two-reeler, in February 1922.
The Pilgrim was delayed by distribution disagreements with the
studio, and released a year later.[145]
Silent features (1923–1938)
A Woman of Paris and The Gold Rush
Having satisfied his First National contract, Chaplin was free to
make his first picture as an independent producer. In November 1922 he
began filming
A Woman of Paris, a romantic drama about ill-fated lovers.[146]
Chaplin intended it to be a star-making vehicle for Edna Purviance,[147]
and did not appear in the picture himself other than in a brief,
uncredited cameo.[148]
He wished for the film to have a realistic feel, and directed his cast
to give restrained performances. In real life, he explained, "men and
women try to hide their emotions rather than seek to express them".[149]
Filming took seven months, followed by three months of editing the large
negative.[150]
A Woman of Paris premiered in September 1923 and was acclaimed
for its revolutionarily subtle approach.[151]
The public, however, seemed to have little interest in a Chaplin film
without Chaplin, and it was a box-office disappointment.[152]
The filmmaker was hurt by this failure – he had long wanted to produce a
dramatic film and was proud of the result – and withdrew A Woman of
Paris from circulation as soon as he could.[153]
During production of the film, Chaplin had been involved with the
actress
Pola Negri, a romantic pairing that received vast media interest. In
January 1923, the pair announced their engagement; by July they had
separated, leading to speculation that the relationship was a publicity
stunt.[154]
The Tramp resorts to eating his boot in a famous scene from
The Gold Rush (1925)
Chaplin returned to comedy for his next film. Setting high standards,
he told himself, "This next film must be an epic! The Greatest!"[155]
Inspired by a photograph of the 1898
Klondike Gold Rush, and later the story of the
Donner Party, he made "an epic comedy out of grim subject matter."[156]
In
The Gold Rush, the Tramp is a lonely
prospector fighting adversity and looking for love amid the historic
event. With
Georgia Hale his new leading lady, Chaplin began filming the picture
in February 1924.[157]
It was an elaborate production that included
location shooting in the
Truckee mountains with 600 extras, extravagant sets, and
special effects.[158]
The last scene was not shot until May 1925, after 15 months. At a cost
of almost $1 million,[159]
Chaplin felt it was the best film he had made to that point.[160]
The Gold Rush opened in August 1925 and became one of the
highest-grossing films of the silent era with a profit of $5 million.[161]
It contains some of Chaplin's most famous gags, such as the Tramp eating
his shoe and the "Dance of the Rolls",[162]
and critic Geoffrey Macnab has called it "the quintessential Chaplin
film."[163]
Chaplin later said it was the film he would most like to be remembered
for.[163]
Lita Grey
and The Circus
While making The Gold Rush, Chaplin married for the second
time. Mirroring the circumstances of his first union,
Lita
Grey was a teenage actress – originally set to star in The Gold
Rush – whose surprise announcement of pregnancy forced Chaplin into
marriage. She was 16 and he was 35, meaning Chaplin could have been
charged with
statutory rape under California law.[164]
He therefore arranged a discreet marriage in Mexico on 24 November 1924.[165]
When their son,
Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr, was born on 5 May 1925, Chaplin sent
Grey and the child into hiding: it was seen as too close to their
wedding, so a fake birth announcement was made to the press at the end
of June.[166]
Lita Grey, Chaplin's second wife, in 1925. Their unhappy
marriage and bitter divorce was a great strain for the star.
Chaplin was markedly unhappy with the marriage, and spent long hours
at the studio to avoid seeing his wife.[167]
Soon after The Gold Rush's release he was at work on a new film,
The Circus.[168]
Chaplin built a story around the idea of walking a tightrope while
besieged by monkeys, which became the film's "climactic incident," and
turned The Tramp into the accidental star of a circus.[169]
David Robinson notes that the film provided "a welcome distraction" from
the "wretchedness" of his home life; Grey was pregnant for a second
time, frustrating Chaplin and exacerbating difficulties between the
pair. Their second son,
Sydney Earle Chaplin, was born on 30 March 1926.[170]
Filming on The Circus was continuing steadily when a fire broke
out on 28 September, destroying the set. Although the studio was quickly
brought back into operation, it marked the beginning of severe
difficulties for Chaplin.[171]
In November, Grey took their children and left the family home.
Unwilling to allow his film to be drawn into the divorce proceedings,
Chaplin announced that production on The Circus had been
temporarily suspended.[172]
Grey's lawyers issued their bill of divorce on 10 January 1927.[173]
Louvish and Robinson believe the document, which ran to an exceptional
52 pages, was designed to ruin Chaplin's public image: allegations of
infidelity and abuse were bolstered with descriptions of his "abnormal,
unnatural, perverted and degenerate sexual desires."[174][note
10] Chaplin was reported to be in the state of a nervous
breakdown, as the story became headline news and pirated copies of the
document were read by the public.[176]
Eager to end the case without further scandal, Chaplin's lawyers agreed
to a cash settlement of $600,000 – the largest awarded by American
courts at that time.[177]
Groups formed across America calling for his films to be banned, but the
star's fanbase was strong enough to survive the scandal and he was
heartened by declarations of support.[178]
Production on The Circus resumed, and the film was completed
in October 1927.[179]
It was released the following January to a positive reception.[180]
At the
1st Academy Awards, Chaplin was given a special award "For
versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing
The Circus."[181]
The Lita Grey affair was soon forgotten,[182]
but Chaplin was deeply affected by it; the stress of the ordeal turned
his hair white,[183]
and both his second wife and The Circus received only a passing
mention in his autobiography. He permanently associated the film with
this stress and misery, and struggled to work on it in his later years.[184]
City Lights
"I was determined to continue making silent films ... I was
a pantomimist and in that medium I was unique and, without
false modesty, a master." [185]
—Chaplin explaining his defiance against
sound in the 1930s
By the time The Circus was released, Hollywood had witnessed
the introduction of
sound films. Chaplin was cynical about this new medium and the
technical shortcomings it presented, believing that "talkies" lacked the
artistry of silent films.[186]
He was also hesitant to change the formula that had brought him such
success,[187]
and feared that giving the Tramp a voice would limit his international
appeal.[188]
He therefore rejected the new Hollywood craze and proceeded to develop a
silent film. Chaplin was nonetheless anxious about this decision, and
would remain so throughout its production.[188]
City Lights (1931), regarded as one of Chaplin's
finest works
When filming began at the end of 1928, Chaplin had been working on
the story for almost a year.[189]
City Lights followed the Tramp's love for a blind flower girl
and his efforts to raise money for her sight-saving operation. It was a
challenging production that lasted 21 months,[190]
with Chaplin later confessing that he "had worked himself into a
neurotic state of wanting perfection".[191]
One advantage Chaplin found in sound technology was the ability to
record a musical score for the film;[191]
he also took the opportunity to mock the talkies, opening City Lights
with a squeaky, unintelligible speech that "burlesqued the metallic
tones of early talky voices".[192]
Chaplin finished editing the picture in December 1930, by which time
silent films were an anachronism.[193]
The surprise preview showing in Los Angeles was not a success, and
Chaplin left the movie theatre "with a feeling of two years' work and
two million dollars having gone down the drain."[194]
A showing for the press, however, produced positive reviews. One
journalist wrote, "Nobody in the world but Charlie Chaplin could have
done it. He is the only person that has that peculiar something called
'audience appeal' in sufficient quality to defy the popular penchant for
movies that talk."[195]
Given its general release in January 1931, City Lights proved to
be a popular and financial success – eventually grossing over $3
million.[196]
It is often referred to as Chaplin's finest accomplishment, and film
critic
James Agee believed the closing scene to be "the greatest piece of
acting and the highest moment in movies".[197][198]
Travels, Paulette Goddard, and Modern Times
City Lights had been a success, but Chaplin was unsure if he
could make another picture without dialogue. He remained convinced that
sound would not work in his films, but was also "obsessed by a
depressing fear of being old-fashioned."[199]
In this state of uncertainty, Chaplin decided to attend the London
premiere of City Lights in February 1931.[200]
He planned to give himself a brief European holiday, but ended up away
from the United States for 16 months.[201]
He spent months travelling Western Europe, including extended stays in
France and Switzerland, and spontaneously decided to visit Japan.[202]
Chaplin returned to Los Angeles in June 1932.[203]
"I was confused and without plan, restless and conscious of an extreme
loneliness," he remembered. The option of retiring and moving to China
was briefly considered.[204]
Modern Times (1936), described by Jérôme Larcher as
a "grim contemplation on the automatization of the
individual" [205]
Chaplin's loneliness was relieved when he met
Paulette Goddard, a 21-year-old actress, in July 1932. Their
relationship brought him much happiness,[206]
and Chaplin intended to use her as his next leading lady.[207]
He was not ready to commit to a film, however, and busied himself with
writing a 50,000 word serial of his travels.[208]
The trip had been a stimulating experience for Chaplin, including
meetings with several prominent thinkers, and he became increasingly
interested in world affairs.[209]
The state of labour in America was troubling to Chaplin; he told an
interviewer, "Something is wrong. Things have been badly managed when
five million men are out of work in the richest country in the world."[210]
He felt that capitalism and machinery in the workplace would lead to
more unemployment, and professed support for
Roosevelt's
New
Deal. It was these concerns that stimulated Chaplin to develop his
new film.[211]
Modern Times was announced by Chaplin as "a satire on certain
phases of our industrial life."[212]
Featuring the Tramp and Goddard as endurers of the
Great Depression, it took ten and a half months to film.[213]
Chaplin prepared to use spoken dialogue, but upon rehearsal changed his
mind. Like its predecessor, Modern Times employed sound effects
but almost no speaking.[214]
Chaplin's performance of a gibberish song did, however, give the Tramp a
voice for the only time on film.[215]
After recording the music, Chaplin released Modern Times in
February 1936.[216]
Charles J. Maland notes that it was his first feature in 15 years to
adopt political references and social realism.[217]
The film received considerable press coverage for this reason, although
Chaplin tried to downplay the issue.[218]
It earned less at the box-office than his previous features and received
mixed reviews; some viewers were displeased with Chaplin's politicising.[219]
