Chaplin, Charlie

Chaplin, Charlie (1889–1977), movie actor, director.Born in London, Charles Spencer Chaplin survived a difficult childhood to win early success as an English music‐hall performer. In 1913, he signed a movie contract with Keystone Studios. He soon developed his tramp persona, using a familiar costume and brush mustache, and began to direct his own movies, appearing in thirty‐five for Keystone (1914), fourteen for Essanay (1915–1916), and twelve for Mutual (1916–1917). Most were two‐reel comedies. Blending comedy, romance, and pathos in his films, Chaplin became an internationally popular film star and generated increasingly lucrative contracts, which enabled him to build his own studio and in 1919 to cofound United Artists. The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), and City Lights (1931) are among his most famous nondialogue comic features.

The Great Depression awakened Chaplin's social conscience. Modern Times (1936) criticized industrial efficiency at the expense of human needs, while The Great Dictator (1940) satirized Hitler. During the Cold War, conservative groups attacked Chaplin for his leftist political involvements, his dalliances with very young women, and his failure to become a U.S. citizen; their boycotts helped doom Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and Limelight (1952) at the box office. In September 1952, after Chaplin left the United States for a trip to London, the U.S. attorney general revoked his reentry permit, stating that Chaplin, still a British citizen, would have to defend himself against political and morals charges before an immigration board if he desired readmission. In this hostile political climate, Chaplin settled in Switzerland, where he remained until his death, returning to America only briefly in 1972 to receive a special Academy Award in Los Angeles. In 1975, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

Bibliography

David Robinson , Chaplin: His Life and Art, 1985.
Charles J. Maland , Chaplin and American Culture, 1989.

Charles J. Maland