Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin KBE (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor,

filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through
his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the film industry's most important figures. His
career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in
1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

Chaplin's childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship. His father was absent and his mother
struggled financially – he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine. When he was 14, his
mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring music halls
and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19, he was signed to the Fred Karno company, which
took him to the United States. He was scouted for the film industry and began appearing in 1914 for
Keystone Studios. He soon developed the Tramp persona and attracted a large fan base. He directed his
own films and continued to hone his craft as he moved to the Essanay, Mutual, and First National
corporations. By 1918, he was one of the world's best-known figures.

In 1919, Chaplin co-founded distribution company United Artists, which gave him complete control over
his films. His first feature-length film was The Kid (1921), followed by A Woman of Paris (1923), The Gold
Rush (1925), and The Circus (1928). He initially refused to move to sound films in the 1930s, instead
producing City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936) without dialogue. His first sound film was The Great
Dictator (1940), which satirised Adolf Hitler. The 1940s were marked with controversy for Chaplin, and his
popularity declined rapidly. He was accused of communist sympathies, and some members of the press
and public were scandalised by his involvement in a paternity suit and marriages to much younger women.
An FBI investigation was opened, and Chaplin was forced to leave the U.S. and settle in Switzerland. He
abandoned the Tramp in 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, starred in, and composed the music for most of his films. He
was a perfectionist, and his financial independence enabled him to spend years on the development and
production of a picture. His films are characterised by slapstick combined with pathos, typified in the
Tramp's struggles against adversity. Many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical
elements. He received an Honorary Academy Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making
motion pictures the art form of this century" in 1972, as part of a renewed appreciation for his work. He
continues to be held in high regard, with The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator
often ranked on lists of the greatest films.

Biography

1889–1913: early years

Background and childhood hardship

Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. was born on 16 April 1889 to Hannah Chaplin (née Hill) and Charles Chaplin Sr.
His paternal grandmother came from the Smith family, who belonged to Romani people.[1][2][3][4] There
is no official record of his birth, although Chaplin believed he was born at East Street, Walworth, in South
London.[5][a] His parents had married four years previously, at which time Charles Sr. became the legal
guardian of Hannah's first son, Sydney John Hill.[9][b] At the time of his birth, Chaplin's parents were both
music hall entertainers. Hannah, the daughter of a shoemaker,[10] had a brief and unsuccessful career
under the stage name Lily Harley,[11] while Charles Sr., a butcher's son,[12] was a popular singer.[13]
Although they never divorced, Chaplin's parents were estranged by around 1891.[14] The following year,
Hannah gave birth to a third son, George Wheeler Dryden, fathered by the music hall entertainer Leo
Dryden. The child was taken by Dryden at six months old, and did not re-enter Chaplin's life for thirty
years.[15]

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.[16] Chaplin's early years were spent with his mother and brother Sydney in the London district
of Kennington. Hannah had no means of income, other than occasional nursing and dressmaking, and
Chaplin Sr. provided no financial support.[17] As the situation deteriorated, Chaplin was sent to Lambeth
Workhouse when he was seven years old.[c] The council housed him at the Central London District School
for paupers, which Chaplin remembered as "a forlorn existence".[19] He was briefly reunited with his
mother 18 months later, but 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.[20]

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.

— Charlie Chaplin, on his childhood[21]

In September 1898, Hannah was committed to Cane Hill mental asylum; she had developed a psychosis
seemingly brought on by an infection of syphilis and malnutrition.[22] For the two months she was there,
Chaplin and his brother Sydney were sent to live with their father, whom the young boys scarcely
knew.[23] Charles Sr. was by then severely alcoholic, and life there was bad enough to provoke a visit
from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.[24] Chaplin's father died two years
later, at 38 years old, from cirrhosis of the liver.[25]

Hannah entered a period of remission but, in May 1903, became ill again.[24] Chaplin, then 14, had the
task of taking his mother to the infirmary, from where she was sent back to Cane Hill.[26] He lived alone
for several days, searching for food and occasionally sleeping rough, until Sydney – who had joined the
Navy two years earlier – returned.[27] Hannah was released from the asylum eight months later,[28] but
in March 1905, her illness 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.[29]

Young performer

A teenage Chaplin in the play Sherlock Holmes

Between his time in the poor schools and his mother succumbing to mental illness, Chaplin began to
perform on stage. He later recalled making his first amateur appearance at the age of five years, when he
took over from Hannah one night in Aldershot.[d] This was an isolated occurrence, but by the time he was
nine Chaplin had, with his mother's encouragement, grown interested in performing. He later wrote:
"[she] imbued me with the feeling that I had some sort of talent".[31] Through his father's
connections,[32] Chaplin became a member of the Eight Lancashire Lads clog-dancing troupe, with whom
he toured English music halls throughout 1899 and 1900.[e] Chaplin worked hard, and the act was popular
with audiences, but he was not satisfied with dancing and wished to form a comedy act.[34]