Today, the film is seen by the
British Film Institute as one of Chaplin's "great features,"[197]
while David Robinson says it shows the star at "his unrivalled peak as a
creator of visual comedy."[220]
Following the release of Modern Times, Chaplin left with
Goddard for another trip to the Far East.[221]
The couple had refused to comment on the nature of their relationship,
and it was not known whether they were married or not.[222]
Some time later, Chaplin revealed that they married in
Canton during this trip.[223][note
11] By 1938 the couple had drifted apart, as both focused
heavily on their work. Chaplin later wrote, "Although we were somewhat
estranged we were friends and still married."[225]
Goddard eventually divorced Chaplin in Mexico in 1942, citing
incompatibility and separation for more than a year.[226]
Fading popularity (1939–1952)
The Great
Dictator
The 1940s saw Chaplin face a series of controversies, both in his
work and his personal life, which changed his fortunes and severely
affected his popularity in America. The first of these was a new
boldness in expressing his political beliefs. Deeply disturbed by the
surge of militaristic nationalism in 1930s world politics,[227]
Chaplin found that he could not keep these issues out of his work: "How
could I throw myself into feminine whimsy or think of romance or the
problems of love when madness was being stirred up by a hideous
grotesque,
Adolf Hitler?"[228]
He chose to make
The Great Dictator – a "satirical attack on fascism" and his
"most overtly political film".[229]
There were strong parallels between Chaplin and the German dictator,
having been born four days apart and raised in similar circumstances. It
was widely noted that Hitler wore the same
toothbrush moustache as the Tramp, and it was this physical
resemblance that formed the basis of Chaplin's story.[230]
Chaplin spent two years developing the script,[231]
and began filming in September 1939.[232]
He had submitted to using spoken dialogue, partly out of acceptance that
he had no other choice but also because he recognised it as a better
method for delivering a political message.[233]
Making a comedy about Hitler was seen as highly controversial, but
Chaplin's financial independence allowed him to take the risk.[234]
"I was determined to go ahead," he later wrote, "for Hitler must be
laughed at."[235][note
12] Chaplin replaced the Tramp (while wearing similar attire)
with "A Jewish Barber", a reference to the Nazi party's belief that the
star was a Jew.[note
13] In a dual performance he also plays the dictator "Adenoid
Hynkel", a parody of Hitler which Maland sees as revealing the
"megalomania, narcissism, compulsion to dominate, and disregard for
human life" of the German dictator.[237]
The Great Dictator spent a year in production, and was
released in October 1940.[238]
There was a vast amount of publicity around the film, with a critic for
the New York Times calling it "the most eagerly awaited picture
of the year", and it was one of the biggest money-makers of the era.[239]
The response from critics was less enthusiastic. Although most agreed
that it was a brave and worthy film, many considered the ending
inappropriate.[240]
Chaplin concluded the film with a six-minute[241]
speech in which he looked straight at the camera and professed his
personal beliefs.[242]
The monologue drew significant debate for its overt preaching and
continues to attract attention to this day.[243]
Maland has identified it as triggering Chaplin's decline in popularity,
and writes, "Henceforth, no movie fan would ever be able to separate the
dimension of politics from the star image of Charles Spencer Chaplin."[244]
The Great Dictator received five Academy Award nominations,
including
Best Picture,
Best Original Screenplay and
Best Actor.[245]
Paternity suit and Oona O'Neill
The years following the commercial success of The Great Dictator
were a challenging time for Chaplin, whose legal troubles stemming from
an affair with an aspirant actress named
Joan Barry took up most of his time and generated a large amount of
negative publicity.[246]
Chaplin met Barry in May 1941, and gave her a contract with his studio.[247]
The contract was cancelled after a year, and it is thought that Chaplin
ended the affair around this time.[248]
Barry soon began displaying erratic behaviour; in December 1942, she
broke into Chaplin's home with a handgun and threatened suicide while
holding him at gunpoint.[note
14] She left Beverly Hills after being arrested for
vagrancy in January 1943,[note
15] but in May she returned, again going to Chaplin's house
uninvited. Barry announced that she was pregnant and believed Chaplin to
be the father. Chaplin denied this and had her arrested.[247]
In June, Barry filed a
paternity suit against Chaplin and told the press about the affair.
The story exploded, and Chaplin went into hiding to avoid reporters.[250]
Chaplin and Barry decided to wait until Barry's child was born before
proceeding with the paternity suit, so that blood tests could be used to
determine whether he could potentially be the father.[251]
However, soon after Barry had first filed the suit, the federal
authorities became interested in the case.[252]
In February 1944, Chaplin was named in four
indictments, three of them for allegedly interfering with Barry's
arrest and sentence, and one for allegedly violating the
Mann
Act, which prohibits the transportation of women across state lines
for sexual purposes.[note
16] If he was found guilty, Chaplin faced 23 years in jail.[255]
The first three charges never proceeded to trial due to lack of
evidence, but the Mann Act trial began on 21 March 1944, and ended in
Chaplin's acquittal on 4 April.[253]
The case was frequently headline news, with
Newsweek calling it the "biggest public relations scandal since
the
Fatty Arbuckle murder trial in 1921."[256]
Chaplin and his fourth wife
Oona O'Neill (centre) were married from 1943 until his
death and had eight children (six of which are shown here).
Their marriage caused a scandal due to their 36-year age
difference. Photograph from 1961.
Although Chaplin was cleared of federal charges, the paternity suit
needed to be settled. Analysis of the
blood groups of Barry, Chaplin and the baby, Carol Ann (b. 2 October
1943), had determined that Chaplin could not be the biological father.[note
17] Nevertheless, Barry wanted a trial, which began on 19
December 1944.[257]
The first trial ended in the jury being locked slightly in favour of
Chaplin.[257]
Barry's lawyer demanded a re-trial with a new jury, which began on 12
April 1945.[257]
The use of blood tests as evidence was prohibited in the second trial,
and on 17 April the jury declared Chaplin to be the father. He was
ordered to pay $75 weekly in child support until Carol Ann turned 21,
and was denied a new trial.[257]
Media coverage of the paternity suit showed no sympathy towards Chaplin,
instead portraying him in an overwhelmingly critical light.[note
18]
The controversy surrounding Chaplin had heightened when, two weeks
after the paternity suit was filed, it was announced that he had married
his newest
protégée, 18-year-old
Oona O'Neill.[260]
Chaplin, then 54, had been introduced to Oona by a film agent seven
months earlier.[261]
In his autobiography, Chaplin described their meeting as "the happiest
event of my life", and claimed to have found "perfect love".[262]
Chaplin's son, Charles Jr., reported that Oona "worshipped" his father.[263]
Chaplin and O'Neill remained married until his death, and had eight
children over 18 years:
Geraldine Leigh (b. July 1944),
Michael John (b. March 1946),
Josephine Hannah (b. March 1949),
Victoria (b. May 1951),
Eugene Anthony (b. August 1953), Jane Cecil (b. May 1957), Annette
Emily (b. December 1959), and
Christopher James (b. July 1962).[264]
Monsieur Verdoux and political problems
Monsieur Verdoux (1947), a dark comedy about a
serial killer, marked a significant departure for Chaplin.
He was so unpopular at the time of release that it flopped
in the United States.
Chaplin claimed that the Barry trials "crippled [his] creativeness".[265]
In April 1946, he finally began filming a project that had been in
development since 1942.[266]
Monsieur Verdoux was a
black comedy, the story of a French bank clerk, Verdoux (Chaplin),
who loses his job and begins marrying and murdering wealthy widows to
support his family. Chaplin's inspiration for the project came from
Orson Welles, who wanted him to star in a film about the French
serial killer
Henri Désiré Landru. Chaplin decided that the concept would "make a
wonderful comedy",[267]
and paid Welles $5,000 for the idea.[268]
Chaplin again vocalised his political views in Monsieur Verdoux,
criticising capitalism and arguing that the world encourages mass
killing through wars and weapons of mass-destruction,[269]
and the film met with controversy when it was released in April 1947.[270]
Chaplin was booed at the premiere, and there were calls for people to
boycott the film.[271]
Critical reception was largely negative, and due to poor box-office
results, United Artists was forced to withdraw it from circulation in
May to devise a new marketing campaign.[272]
The second release of the film in September was no more successful; it
became the first Chaplin film that was both a critical and commercial
flop in the United States, and it was United Artists' "biggest
disappointment of 1947".[273]
It was more successful abroad,[273]
and Chaplin's screenplay was nominated at the Academy Awards.[274]
Chaplin himself was proud of the film, writing in his autobiography, "Monsieur
Verdoux is the cleverest and most brilliant film I have yet made."[275]
The negative reaction to Monsieur Verdoux was largely the
result of changes to Chaplin's public image. As Jérôme Larcher writes,
"The popular image of the clown who induces laughter and tears ... [was]
superseded by a public image that was considered dangerously progressive
and amoral."[276]
During
World War II, Chaplin had campaigned for the opening of a Second
Front to help the Soviets and supported various Soviet–American
friendship groups.[277]
He socialised with several individuals linked with
communism, such as
Hanns Eisler and
Bertolt Brecht, and he attended functions given by Soviet diplomats
in Los Angeles.[278]
Question was also raised over Chaplin's failure to take American
citizenship.[279][note
19] In early 1947, an
FBI investigation was opened on Chaplin under the premise that he
was a potential threat to national security.[note
20]
Chaplin denied being a communist,[283]
but felt the government's effort to suppress the ideology was an
unacceptable infringement of
civil liberties.[284]
Unwilling to be quiet about the issue, he openly protested the trials of
Communist Party members and the activities of the
House Un-American Activities Committee.[285]
Chaplin received a
subpoena to appear before HUAC, but was not called to testify.[286]
His activities were not only widely reported in the press, but were
mentioned by the
United States Congress. Calls were made for him to be deported, with
Representative
John E. Rankin of Mississippi telling the House in June 1947:
"[Chaplin] has refused to become an American citizen. His very
life in Hollywood is detrimental to the moral fabric of America.
[If he is deported] ... his loathsome pictures can be kept from
before the eyes of the American youth. He should be deported and
gotten rid of at once." [280]
Limelight
and exile
Limelight (1952) was Chaplin's most serious and
autobiographical film. His character, Calvero, is an ex- music
hall star (described in this image as a "Tramp
Comedian") forced to deal with his loss of popularity.
