People active in the silent era and people who keep the silent era alive. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Photograph: Silent Era image collection.

Charles Chaplin

Born 16 April 1889 in London, England, United Kingdom, as Charles Spencer Chaplin.
Died 25 December 1977 at Manoir de Ban, Corsier sur Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland, of natural causes.

Half-brother of actor Sydney Chaplin and actor Wheeler Dryden.

Married actress Mildred Harris, 23 October 1918; divorced, 4 April 1921;
son, Norman Spencer Chaplin, born July 7, 1919 (died three days later).
Married actress Lita Grey, 26 November 1924; divorced, 25 August 1928;
son, Charles Chaplin Jr., born 5 May 1925; son, actor Sydney Chaplin, born 30 March 1926.
Married actress Paulette Goddard, 1 June 1936; divorced 4 June 1942.
Married Oona O’Neill, 16 June 1943; until Charles’ death, 25 December 1977;
daughter, Geraldine Leigh Chaplin, born 31 July 1944; son, Michael John Chaplin, born 7 March 1946;
daughter, Josephine Hannah Chaplin, born 28 March 1949; daughter, Victoria Agnes Chaplin, born 19 May 1951;
son, Eugene Anthony Chaplin, born 23 August 1953; daughter, Jane Cecil Chaplin, born 23 May 1957;
daughter, Annette Emily Chaplin, born December 1959; son, Christopher James Chaplin, born 8 July 1962.

Charles Chaplin began entertainment work in British music halls. As a young comedian, he toured Europe and America with the Fred Karno company through 1913. Chaplin began film work early in 1914 for Mack Sennett at The Keystone Film Company studio, where he became a world-famous film comedian in less than a year. Chaplin signed with Essanay Film Manufacturing Company in 1915 for a considerable raise in pay and was, at the time, the world’s highest-paid film star. He became an independent film producer, releasing through Mutual Film Corporation, from 1916 through 1917. Chaplin released films through Associated First National Pictures, Incorporated, from 1918 through 1923, and released through his own United Artists Corporation from 1923 into the forties.

Very soon after beginning his motion picture career, Chaplin not only was the principal comedian in his films, he developed storylines and gags for the comedies, and directed them as well. Chaplin’s comic technique — developed for vaudeville — began to mature in the 1910s, with more emphasis on story and character development (largely unheard of in the early days of comic cinema), and he occasionally brought pathos into his persona as The Little Tramp. In his later silent era work, Chaplin’s obsessive development of his stories often delayed his films for years, but the results were always worth waiting for. Today, Charles Chaplin’s little tramp remains the world’s most recognized film character.

References: Website-IMDb; Website-Wikipedia.