In the years Chaplin was touring with the Eight Lancashire Lads, his mother ensured that he still attended
school but, by the age of 13, he had abandoned education.[35][36] He supported himself with a range of
jobs, while nursing his ambition to become an actor.[37] 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, who
was promptly given his first role as a newsboy in Harry Arthur Saintsbury's Jim, a Romance of
Cockayne.[38] It opened in July 1903, but the show was unsuccessful and closed after two weeks. Chaplin's
comic performance, however, was singled out for praise in many of the reviews.[39]

Saintsbury secured a role for Chaplin in Charles Frohman's production of Sherlock Holmes, where he
played Billy the pageboy in three nationwide tours.[40] His performance was so well received that he was
called to London to play the role alongside William Gillette, the original Holmes.[f] "It was like tidings from
heaven", Chaplin recalled.[42] At 16 years old, Chaplin starred in the play's West End production at the
Duke of York's Theatre from October to December 1905.[43] He completed one final tour of Sherlock
Holmes in early 1906, before leaving the play after more than two-and-a-half years.[44]

Stage comedy and vaudeville

Chaplin soon found work with a new company and went on tour with his brother, who was also pursuing
an acting career, in a comedy sketch called Repairs.[45] In May 1906, Chaplin joined the juvenile act
Casey's Circus,[46] where he developed popular burlesque pieces and was soon the star of the show. By
the time the act finished touring in July 1907, the 18-year-old had become an accomplished comedic
performer.[47] He struggled to find more work, however, and a brief attempt at a solo act was a failure.[g]
Advertisement from Chaplin's American tour with the Fred Karno comedy company, 1913

Meanwhile, Sydney Chaplin had joined Fred Karno's prestigious comedy company in 1906 and, by 1908,
he was one of their key performers.[49] In February, he managed to secure a two-week trial for his
younger brother. Karno was initially wary, and considered Chaplin a "pale, puny, sullen-looking youngster"
who "looked much too shy to do any good in the theatre".[50] However, the teenager made an impact on
his first night at the London Coliseum and he was quickly signed to a contract.[51] Chaplin began by playing
a series of minor parts, eventually progressing to starring roles in 1909.[52] 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.[53]

Karno selected his new star to join the section of the company that toured North America's vaudeville
circuit, a section which also included Stan Laurel.[54][55] The young comedian headed the show and
impressed reviewers, being described as "one of the best pantomime artists ever seen here".[56] His most
successful role was a drunk called the "Inebriate Swell", which drew him significant recognition.[57] The
tour lasted 21 months, and the troupe returned to England in June 1912.[58] Chaplin recalled that he "had
a disquieting feeling of sinking back into a depressing commonplaceness" and was, therefore, delighted
when a new tour began in October.[59]

1914–1917: entering films

Keystone

Six months into the second American tour, Chaplin was invited to join the New York Motion Picture
Company. A representative who had seen his performances thought he could replace Fred Mace, a star
of their Keystone Studios who intended to leave.[60] Chaplin thought the Keystone comedies "a crude
mélange of rough and rumble", but liked the idea of working in films and rationalised: "Besides, it would
mean a new life."[61] He met with the company and signed a $150-per-week[h] contract in September
1913.[63] Chaplin arrived in Los Angeles in early December,[64] and began working for the Keystone
studio on 5 January 1914.[65]

Making a Living screenshot

Chaplin (left) in his first film appearance, Making a Living, with Henry Lehrman who directed the picture
(1914)

Kid Auto Races at Venice screenshot

Chaplin's trademark character "the Tramp" debuts in Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), Chaplin's second
released film
Chaplin's boss was Mack Sennett, who initially expressed concern that the 24-year-old looked too
young.[66] He was not used in a picture until late January, during which time Chaplin attempted to learn
the processes of filmmaking.[67] The one-reeler Making a Living marked his film acting debut and was
released on 2 February 1914. Chaplin strongly disliked the picture, but one review picked him out as "a
comedian of the first water".[68] For his second appearance in front of the camera, 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.[69][i]

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 than Mabel's Strange Predicament but released two
days earlier on 7 February 1914.[71][72] 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.[73] During the filming of his 11th picture, Mabel at the Wheel, he clashed with director Mabel
Normand and was almost released from his contract. Sennett kept him on, however, when he received
orders from exhibitors for more Chaplin films.[74] Sennett also allowed Chaplin to direct his next film
himself after Chaplin promised to pay $1,500 ($44,000 in 2022 dollars) if the film was unsuccessful.[75]

Caught in the Rain, issued 4 May 1914, was Chaplin's directorial debut and was highly successful.[76]
Thereafter he directed almost every short film in which he appeared for Keystone,[77] at the rate of
approximately one per week,[78] a period which he later remembered as the most exciting time of his
career.[79] Chaplin's films introduced a slower form of comedy than the typical Keystone farce,[71] and
he developed a large fan base.[80] In November 1914, he had a supporting role in the first feature length
comedy film, Tillie's Punctured Romance, directed by Sennett and starring Marie Dressler, which was a
commercial success and increased his popularity.[81] When Chaplin's contract came up for renewal at the
end of the year, he asked for $1,000 a week,[j] an amount Sennett refused as he thought it was too
large.[82]