Although Chaplin remained politically active for two years following
the failure of Monsieur Verdoux,[note
21] his next project, a novel about a forgotten vaudeville
comedian and a young ballet dancer in the London of his boyhood, was
devoid of political themes.[288]
It was never intended for publication, but formed the basis for his next
film,
Limelight, which he, according to his son Charles Jr., intended
to be his last before retirement.[289]
Limelight was a heavily autobiographical film for Chaplin,
alluding not only to his childhood and the lives of his parents, but
also to his loss of popularity in the United States.[290]
The cast included various members of his family, including his five
oldest children and his half-brother, Wheeler Dryden.[289]
Filming began in November 1951, by which time Chaplin had spent three
years working on the story.[291]
He aimed for a more serious tone than any of his previous films;[292]
Simon Louvish has claimed, "From the opening sequence, in which Calvero
staggers home, drunk ... we are made aware with absolute clarity that
this film is not a comedy."[293]
Limelight is also notable for the cameo appearance of
Buster Keaton, who Chaplin cast as his stage partner in a pantomime
scene. This marked the only time "the two greatest comedians of silent
pictures" appeared in a feature film together.[294]
Chaplin decided to hold the world premiere of Limelight in
London, since it was the setting of the film.[295]
As he left Los Angeles, Chaplin expressed a premonition that he would
not be returning.[296]
At New York, he boarded the
RMS Queen Elizabeth with his family on 18 September 1952.[297]
The next day,
Attorney General
James P. McGranery revoked Chaplin's
re-entry permit and stated that he would have to submit to an
interview concerning his political views and moral behaviour in order to
re-enter the US.[297]
Although McGranery told the press that he had "a pretty good case
against Chaplin", on the basis of Chaplin's FBI files that were released
in the 1980s, Maland has concluded that the US government had no real
evidence to prevent Chaplin's re-entry, and that it is likely that he
would have gained entry if he had applied for it.[298]
When the star received a cablegram informing him of the news, however,
he privately decided to cut his ties with the United States:
"Whether I re-entered that unhappy country or not was of little
consequence to me. I would like to have told them that the
sooner I was rid of that hate-beleaguered atmosphere the better,
that I was fed up of America's insults and moral pomposity" [299]
Because all of his property remained in America, Chaplin refrained
from saying anything negative about the incident to the press.[300]
The scandal attracted vast attention,[301]
but Chaplin and his film were warmly received in Europe.[note
22] In America the hostility towards him continued, and,
although it received some positive reviews, Limelight was subject
to a large boycott.[302][note
23] One critic who praised the film and lent Chaplin his
support was
Bosley Crowther, who wrote: "The main thing that comes through in
the film [is] the appreciation of the courage and gallantry of an ageing
man ...Limelight is a very moving film."[304]
European years (1953–1977)
Move to Switzerland and A King in New York
Chaplin did not attempt to return to the United States after his
re-entry permit was revoked, and instead sent his wife to collect his
fortune.[note
24] The couple decided to settle in Switzerland, and in
January 1953 the family moved into their permanent home:
Manoir de Ban, a 37-acre estate overlooking
Lake Geneva in
Corsier-sur-Vevey.[306][note
25] Chaplin put his Beverly Hills house and studio up for sale
in March, and surrendered his re-entry permit in April.[308]
He released a statement saying, "Under these conditions [of
McCarthyite America] I find it virtually impossible to continue my
motion picture work, and I have therefore given up my residency in the
United States."[309]
The next year, Oona renounced her US citizenship and became a British
citizen.[310]
Chaplin severed the last of his professional ties with the United States
in 1955, when he sold the remainder of his stock in United Artists,
which had been in financial difficulty since the early 1940s.[311]
Chaplin with his children, Michael and
Geraldine, at the London premiere of his film, A King
in New York (1957)
Chaplin continued being a controversial figure throughout the 1950s,
especially as he was awarded the
International Peace Prize by the communist
World Peace Council and lunched with
Zhou Enlai in 1954, also briefly meeting
Nikita Khrushchev in 1956.[312]
He abandoned his plans for retirement, and began developing his first
European film,
A King in New York, in 1954.[313]
The film is a political satire which parodies HUAC and attacks elements
of 1950s culture – including consumerism, plastic surgery, wide-screen
cinema, and rock-and-roll music.[314]
Its protagonist is an exiled king, played by Chaplin, who seeks asylum
in New York. Chaplin included several of his real-life experiences in
the film, and cast his son, Michael, to play an intelligent boy whose
parents are targeted by the FBI. In a review, playwright
John Osborne called it Chaplin's "most bitter" and "most openly
personal" film.[315]
Chaplin founded a new production company, Attica, for the film and
rented a studio from
Shepperton Studios for the shooting.[313]
Filming in England proved a difficult experience, as he was used to his
own Hollywood studio and familiar crew, and no longer had limitless
production time.[316][note
26] According to Robinson, this had an effect on the quality
of the film.[318]
A King in New York was released in September 1957, and received
mixed reviews.[319]
Chaplin decided not to release the film in the United States, which
severely limited its revenue, but it achieved moderate commercial
success in Europe. He also banned American journalists from its Paris
premiere.[320]
A King in New York was not shown in America until 1973.[321]
Final works and renewed appreciation
In the last two decades of his career, Chaplin concentrated on
re-editing and scoring his old films for re-release, as well as securing
their ownership and distribution rights.[322]
In an interview he granted in 1959, the year of his 70th birthday,
Chaplin stated that there was still "room for the Little Man in the
atomic age".[323]
The first of these re-releases was
The Chaplin Revue (1959), which included new versions of A
Dog's Life, Shoulder Arms, and The Pilgrim.[323]
In the 1960s, the political atmosphere gradually began to change and
attention was once again directed to Chaplin's films instead of his
political views.[322]
In July 1962, he was invested with the
honorary degree of
Doctor of Letters by the universities of
Oxford and
Durham.[324]
In the same month,
The New York Times published an editorial stating that "we do
not believe the Republic would be in danger if yesterday's unforgotten
little tramp were allowed to amble down the gangplank of a steamer or
plane in an American port".[325]
The following year, in November 1963, the Plaza Theater in New York
started a year-long series of Chaplin's films, including Monsieur
Verdoux and Limelight, which gained excellent reviews from
American critics on their second release.[326]
September 1964 saw the release of Chaplin's memoirs,
My Autobiography, which he had been working on since 1957.[327]
The 500-page book, which focused on his early years and personal life,
became a worldwide best-seller, despite criticism over the lack of
information on his film career.[328]
Shortly after the publication of his memoirs, Chaplin began work on
A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), based on a script he had
written for Paulette Goddard in the 1930s, which was to be his last
completed film.[329]
Set on an ocean liner, it starred
Marlon Brando as an American ambassador and
Sophia Loren as a stowaway found in his cabin.[329]
Although the film had comic moments, Chaplin described it as primarily a
romantic film.[330]
Its production differed in several ways from his previous films, as he
concentrated on directing and appeared on-screen only in a cameo role as
a seasick steward.[331]
Instead of producing the film himself, Chaplin signed a deal with
Universal Pictures and appointed his assistant, Jerome Epstein, as
the producer.[332]
A Countess from Hong Kong premiered in January 1967, to largely
negative reviews.[333]
It was also a box-office failure.[334]
Robinson writes that the film probably failed because "in the year of
Bonnie and Clyde,
The Dirty Dozen,
The Graduate,
Weekend and
Belle de Jour, a gentle romantic comedy was an almost
incomprehensible anachronism."[335]
Chaplin was deeply hurt by the negative reaction to his film.[333]
Chaplin broke his ankle at the end of 1966, and had to give up his
formerly active lifestyle. He also had a series of minor strokes, which
marked the beginning of a slow decline in his health.[336]
Despite the setbacks, Chaplin was soon writing a new film script,
The
Freak, a story of a winged girl found in
South America, which he intended as a starring vehicle for his
daughter, Victoria Chaplin.[336]
His fragile health prevented the project from being realised.[337]
In the early 1970s, Chaplin instead concentrated on the re-releases of
his old films, such as The Kid and The Circus, and signed
a distribution deal with
Mo
Rothman.[338]
In 1971, he was made a
Commander of the national order of the Legion of Honour at the
Cannes Film Festival;[339]
the following year, he was honoured with a special award by the
Venice Film Festival.[340]
In 1972, the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences offered Chaplin an
Honorary Award, which Robinson sees as a sign that America "wanted
to make amends". He was initially hesitant about accepting, but decided
to return to the US for the first time in 20 years.[339]
The visit attracted a large amount of press coverage, and at the Academy
Awards gala, Chaplin was given a twelve-minute standing ovation, the
longest in the Academy's history.[341][342]
Visibly emotional, Chaplin accepted his award for "the incalculable
effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this
century".[343]
Although Chaplin still had plans for future film projects, by the
mid-1970s he was very frail.[344]
He experienced several strokes, which made it difficult for him to
communicate, and he had to use a wheelchair.[345][346]
His final projects were compiling a pictorial autobiography, My Life
in Pictures (1974) and re-scoring A Woman of Paris for
re-release in 1976.[347]
He also appeared in a documentary about his life, The Gentleman Tramp
(1975), directed by Richard Patterson.[348]
In 1975, two years before his death Chaplin was awarded a knighthood by
Queen
Elizabeth II.[347][note
27]
Chaplin's grave in Vevey, Switzerland
Death
By October 1977, Chaplin's health had declined to the point that he
needed constant care.[350]
In the early morning of 25 December 1977, Chaplin died at home after
suffering a stroke in his sleep.[346]
He was 88 years old. The funeral, on 27 December, was a small and
private
Anglican ceremony, according to his wishes. Chaplin was interred in
the Vevey cemetery.[350]
The film industry expressed their tributes upon news of his death;
director
René Clair wrote, "He was a monument of the cinema, of all countries
and all times ... the most beautiful gift the cinema made to us."[351]
Actor
Bob Hope declared, "We were lucky to have lived in his time."[352]
On 1 March 1978, Chaplin's coffin was dug up and stolen from its
grave by two unemployed immigrants, Roman Wardas, from Poland, and
Gantcho Ganev, from
Bulgaria. The body was held for
ransom
in an attempt to extort money from Oona Chaplin. After she refused to
pay, they threatened Chaplin's youngest children with violence. Ganev
and Wardas were caught in a large police operation in May, and Chaplin's
coffin was found buried in a field in the nearby village of
Noville. It was re-buried in the Vevey cemetery surrounded by
reinforced concrete.[353]
In December 1978, Wardas received a sentence of four and a half years'
imprisonment and Ganev a suspended sentence for disturbing the peace of
the dead and for the attempt of extortion.[354]
Filmmaking
Influences
Chaplin believed his first influence to be his mother, who would
entertain him as a child by sitting at the window and mimicking
passers-by. "She was one of the greatest pantomime artists I have ever
seen," he said, "it was through watching her that I learned not only how
to express emotions with my hands and face, but also how to observe and
study people."[355]
Chaplin's early years in
music hall allowed him to see stage comedians at work; he also
attended the Christmas pantomimes at
Drury Lane, where he studied the art of clowning.[356]
Chaplin's years with the
Fred Karno company had a formative effect on him as an actor and
filmmaker. Simon Louvish writes that the company was his "training
ground",[357]
and it was here that he learnt to vary the pace of his comedy, and not
depend on a hectic speed.[358]
The concept of mixing pathos with comedy was likely learnt from Karno,[note
28] who also used elements of absurdity that would become
familiar in Chaplin gags.[358][359]
From the film industry, Chaplin drew upon the work of French comedian
Max
Linder, whose films he greatly admired.[360]
In developing the Tramp costume and persona, he was likely inspired by
the American vaudeville scene, where tramp characters were common.[361]
Method
Chaplin never spoke more than cursorily about his filmmaking methods,
claiming such a thing would be tantamount to a magician spoiling his own
illusion.[362]
After his death, film historians
Kevin Brownlow and
David Gill examined out-takes from the Mutual films and presented
their findings in a three-part documentary
Unknown Chaplin (1983).[363][364]
Brownlow and Gill revealed that Chaplin developed a unique method of
filmmaking. Until he began making spoken dialogue films with The
Great Dictator (1940), he never shot from a completed script, but
instead usually started with only a vague premise – for example "Charlie
enters a health spa" or "Charlie works in a pawn shop."[363]
He then had sets constructed and worked with his stock company to
improvise gags and "business" around them, almost always working the
ideas out on film.[363]
As ideas were accepted and discarded, a narrative structure would
emerge, frequently requiring Chaplin to reshoot an already-completed
scene that might have otherwise contradicted the story.[363]
Due to the lack of a script, all of his silent films were usually shot
in sequence.[365]
"No other filmmaker ever so completely dominated every
aspect of the work, did every job. If he could have done so,
Chaplin would have played every role and (as his son Sydney
humorously but perceptively observed) sewn every costume." [362]
This is one reason why Chaplin took so much longer to complete his
films than most other filmmakers at the time. If he felt out of ideas on
what to do with the story, he would often take a break from the shoot
which could last for days, while keeping the studio ready for when he
felt inspired again.[366]
In addition, Chaplin was an incredibly exacting director, showing his
actors exactly how he wanted them to perform[367]
and shooting scores of takes until he had the shot he wanted.[368]
The ratio between shot footage and footage forming the final edited film
would often be high, for example 53 takes per finished take in The
Kid.[369]
This combination of story improvisation and relentless perfectionism –
which resulted in days of effort and thousands of feet of film being
wasted, all at enormous expense – often proved very taxing for Chaplin,
who in frustration would lash out at his actors and crew, keep them
waiting idly for hours or, in extreme cases, shutting down production
altogether.[114]
Due to his complete independence as a filmmaker, Chaplin has been
identified by
Andrew Sarris as one of the first
auteur filmmakers.[370]
However, he also often relied on help from his closest collaborators,
such as his long-time cinematographer
Roland Totheroh, brother
Sydney Chaplin, and various
assistant directors, such as
Harry Crocker and
Charles Reisner.[371]
Style and themes
Instead of a tightly unified storyline, Gerald Mast has seen
Chaplin's films as consisting of sketches tied together by the same
theme and setting.[372]
Although most of Chaplin's films are characterised as comedies, most of
them also employ strong elements of drama and even tragedy. Chaplin
could be inspired by tragic events when creating his films, as in the
case of The Gold Rush (1925), which was inspired by the fate of
the
Donner Party.[373]
Some scholars, such as Constance B. Kuriyama, have also identified more
serious underlying themes, such as greed (The Gold Rush) or loss
(The Kid), in Chaplin's comedies.[374]
"It is paradoxical that tragedy stimulates the spirit of
ridicule ... ridicule, I suppose, is an attitude of
defiance; we must laugh in the face of our helplessness
against the forces of nature – or go insane." [373]
—Chaplin on comedy and tragedy in The Gold Rush
Chaplin's silent films usually follow the Tramp's struggles to
survive in an often hostile world. According to David Robinson, unlike
in more conventional slapstick comedies, the comic moments in Chaplin's
films centred on the Tramp's attitude to the things happening to him:
the humour did not come from the Tramp bumping into a tree but from his
lifting of his hat to the tree in apology.[68]
Chaplin also diverged from conventional slapstick by slowing down his
pace and exhausting each scene of its comic potential, and focusing more
on developing the viewer's relationship to the characters.[68][375]
He also often employed inanimate objects in his films, often
transforming them into other objects in an almost surreal way, such as
in
The Pawnshop (1916) and
One A.M. (1916).[375]
Chaplin disliked unconventional camera angles and only used close-ups
to highlight an emotional scene, and usually preferred a static,
"stage-like" camera setting where the scenes were portrayed as if set on
a stage.[375][376]
To some scholars, such as Donald McCaffrey, this is an indication that
Chaplin never completely understood film as a medium,[377]
but Gerald Mast has argued that by deliberately adopting this approach,
Chaplin made "all consciousness of the cinematic medium disappear so
completely that we concentrate solely on the photographic subject rather
than the process".[375]
Both
Richard Schickel and Andrew Sarris have also written that many of
the gags in his silent films needed the "intimacy of the camera" to work
and could not have been performed on the stage to the same effect.[378][379]
Chaplin portrayed social outcasts and the poor in a sympathetic light
in his films from early on. His silent films usually centred on the
Tramp's plight in poverty and his run-ins with the law, but also
explored controversial topics, such as immigration (The
Immigrant, 1917), illegitimacy (The
Kid, 1921) and drug use (Easy
Street, 1917).[375]
Although this can be seen as social commentary, Chaplin's films did not
contain overt political themes or messages until later on his career in
the 1930s.
Modern Times (1936), which depicted factory workers in dismal
conditions, was the first of his films that was seen by critics to
contain an anti-capitalist message, although Chaplin denied the film
being in any way political. However, his next films,
The Great Dictator (1940), a parody on
Adolf Hitler and
Benito Mussolini that ended in a dramatic speech criticising the
blind following of patriotic nationalism, and
Monsieur Verdoux (1947), which criticised war and capitalism, as
well as his first European film
A King in New York (1957), which ridiculed the U.S.
House Un-American Activities Committee, were more clearly political
and caused controversy.
Partly due to Chaplin's complete control over the production of his
films,
Stephen M. Weissman has also seen them as containing
autobiographical elements. This was already noted by Chaplin's
contemporaries, such as
Sigmund Freud, who thought that Chaplin "always plays only himself
as he was in his dismal youth",[380]
and by some of his collaborators, such as actress
Claire Bloom, who starred in Limelight. For example
The Kid is thought to reflect Chaplin's own childhood trauma of
being sent into an orphanage and the main characters in
Limelight (1952) are thought to contain elements from the lives
of his parents.[380][381]
Many of his sets, especially in street scenes, bear a strong similarity
to
Kennington, where he grew up. Weissman has also argued that
Chaplin's problematic relationship to his mentally ill mother was often
reflected on the female characters in his films and the Tramp's desire
to save them.[380]
Music
Chaplin playing the cello in 1915. Chaplin played the
instrument left handed and with the usual order of the
strings reversed. [382]
Chaplin developed a passion for music as a child, and taught himself
to play the piano, violin, and cello.[383]
After achieving fame, he founded a short-lived music company, the
Charles Chaplin Music Corporation, through which he published some of
his own compositions.[384]
Chaplin considered the musical accompaniment of a film to be important,[180]
and from A Woman of Paris onwards, he took an increasing interest
in this area.[385][386]
With the advent of sound technology, Chaplin immediately adopted the use
of a synchronised soundtrack – composed by himself – for City Lights
(1931).[385][386]
He thereafter composed the score for all of his films, and from the late
1950s to his death, he re-scored all of his silent features and some of
his short films.[386]
As Chaplin was not a trained musician, he could not read sheet music
and needed the help of professional composers, such as
David Raksin,
Raymond Rasch and
Eric James, when creating his scores. Although some of Chaplin's
critics have claimed that credit for his film music should be given to
the composers who worked with him, Raksin – who worked with Chaplin on
Modern Times – has stressed Chaplin's creative position and
active participation in the composing process.[387]
This process, which could take months, would start with Chaplin
describing to the composer(s) exactly what he wanted and singing or
playing a tune he had come up with on the piano.[387]
These tunes were then developed further in a close collaboration between
the composer(s) and Chaplin.[387]
According to film historian Jeffrey Vance, "although he relied upon
associates to arrange varied and complex instrumentation, the musical
imperative is his, and not a note in a Chaplin musical score was placed
there without his assent."[386]
Chaplin's compositions produced two popular songs. "Smile",
composed originally for Modern Times (1936) and later set to
lyrics by
John Turner and
Geoffrey Parsons, was a hit for
Nat King Cole in 1954.[386]
"This
Is My Song", performed by
Petula Clark for
A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), reached #1 on the UK Charts.[388]
Chaplin also received his only competitive Oscar for his composition
work, receiving the
Academy Award for Best Original Score for Limelight (along
with Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell) in 1973.[386]
Legacy
Chaplin's legacy lies in both his influence as a filmmaker and in the
impact of the Tramp. In 1998 the film critic
Andrew Sarris called Chaplin "arguably the single most important
artist produced by the cinema, certainly its most extraordinary
performer and probably still its most universal icon".[389]
Described by the
British Film Institute as "a towering figure in world culture",[390]
he was included in
TIME magazine's list of the "100
Most Important People of the 20th Century" for the "laughter [he
brought] to millions" and because he "more or less invented global
recognizability and helped turn an industry into an art".[391]
In 2002, he was included in the
BBC's list of
the "100
Greatest Britons".[392]
The Tramp is considered one of the most iconic images in cinema;
Simon Louvish has noted that the character is recognisable to people who
have never seen a Chaplin film, and in places where his films are never
shown.[393]
Leonard Maltin has written of the "unique" and "indelible" nature of
the Tramp, and argued that no other comedian matched his "worldwide
impact".[394]
Richard Schickel believes that Chaplin's films with the Tramp
contain the most "eloquent, richly comedic expressions of the human
spirit" in movie history.[395]
Memorabilia connected to the character still fetches large sums in
auctions: in 2006 a bowler hat and a bamboo cane that Chaplin wore as
part of the costume were bought for $140,000 in a Los Angeles auction.[396]
As a filmmaker, Chaplin is considered a pioneer and one of the most
influential figures of the early twentieth century.[397]
He is often credited as one of the medium's first artists.[398]
Film historian
Mark Cousins has written that Chaplin "changed not only the imagery
of cinema, but also its sociology and grammar" and considers Chaplin to
have been as important to the development of comedy as a genre as
D.W. Griffith was to drama.[399]
He was the first to popularise feature-length comedy and to slow down
the pace of action, adding pathos and subtlety to it.[400][401]
Although his comedies are mostly classified as slapstick, Chaplin's only
drama film, A Woman of Paris (1923) was a major influence on
Ernst Lubitsch's film
The Marriage Circle (1924) and he therefore played a part in the
development of the "sophisticated comedy".[402]
According to David Robinson, Chaplin's innovations were "rapidly
assimilated to become part of the common practice of film craft."[403]
Filmmakers who cited Chaplin as an influence include
Federico Fellini (who called Chaplin "a sort of
Adam, from
whom we are all descended"),[352]
Jacques Tati ("Without him I would never have made a film"),[352]
René Clair ("He inspired practically every filmmaker"),[351]
Michael Powell,[404]
Billy Wilder,[405]
and
Richard Attenborough.[406]
Chaplin was similarly influential on future comedians.
Marcel Marceau said he was inspired to become a mime after watching
Chaplin,[401]
while the actor
Raj
Kapoor based his screen persona on the Tramp.[405]
Chaplin's comedic style has also been detected in the French character
Monsieur Hulot and the Italian character
Totò.[405]
In other fields, Chaplin helped inspire the cartoon characters
Felix the Cat[407]
and
Mickey Mouse,[408]
and was an influence on the
Dada art
movement.[409]
As one of the founding members of United Artists, Chaplin also had a
role in the development of the film industry. Gerald Mast has written
that although UA never became a major company like
MGM or
Paramount Pictures, the idea that filmmakers could produce their own
films was "years ahead of its time".[410]
In the 21st century, several of Chaplin's films are still regarded as
classics and among the greatest ever made. The 2012
Sight & Sound poll, which compiles "top ten" ballots from film
critics and directors to determine the most acclaimed films of all time,
saw City Lights rank among the top 50 with critics; Modern
Times was inside the top 100, and The Great Dictator and
The Gold Rush placed in the top 250.[411]
The top 100 films as voted on by directors included Modern Times
at number 22, City Lights at number 30, and The Gold Rush
at number 91.[412]
Every one of Chaplin's features received a vote.[413]
In 2007, the
American Film Institute named City Lights the 11th
greatest American film of all time, while The Gold Rush and
Modern Times again ranked in the top 100.[414]
Books about Chaplin continue to be published regularly, and he is a
popular subject for media scholars and film archivists.[415]
Commemoration and tributes
Several memorials have been dedicated to Chaplin. In his home city,
the
London Film Museum hosts a permanent exhibition on his life and
career called Charlie Chaplin – The Great Londoner, which opened
in 2010.[416]
A statue of Chaplin as the Tramp is located in
Leicester Square, sculpted by
John Doubleday and unveiled in 1981.[417]
The city also includes a road named after him, "Charlie Chaplin Walk" in
central London, which is the location of the
BFI IMAX.[418]
Chaplin's final home, Manoir de Ban in Switzerland, is in the process
of being converted into a museum exploring his life and career, to be
opened in 2015.[419]
The Swiss town of Vevey, where he spent the last 25 years of his life,
named a park in his honour in 1980 and erected a replica of the
Doubleday statue there in 1982.[417]
In 2011, two murals depicting Chaplin on two 14-storey buildings were
unveiled in Vevey.[420]
Chaplin has also been honoured by the Irish town of
Waterville, where he spent several summers with his family in the
1960s. A statue was erected in 1998,[421]
and since 2011 the town has been host to the annual Charlie Chaplin
Comedy Film Festival, which was founded to celebrate Chaplin's legacy
and to showcase new comic talent.[422]
Chaplin's 100th birthday anniversary in 1989 was celebrated with
several events around the world. On his birthday, 16 April, City
Lights was screened at a gala at the
Dominion Theatre in London, the site of its British premiere in
1931.[423]
In Hollywood, a screening of a restored version of How to Make Movies
was held at his former studio, and in Japan, he was honoured with a
musical tribute.[424]
Retrospectives of his work were presented that year at
The National Film Theatre in London,[424]
the
Munich Stadtmuseum[424]
and the
Museum of Modern Art in New York, which also dedicated a gallery
exhibition, Chaplin: A Centennial Celebration, to him.[425]
Chaplin has also been remembered in several other ways. A
minor planet,
3623 Chaplin, discovered by
Soviet astronomer
Lyudmila Karachkina in 1981, is named after him.[426]
Throughout the 1980s, the Tramp image was used by
IBM to
advertise their personal computers.[427]
Many countries have honoured Chaplin with a postal stamp, including the
United States, Argentina, and Rwanda.[428]
On 15 April 2011, a day before his 122nd birthday anniversary,
Google
celebrated Chaplin with a special
Google Doodle video on its global and other country-wide homepages.[429]
Chaplin's legacy is managed by Association Chaplin, a company founded
by some of his children, which owns the copyrights to his image, name
and most of his films made after 1918, as well as administers his
archives.[430]
The central archive is held at the
Cineteca di Bologna and includes "81181 images, 84 scripts, 695
manuscripts, 7451 letters and thousands of documents".[431]
The photographic archive, which includes approximately 10,000
photographs from his life and career, is kept at the
Musée de l'Elysée in
Lausanne,
Switzerland.[432]
The British Film Institute has also established the Charles Chaplin
Research Foundation, with the first international Charles Chaplin
Conference held in London in July 2005.[433]
Characterisations
Chaplin is the subject of a
biographical film,
Chaplin (1992, directed by
Richard Attenborough). It stars
Robert Downey, Jr., who was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Actor and won a
BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his performance.[434]
Chaplin is also a character in
The Cat's Meow (2001), played by
Eddie Izzard, and
The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980), played by
Clive Revill.[435]
A television series about Chaplin's childhood, Young Charlie Chaplin,
ran on PBS in
1989 and was nominated for an
Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program.[436]
Thomas Meehan and Christopher Curtis created a musical about
Chaplin,
Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin, first performed at the
La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in 2010.[437]
It was adapted for
Broadway in 2012, retitled Chaplin – A Musical.[438]
Chaplin was portrayed by Robert McClure in both. In 2013, a play about
Chaplin's life, Chaplin, by Finnish playwright Sven Sid,
premiered in the
Svenska Teatern in
Helsinki, Finland.[439]
It stars Kristofer Möller and Patrick Henriksen in the title role.[439]
Chaplin is also one of the central characters in
Glen David Gold's novel
Sunnyside, which is set in the
World War I period.[440]
Awards and
recognition
Chaplin received several awards and recognitions during his lifetime,
especially during his later career in the 1960s and the 1970s. In the
New Year Honours 1975 Chaplin was appointed as a
Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.[441][442]
Chaplin was also awarded honorary
Doctor of Letters degrees by the
University of Oxford and the
University of Durham in 1962.[324]
In 1965 he received a joint
Erasmus Prize with film director
Ingmar Bergman
[443] and in 1971 he was made a
Commander of the national order of the Legion of Honour at the
Cannes Film Festival in France.[444]
Chaplin's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6751
Hollywood Blvd. Although the project started in 1958,
Chaplin only received his star in 1970 because of his
political views.
Chaplin also received several special film awards. He was given a
special
Golden Lion at the
Venice Film Festival in 1972.[445]
When he briefly returned to the United States in 1972, the
Lincoln Center Film Society honoured him with a gala and awarded him
a lifetime achievement award, which has since been awarded annually to
filmmakers as The Chaplin Award.[446]
Chaplin was also given a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1970, after having been excluded due to
his political beliefs when the project was initially started in 1958.[447]
Chaplin also received three
Academy Awards, one competitive award for
Best Original Score, and two
Honorary Awards, and was nominated for three more:
-
1st Academy Awards (1929): Special Award "for versatility and
genius in acting, writing, directing and producing
The Circus". Chaplin had originally been nominated for
Best Production,
Best Director in a Comedy Picture,
Best Actor and
Best Writing (Original Story) for The Circus. However,
the Academy decided to withdraw his name from all the competitive
categories and instead give him a special award.[448]
-
13th Academy Awards (1941): Best Actor and Best Writing,
nominations, for
The Great Dictator. The film was also nominated for further
three awards.[449]
-
20th Academy Awards (1948): Best Screenplay, nomination, for
Monsieur Verdoux.
-
44th Academy Awards (1972): Honorary Award for "the incalculable
effect he [Chaplin] has had in making motion pictures the art form
of this century".
-
45th Academy Awards (1973): Best Original Score, win, for
Limelight. Although the film had originally been released in
1952, due to Chaplin's political difficulties at the time, it did
not play for one week in Los Angeles, and thus did not meet the
criterion for nomination until it was re-released in 1972.[450]
Six of Chaplin's films have been selected for preservation in the
National Film Registry: The Immigrant (1917), The Kid
(1921), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931),
Modern Times (1936), and The Great Dictator (1940).
Filmography
Directed features:
Notes and
references
- Notes
-
^ An MI5
investigation in 1952 was unable to find any record of Chaplin's
birth.[2]
Chaplin biographer David Robinson notes that it is not
surprising that his parents failed to register the birth: "It
was easy enough, particularly for music hall artists, constantly
moving (if they were lucky) from one town to another, to put off
and eventually forget this kind of formality; at that time the
penalties were not strict or efficiently enforced."[1]
In 2011 a letter sent to Chaplin in the 1970s came to light
which claimed that he had been born in a Gypsy caravan at
Black Patch Park in
Smethwick, Staffordshire. Chaplin's son
Michael has suggested that the information must have been
significant to his father in order for him to retain the letter.[3]
-
^ Sydney was born
when Hannah Chaplin was 19; his biological father cannot be
known for sure. Hannah Chaplin later told her sons that he was a
bookmaker named Hawkes, but this cannot be verified. Sydney's
birth certificate and baptismal records omit the name of the
father.[5]
-
^ Hannah became ill
in May 1896, and was admitted to hospital. Southwark Council
ruled that it was necessary to send the children to a workhouse
"owing to the absence of their father and the destitution and
illness of their mother".[13]
-
^ According to
Chaplin, Hannah had been booed off stage, and the manager chose
him – as he was standing in the wings – to go on as her
replacement. He remembered confidently entertaining the crowd,
and receiving laughter and applause.[26]
-
^ The Eight
Lancashire Lads were still touring until 1908; the exact time
Chaplin left the group is unverified, but based on research, A.
J. Marriot believes it was in December 1900.[29]
-
^ In the years
Chaplin was touring with the Eight Lancashire Lads, his mother
ensured that he still attended school.[33]
-
^ William Gillette
co-wrote the Sherlock Holmes play with
Arthur Conan Doyle, and had been starring in it since its
New York opening in 1899. He had come to London in 1905 to
appear in a new play, Clarice. Its reception was poor,
and Gillette decided to add an "after-piece" called The
Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes. This short play was
what Chaplin originally came to London to appear in. After three
nights, however, Gillette chose to close Clarice and
replace it with Sherlock Holmes. Chaplin had so pleased
Gillette with his performance in The Painful Predicament
that he was kept on as Billy for the full play.[39]
-
^ £3 10s was a
considerable amount in 1908. Using the
Retail Price Index, in 2012 this would be equivalent to a
salary of £285 a week. Based on average earnings at that time,
however, it held an "economic power" equivalent to £2,540.[50]
-
^ Robinson notes
that "this was not strictly true: the character was to take a
year or more to evolve its full dimensions and even then – which
was its particular strength – it would evolve during the whole
rest of his career."[67]
-
^ In her memoirs,
Lita Grey later claimed that many of her complaints were
"cleverly, shockingly enlarged upon or distorted" by her
lawyers.[175]
-
^ Chaplin first
confirmed their marital status in 1940, at the premiere of
The Great Dictator, when he referred to Goddard as "my
wife".[224]
-
^ Chaplin later said
that if he had known the extent of the Nazi Party's actions he
would not have made the film; "Had I known the actual horrors of
the German concentration camps, I could not have made The
Great Dictator; I could not have made fun of the homicidal
insanity of the Nazis."[231]
-
^ Speculation about
Chaplin's racial origin existed from the earliest days of his
fame, and it was often reported that he was a Jew. Research has
uncovered no evidence of this, however, and when a reporter
asked in 1915 if it was true, Chaplin responded, "I have not
that good fortune." The Nazi Party believed that he was Jewish,
and banned The Gold Rush on this basis. Chaplin responded
by playing a Jew in The Great Dictator and announced, "I
did this film for the Jews of the world." He thereafter refused
to deny claims that he was Jewish, saying, "Anyone who denies
this aspect of himself plays into the hands of the
anti-Semites."[236]
-
^ This lasted until
the next morning, when Chaplin was able to get the gun from her.
Barry broke into Chaplin's home a second time later that month.[249]
-
^ Barry had been
unable to pay her hotel bills, and was found wandering the
streets of Beverly Hills after taking overdose of
barbiturates. The judge awarded her a
suspended sentence, the terms of her probation being that
she must not return to Beverly Hills. Barry went to New York.[247]
-
^ According to the
prosecutor, Chaplin had violated the act when he paid for
Barry's trip to New York in October 1942, when he was also
himself visiting the city. Both Chaplin and Barry agreed that
they had met there briefly, and according to Barry, they had
sexual intercourse.[253]
Chaplin claimed that the last time he was intimate with Barry
was May 1942.[254]
-
^ Carol Ann's blood
group was B, Barry's A, and Chaplin's O.[257][258]
-
^ The prominent
gossip columnist
Hedda Hopper was particularly hostile towards Chaplin, which
significantly affected his popular support.[259]
-
^ When asked why he
had not taken American citizenship in May 1947, Chaplin
responded: "I am an internationalist, not a nationalist, and
that is why I do not take out citizenship."[280]
-
^ Chaplin had
already attracted the attention of the FBI long before the
1940s, the first mention of him in their files being from 1922.
J. Edgar Hoover first requested that a Security Index Card
be filed for Chaplin in September 1946, but the Los Angeles
office was slow to react and only began active investigation the
next spring.[281]
The FBI also requested and received help in its investigation
from MI5,
particularly on investigating the false claims that Chaplin had
not been born in England but in France or Eastern Europe, and
that his real name was Israel Thornstein.[282]
The MI5 found no evidence of Chaplin being involved in the
Communist Party.[282]
-
^ In November 1947,
Chaplin asked
Pablo Picasso to hold a demonstration outside the US embassy
in Paris to protest the deportation proceedings of Hanns Eisler,
and in December, he took part in a petition asking for the
deportation process to be dropped. In 1948, Chaplin supported
the unsuccessful presidential campaign of
Henry Wallace, and in 1949, he supported two peace
conferences as well as signed a petition protesting the
Peekskill incident.[287]
-
^ The London
premiere of Limelight, on 16 October 1952, was attended
by
Princess Margaret, and five days later, the Chaplins also
met
Queen Elizabeth II.[297]
Chaplin was similarly celebrated when he travelled to France and
Italy later that year.[297]
-
^ Started by
conservative voluntary organisations, the large campaign against
the film led to several theatre chains refusing to show it.[303]
-
^ Before leaving
America, Chaplin had ensured that Oona had access to his assets.[305]
-
^ Robinson
speculates that Switzerland was probably chosen because it "was
likely to be the most advantageous from a financial point of
view."[307]
-
^ A King in New
York was completed in 12 weeks (from 7 May to 28 July 1956),
the shortest filming time of any Chaplin feature.[317]
-
^ The honour had
already been proposed in 1931 and 1956, but was vetoed after a
Foreign Office report raised concerns over Chaplin's
political views and private life; it was felt that honouring him
would damage both the reputation of the
British honours system and relations with the United States.[349]
-
^ Stan Laurel,
Chaplin's co-performer at the company, remembered that Karno's
sketches regularly inserted "a bit of sentiment right in the
middle of a funny music hall turn."[358]
- References
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 10.
-
^
"MI5 files: Was Chaplin really a Frenchman and called
Thornstein?". The Telegraph. 17 February 2012.
Retrieved 11 April 2012.
-
^
"Charlie Chaplain was 'born into a Midland gipsy family'".
Express and Star. 18 February 2011.
Retrieved 17 February 2012.
-
^ Robinson, p. 4 for
marriage, p. 3. for Sydney's birth, p. 19 for Charles Chaplin
Sr.'s legal responsibility over Sydney.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 3.
-
^ Robinson, pp. 5–7.
-
^ Weissman (2009),
p. 10.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
9–10, 12.
-
^ Robinson, p. 13.
-
^ Robinson, p. 15.
-
^ Robinson, p. xv.
-
^ Robinson, p. 16.
-
^ Robinson, p. 19.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 29;
Robinson, p. 19 for factual details.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
24–26.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 10.
-
^ Weissman (2009),
pp. 49–50.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 33.
-
^ Chaplin, pp. 15,
33.
-
^ Robinson, p. 27.
-
^ Robinson, p. 36.
-
^ Robinson, p. 27
for remission, p. 40 for infirmary admission.
-
^ Weissman (2009),
p. 6; Chaplin, p. 71–72 for living alone, pp. 73–74 for Sydney's
return.
-
^ Robinson, p. 41.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 88;
Robinson, pp. 55–56 for factual details.
-
^ Robinson, p. 17;
Chaplin, p. 18.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 41.
-
^ Marriot, p. 4.
-
^ Marriot, p. 213.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 44.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 77.
-
^ Robinson, p. 39.
-
^ Louvish, p. 19.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 76.
-
^ Robinson. pp.
44–45.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
46–47; Louvish, p. 26; Marriot, pp. 42–44.
-
^ Robinson, p. 45
for being cast in the role; pp. 49–51 for tour; Marriot, p. 42
for "legendary impresario" quote.
-
^ Robinson, pp. 53,
58.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
59–60.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 89.
-
^ Marriot, p. 217.
-
^ Robinson, p. 63.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
63–64.
-
^ Marriot, p. 71.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
64–68; Chaplin, p. 94.
-
^ Robinson, p. 68;
Marriot, pp. 81–84.
-
^ Robinson, p. 71
for Karno's reputation: "Fred Karno's Speechless comedians,
though, were supreme of their kind". Marriot, p. 85, writes that
by 1908, Karno was "a promoter and showman of legendary
proportions."
-
^ Robinson, p. 76,
covers Sydney Chaplin's contract and success with Karno and
details of how he introduced Charlie to the company.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
76–77.
-
^
"Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount,
1270 to Present". Measuring Worth.
Retrieved 19 April 2012.
-
^ Marriot, p. 103
for minor roles; p. 109 for playing the lead in the sketch
The Football Match.
-
^ Marriot, pp.
126–128; Robinson, pp. 84–85.
-
^ Robinson, p. 88.
-
^ Robinson, p. 91
says Chaplin was the American company's "leading comedian"; p.
92 for reviews.
-
^ Robinson, p. 82,
writes that the Inebriate Swell (from the sketch Mumming
Birds) "was to establish his fame in America"; Brownlow, p.
98, writes that "Chaplin won fame at Karno playing drunks."
-
^ Robinson, p. 95.
-
^ Chaplin, pp.
133–134 for quotations, Robinson p. 96 for factual details.
-
^ Robinson, p. 102.
-
^ Chaplin, pp.
138–139.
-
^ Robinson, p. 103.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 139.
-
^ Robinson, p. 107.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 141.
-
^ Robinson, p. 108.
-
^ Robinson, p. 110.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 145.
-
^ Robinson, p. 114.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Robinson, p. 113.
-
^ Robinson, p. 120:
"Mabel swept aside Chaplin's suggestions, just as Lehrman and
Nichols had done." This refers to
Mabel Normand,
Henry Lehrman and
George Nichols, who directed Chaplin's early films.
-
^ Robinson, p. 121.
-
^ Robinson, p. 123.
-
^ Maland, p. 5.
Chaplin directed or co-directed (with Mabel Normand) 20 of his
last 23 Keystone films.
-
^ Kamin, p. xi.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 153.
-
^ Robinson, p. 125;
Maland, pp. 8–9.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
127–128.
-
^ Robinson, p. 131.
-
^ Robinson, p. 135.
-
^ Robinson, p. 137.
-
^ Robinson, p. 138.
-
^ Robinson, p. 139.
-
^ Robinson, p. 141
for beginning of relationship, p. 219 for end of relationship.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 165;
Robinson, pp. 140, 143; Neibaur, p. 23.
-
^ Robinson, p. 143.
-
^ Maland, p. 20
-
^ Maland, p. 6 gives
the summary quote for the Keystone persona; pp. 14–18 covers the
criticism.
-
^ Maland, pp. 21–24.
-
^ Robinson, p. 142;
Neibaur, pp. 23–24. Although Neibaur thinks that A Jitney
Elopement, the film which preceded The Tramp, already
showed a new side to the character, he also agrees that The
Tramp marked a moment when "Chaplin's formula was
established."
-
^ Robinson, p. 146.
-
^ Louvish, p. 87.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
152–153; Kamin, p. xi; Maland, p. 10.
-
^ Maland, p. 8.
-
^ Louvish, p. 74
writes, "Within six months of his arrival at Essanay studios,
Charlie Chaplin was world famous"; Sklar, p. 72 for being the
first international film star.
-
^ Robinson, p. 156.
-
^ Robinson, p. 160:
"No person in the world other than a king or an emperor – unless
perhaps Charlie Schwab of the US Steel Corporation – had ever
received even half that salary."
-
^ Larcher, p. 29.
-
^ Robinson, p. 159.
-
^ Robinson, p. 164.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
165–166.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
169–173.
-
^ Robinson, p. 175.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
179–180.
-
^ Robinson, p. 191.
-
^
""The Happiest Days of My Life": Mutual". Charlie Chaplin.
British Film Institute.
Retrieved 28 April 2012.
-
^ Brownlow, p. 45;
Robinson, p. 191; Louvish, p. 104.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 188.
-
^ Robinson, p. 185.
-
^ Robinson, p. 186.
-
^ Robinson, p. 187.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 210.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
215–216.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 213.
-
^ Robinson, p. 221.
-
^
a
b
Schickel, p. 8.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 203;
Robinson, pp. 225–226.
-
^ Robinson, p. 228.
-
^
a
b
"Independence Won: First National". Charlie Chaplin.
British Film Institute.
Retrieved 5 May 2012.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 208.
-
^ Robinson, p. 229.
-
^ Kuriyama, p. 129
-
^ Robinson, p. 237;
p. 241 says he returned in early May.
-
^ Robinson, p. 244.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 218.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
241–245.
-
^ Robinson, p. 246.
-
^ Robinson, p. 248.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
246–247 for marriage unhappiness: "Chaplin found himself,
without any pleasure, a married man."
-
^ Chaplin, pp.
219–220; Balio, p.12. Balio writes that "the star system with
its payments of astronomical salaries, would [have been]
seriously undermined" if the merger had become reality, although
he also notes that founding the company was simply "the next
[inevitable] step for these artists in achieving autonomy".
-
^ Robinson, p. 267.
-
^
a
b
Robinson, p. 269.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 223.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
248–249; Louvish, p. 141.
-
^ Robinson, p. 251.
-
^ Robinson, p. 252.
-
^ Louvish, p. 146.
-
^ Robinson, p. 253.
-
^ Chaplin, pp.
255–253.
-
^ Robinson, p. 261.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 235;
Robinson, p. 259.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
262–263.
-
^ Chaplin, pp.
233–234.
-
^ Robinson, p. 265.
-
^ Robinson, p. 282.
-
^ Robinson, p. 291.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
295–300.
-
^ Robinson, p. 310.
-
^ Robinson, p. 302.
-
^ Robinson, p.
311–312.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
319–321
-
^ Robinson, p. 318.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
318–321.
-
^ Louvish, p. 193.
-
^ Robinson, p. 322
covers the box office failure and Chaplin's reaction; p. 302
writes that A Woman of Paris fulfilled an "old ambition"
to produce a dramatic film.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
325–329.
-
^ Louvish, p. 195.
-
^ Kemp, p. 64 gives
inspiration and quote; Chaplin, p. 299, describes his
inspiration for the film.
-
^ Robinson, p. 337.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
340–345.
-
^ Robinson, p. 354
for last scene; p. 358 for cost.
-
^ Robinson, p. 357.
-
^ Robinson, p. 358
for statistics; Kemp, p. 63 for "highest grossing" fact.
-
^ Kemp, pp. 63–64;
Robinson, pp. 339, 353; Louvish, p. 200; Schickel, p. 19.
- ^
a
b
Kemp, p. 64.
-
^ Robinson, p. 346.
-
^ Robinson, p. 348.
-
^ Robinson, p. 355.
-
^ Robinson, p. 350.
-
^ Robinson, p. 360.
-
^ Robinson, p. 161.
-
^ Robinson, p. 368.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
369–370 describes the fire; Louvish, p. 215 says "The Circus
was Chaplin's most troubled production".
-
^ Robinson, p. 371.
-
^ Robinson, p. 372.
-
^ Louvish, p. 220;
Robinson, p. 374.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
96.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
372–374; Lovish, pp. 220–221.
-
^ Robinson, p. 378.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
99–105; Robinson, p. 375.
-
^ Robinson, p. 381.
-
^
a
b
Robinson, p. 382.
-
^
Charles Chaplin – Awards. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved
24 June 2012.
-
^ Robinson, p. 383.
-
^ Robinson, p. 381:
"At the height of the troubles with Lita his hair had gone white
overnight: Henry Bergman remembered the shock when the changed
Chaplin arrived at the studio one morning."
-
^ Brownlow, p. 73;
Louvish, p. 224.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 322.
-
^ Robinson, p. 389;
Chaplin, p. 321.
-
^ Robinson, p. 465,
quotes Chaplin talking to the press in 1931: "For myself I know
that I cannot use dialogue ... I never tried jumping off the
monument in Trafalgar Square, but I have a definite idea that it
would be unhealthy ... For years I have specialised in one type
of comedy – strictly pantomime. I have measured it, gauged it,
studied it. I have been able to establish exact principles to
govern its reactions on audiences." See also Chaplin, p. 322 and
Maland (2007), p. 29.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 389; Maland (2007), p.
29.
-
^ Robinson, p. 398;
Maland (2007), pp. 33–34 and p. 41.
-
^ Robinson, p. 409,
records the date filming ended as 22 September 1930.
-
^
a
b
Chaplin, p. 324.
-
^ Robinson, p. 401.
-
^ Robinson, p. 410.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 325.
-
^ Robinson, p. 413.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 328;
Robinson, p. 415; Maland (2007), pp. 108–110, writes that
according to Alf Reeves, Chaplin's studio manager, by June 1934
the film had brought Chaplin $3,006,308.74. The film was still
running in Japan at the time, so Maland estimates the final
box-office sum was probably slightly higher.
-
^
a
b
"United Artists and the Great Features". Charlie Chaplin.
British Film Institute.
Retrieved 21 June 2012.
-
^ Maland (2007), pp.
10–11. Maland includes excerpts from two interviews with Chaplin
(by Richard Meryman in 1967 and Peter Bogdanovich in 1973) in
which he describes the film as one of his favourites and the
scene as one of the 'purest' he ever made, describing acting in
it as "the beautiful sensation of not acting, of standing
outside of myself". Maland also dedicates two chapters in his
book to analyzing the final scene, pp. 88–104.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 360.
-
^ Louvish, p. 243.
-
^ Robinson, p. 420.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
429–438.
-
^ Robinson, p. 446.
-
^ Chaplin, pp. 372,
375.
-
^ Larcher, p. 64.
-
^ Robinson, p. 453;
Maland (1989), p. 147 describes Goddard as a "close and stable
companion".
-
^ Robinson, p. 447.
-
^ Robinson, p. 451.
-
^ Louvish, p. 256.
-
^ Robinson, p. 457.
-
^ Larcher, p. 63;
Robinson, p. 458.
-
^ Louvish, p. 257.
-
^ Robinson, p. 465.
-
^ Robinson, p. 466.
-
^ Robinson, p. 468.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
469–472 for recording of the music; p. 474 for the film's
release.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
150.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
144–147.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
157; Robinson, p. 473.
-
^ Schneider, p. 125.
-
^ Robinson, p. 479.
-
^ Robinson, p. 469.
-
^ Robinson, p. 483.
-
^ Robinson, p. 509.
-
^ Robinson, p. 495.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
509–510.
-
^ Robinson, p. 485;
Maland (1989), p. 159.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 386.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
170.
-
^ Schickel, p. 28;
Maland (1989), p. 165; Louvish, p. 271; Robinson, p. 490;
Larcher, p. 67; Kemp, p. 158.
- ^
a
b
Chaplin, p. 388.
-
^ Robinson, p. 496.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
165.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
164.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 387.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
154–155.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
172–173.
-
^ Robinson, p. 505
for end of production; p. 507 for release.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
169; 178–179.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
180.
-
^ Robinson, p. 504.
-
^ Louvish, p. 282.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
176; Schickel, pp. 30–31.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
178–179.
-
^
"The Great Dictator (1940) –Awards". Britannica (online).
Retrieved 16 March 2013.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
197.
- ^
a
b
c
Maland (1989), pp. 198–201.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
200: The exact time is unclear, but Maland writes that by the
end of 1942, "the relationship had become extremely tenuous and
sporadic, and by the end of December Chaplin wanted to be rid of
the whole affair."
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
200–201.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
520–521.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
201.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
202.
- ^
a
b
Maland (1989), pp. 204–205.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
523–524.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
215.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
214–215.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Maland (1989), pp. 205–206.
-
^
Mandarano, Matthew (2009).
"Joan Barry: The Most (In)famous Actress to Never Appear on
Screen". Shelf-Life Productions LLC. Archived from
the original on May 12, 2012.
Retrieved February 3, 2013.
-
^ Frost, pp. 74–88;
Maland (1989), pp. 207–213; Sbardellati and Shaw, p. 508.
-
^ Louvish, p. 135,
mentions the controversy generated by the marriage.
-
^ Chaplin, pp.
423–444 for meeting Oona;Robinson p. 670 gives a timeline
showing that the couple met on 30 October 1942 and married on 16
June 1943 (in
Carpinteria, California.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 423;
p. 477.
-
^ Robinson, p. 519.
-
^ Robinson,
pp. 671–675.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 426.
-
^ Robinson, p. 520.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 412.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
519–520.
-
^ Louvish, p. 304;
Sbardellati and Shaw, p. 501
-
^ Louvish, pp.
296–297; Robinson, pp. 538–543; Larcher, p. 77.
-
^ Louvish, pp.
296–297; Sbardellati and Shaw, p. 503.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
235–245.
-
^
a
b
Maland (1989), p. 250: According to
Maland, the film grossed only $162,000 domestically, in contrast
to $1,5 million internationally.
-
^ Louvish, p. 297.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 444.
-
^ Larcher, p. 75;
Sbardellati and Shaw, p. 506, also write that "Chaplin was
condemned as both a moral and a political subversive".
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
253.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
221–226 for friendships with purported communists; pp. 253–254
for attending Soviet functions.
-
^ Sbardellati and
Shaw, p. 510
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 545.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
265–266.
-
^
a
b
Norton-Taylor, Richard (17 February 2012).
"MI5 spied on Charlie Chaplin after the FBI asked for help to
banish him from US". The Guardian. London.
Archived from the original on 17 February 2012.
Retrieved 17 February 2012.
-
^ Louvish, p. 310;
Maland, p. 238; Chaplin, p. 458.
-
^ Robinson, p. 544.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
255–256.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
260–261.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
256–257.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
549–570.
-
^
a
b
Maland (1989), p. 293.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
288–290; Robinson, pp. 551–552; Louvish, p. 312.
-
^ Louvish, p. 317.
-
^ Robinson, p. 562,
says Chaplin frequently using the word "melancholy" when
explaining his plans to co-star
Claire Bloom.
-
^ Louvish, p. 318.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
567–568.
-
^ Louvish, p. 326.
-
^ Robinson, p. 570.
-
^
a
b
c
d
Maland (1989), p. 280.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
280–287; Sbardellati and Shaw, pp. 520–521.
-
^ Chaplin, p. 455.
-
^ Robinson, p. 573.
-
^ Louvish, p. 330.
-
^ Maland (1989), pp.
295–298.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
307–311.
-
^ Louvish, pp.
330–331.
-
^ Robinson, p. 580.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
580–581.
-
^ Robinson, p. 581.
-
^ Robinson, p. 584
for sale of property, p. 674 for surrendering re-entry permit.
-
^ Larcher, p. 89.
-
^ Robinson, p. 584.
-
^ Lynn, pp. 466–467;
Robinson, p. 584; Balio, pp. 17–21.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
318; Robinson, p. 584.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 585.
-
^ Louvish, p. 341;
Maland (1989), pp. 320–321; Robinson, p. 588–589; Larcher, pp.
89–90.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
587–589.
-
^ Epstein, p. 137;
Robinson, p. 587.
-
^ Robinson, p. 590.
-
^ Robinson, p. 587.
-
^ Lynn, p. 506;
Louvish, p. 342; Maland (1989), p. 322.
-
^ Robinson, p. 591.
-
^ Louvish, p. 347.
-
^
a
b
Maland (1989), p. 326.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, pp. 594–595.
-
^
a
b
Robinson, pp. 598–599.
-
^ Lynn, pp. 507–508.
-
^ Lynn, p. 509;
Maland (1989), p. 330.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
602–605.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
605–607; Lynn, pp. 510–512.
-
^
a
b
Robinson, pp. 608–609.
-
^ Epstein, p. 169.
-
^ Robinson, p. 612.
-
^ Robinson, p. 607.
-
^
a
b
Epstein, pp. 192–196.
-
^ Lynn, p. 518;
Maland (1989), p. 335: "After its [the film's] run was completed
around the country and Variety listed its 1967 box-office
grosses, Countess was sixty-second on its list, with just
$1.1 million in rentals."
-
^ Robinson, p. 615.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 619.
-
^ Epstein, p. 203.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
620–621.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 621.
-
^ Robinson, p. 625.
-
^
"Charlie Chaplin prepares for return to United States after two
decades". A&E Television Networks.
Archived from the original on 18 November 2010.
Retrieved 7 June 2010.
-
^ Maland (1989), p.
347
-
^ Robinson, pp.
623–625.
-
^ Robinson, p.
627–628.
-
^ Robinson, p. 626.
-
^
a
b
"When Chaplin Played Father". The Telegraph.
Retrieved 26 June 2012.</rev>.
On his father's final years and death, Chaplin's son Eugene
stated in a 2002 interview that "Up to the age of 85 he was in
really good health. He never took any special exercise. He was
just naturally like that. But then his health went down very
quickly. He had several strokes, which suddenly caught up with
him, physically. At the end of his life, he couldn't walk
properly and it was another stroke that killed him."
-
^
a
b
Robinson, pp. 626–628.
-
^ Lynn, pp. 534–536.
-
^
Reynolds, Paul (21 July 2002).
"Chaplin knighthood blocked". BBC News.
Archived from the original on 18 November 2010.
Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 629.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 631.
- ^
a
b
c
Robinson, p. 632.
-
^
"Yasser Arafat: 10 other people who have been exhumed".
BBC
News Magazine. 27 November 2012.
Retrieved 27 November 2012.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
629–631.
-
^ Robinson, p. 18.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
71–72; Chaplin, pp. 47–48.
-
^ Louvish, p. 38.
- ^
a
b
c
Robinson, pp. 86–87.
-
^ A round-table
Chaplin Interview in 1952, first broadcast on BBC Radio on
15 October 1952.
-
^ Lynn, pp. 99–100;
Brownlow p. 22; Louvish, p. 122.
-
^ Louvish, pp.
48–49.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 606.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Robinson, pp. 166–170.
-
^ Brownlow, Kevin (4
August 2003). "Vault Farce". Variety Special Advertising
Supplement, p. 22.
-
^ Robinson, p. 311.
-
^ Robinson, pp.
234–235; Cousins, p. 71.
-
^ Bloom, p. 101.
-
^ Cousins, p. 71
-
^ Robinson, p. 746.
Maland, p. 359, writes that the ratio of film shot to film used
was 41:1 for The Great Dictator and 38.8:1 for City
Lights.
-
^ Maland, p. 353.
-
^
"Chaplin's writing and directing collaborators". British
Film Institute. Retrieved 27
June 2012.
-
^ Mast, pp. 123–128.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, pp. 334–335.
-
^ Kuriyama, p. 31
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Mast, pp. 83–92.
-
^ Epstein, pp. 84–84
-
^ McCaffrey, pp.
82–95.
-
^ Schickel, p. 12
-
^ Sarris, p. 52–53
-
^
a
b
c
Weissmann (1996), pp. 439–445
-
^ Bloom, p. 107
-
^
Wimmer, Harry.
"Harry's CelloBlog".
Retrieved 6 August 2013.
-
^ Robinson, p. 411;
Louvish, pp. 17–18 quotes a 1915
Photoplay interview with Chaplin: "Music, even in my
poorhouse days, was always a passion with me. I never was able
to take lessons of any kind, but I loved to hear music and could
play any kind of instrument I could lay my hands on."
-
^ Robinson, p. 412.
- ^
a
b
Robinson, p. 411.
-
^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Vance, Jeffrey (4 August 2003).
"Chaplin the Composer: An Excerpt from Chaplin: Genius of the
Cinema". Variety Special Advertising Supplement, pp.
20–21.
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a
b
c
Raksin and Berg, pp. 47–50
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^
"British Record Charts". Petula Clark.net.
Archived from the original on 18 November 2010.
Retrieved 21 April 2010.
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^
a
b
Sarris, p. 139.
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^
"Charlie Chaplin". Charlie Chaplin. British Film
Institute. Retrieved 7
October 2012.
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^
Quittner, Joshua (8 June 1998).
"TIME 100: Charlie Chaplin". Time Magazine.
-
^
"The Top 100 Great Britons". BBC via Wayback Machine. 4
December 2002. Retrieved 6
February 2013.
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^ Louvish, p. xvii.
Larcher, p. 5, writes that the Tramp became "a veritable myth,
of the sort that only comes around a few times each century."
-
^
"Chaplin – First, Last, And Always". Indiewire.
Retrieved 7 October 2012.
-
^ Schickel, p. 41.
-
^
"Record price for Chaplin hat set". BBC.
Retrieved 7 October 2012.
-
^ Cousins, p. 72;
Kemp, pp. 8, 22; Gunning, p. 41, writes that Chaplin was the
first filmmaker "who brought serious attention to film".
-
^ Schickel, pp. 3–4;
Cousins, p. 36; Robinson, pp. 209–211; Kamin, p. xiv.
-
^ Cousins, p. 70
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^ Schickel, pp. 7,
13.
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^
a
b
Presented by
Paul Merton, directed by Tom Cholmondeley (1 June 2006).
"Charlie Chaplin". Silent Clowns.
British Broadcasting Corporation.
BBC Four.
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^ Thompson, pp.
398–399; Robinson, p. 321, Louvish, p. 185.
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^ Robinson, p. 321.
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^ Brownlow, p. 77.
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^
a
b
c
Mark Cousins (10 September 2011). "Episode 2".
The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Event occurs at
27:51–28:35.
Channel 4.
More4.
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^
"Attenborough introduction". Charlie Chaplin. British
Film Institute. Retrieved 11
February 2013.
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^ Canemaker, p. 38;
p. 78.
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^ Merlock Jackson
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^ Simmons
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^ Mast, p. 100.
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^
"The Greatest Films Poll: Critics Top 250 Films". Sight &
Sound. British Film Institute.
Retrieved 31 January 2013.
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^
"Directors' Top 100 Films". British Film Institute.
Retrieved 8 February 2013.
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^
"The Greatest Films Poll: All Films". Sight & Sound.
British Film Institute.
Retrieved 31 January 2013.
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^
"AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition".
American Film Institute.
Retrieved 8 February 2013.
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^ Louvish, p. xvi;
Maland pp. xi, 359, 370.
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^
"London Film Museum: About Us". London Film Museum.
Retrieved 22 July 2012.
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a
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Robinson, p. 677.
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^
"BFI IMAX". Odeon.
Retrieved 11 February 2013.
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^
"Chaplin's World: The Modern Times Museum". Chaplin Museum
Development SA. Retrieved 29
March 2013.
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"Vevey: les tours "Chaplin" ont été inaugurées". RTS.ch. 8
October 2011. Retrieved 22
July 2012.
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^
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Retrieved 22 July 2012.
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"The Story". Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival.
Retrieved 22 July 2012.
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Kamin, Dan (17 April 1989).
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (US).
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16 April 1989. Retrieved 22
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"The museum of modern art honors charles chaplin's contributions
to cinema". The Museum of Modern Art Press Release. March
1989. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
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^ Schmadel, p. 305.
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^ Maland (1989), pp.
362–370.
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Retrieved 8 February 2013.
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"Google doodles a video honouring Charlie Chaplin".
IBN Live. Retrieved 15
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"Association Chaplin". Association Chaplin.
Retrieved 13 July 2013.;
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Retrieved 24 July 2013.
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Retrieved 11 February 2013.
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"Chaplin at the Musée de l'Elysée". Musée de l'Elysée. 24
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Chaplin. British Film Institute.
Retrieved 11 February 2013.
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Retrieved 9 February 2013.
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Retrieved 6 February 2013.
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Archived from the original on 18 November 2010.
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