Charlie Chaplin - ©Theda Bara

This name, which I will cover in this brief biography, is known to all of us, moviegoers or not. But it would be impossible to talk about films, whether silent or talkies, without mentioning the British actor, director, producer, comedian, businessman, writer, dancer, screenwriter and musician, being the biggest star of the silent film era, standing out for the use of mime in the slapstick comedy where he gave life to the character: The Tramp or The Little Tramp, known as: Charlotte in Europe.

Chaplin wrote, directed and staged 81 films, having received three Oscars, of which two were honorary, one of them being in 1929, for the film “The Circus”, from 1928, a sort of consolation prize for his work as a whole. Among his most notable films are such memorable masterpieces as: “A Dog’s Life” 1918; “The Boy”, 1921; “In Search of Gold”, 1925; “City Lights”, 1931; “Modern Times”, 1936; and “The Great Dictator”, from 1940. However, the actor was never properly recognized by the Academy, as he deserved.

What few know about Chaplin’s life is that he was also an excellent composer, having even won the Oscar for best soundtrack, with the composition: “Luzes da Ribalta” in the homonymous film of 1952; but which was only released in the United States in 1972, a fact that made it possible to compete for an Oscar in 1973.

However, what made Charlie Chaplin’s films reach the largest audience ever known was the mime, which was visually understood by all people in the world. Obviously, if he adopted a dialogue in the films, in the English language, his audience would decrease, since there were no subtitles at the time.

Sir. Charles Spencer Charlie Chaplin Jr., was born Charles Spencer Chaplin in Walworth, London, UK, on 16th April 1889 and died in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, on Christmas Day, 25th December 1977, aged 88 years.

Three facts about the life of Charlie Chaplin: the first is that he has two stars on the Walk of Fame, in the Film and TV categories, both at 6751 Hollywood Boulevard; the second curiosity is that he received the honor of “Sir”, treatment given to the Knights Commanders of the Order of the British Empire, in 1975, granted by Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022); the third fact, this one more macabre, was that three months after his death, in March 1978, his body was stolen from the tomb and was only recovered and cremated two months later, in May 1978.

Charlie Spencer Chaplin was married four times, having controversial marriages and even with underage young people. His first wife was the American actress Mildred Harris (1901-1944), aged 17, a marriage that lasted less than two years, from 1918 to 1920; Lillita Louise MacMurray, better known as: Lita Gray (1908-1995), 16 years old, another American actress who had to marry with parental consent, was Chaplin's second wife, a marriage that also did not last long, 1924 to 1927; Paulette Goddard, stage name: Pauline Marion Goddard Levy (1910-1990), another American actress, famous for her films for Paramount Pictures in the 1940s, and for her marriages to rich and famous actors, one of them being Charlie Chaplin, was his third wife, from 1936 to 1942; and finally Oona O'Neill, also known as: Oona Chaplin or Lady Chaplin (1925-1991), British actress, daughter of the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature, Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) and the British Agnes Boulton (1893-1968), columnist for the American magazine “Pulp”, was the last wife of Charlie Chaplin from 1943 to 1977.

Chaplin had ten children. His first child with the young actress Mildred Harris: Norman Spencer Chaplin lived only 3 days (from July 7, 1919 to July 10, 1919). — The actor had two children with Lita Gray: British actor, comedian, director, composer, screenwriter, filmmaker, editor and musician Charlie Spencer Chaplin III (1925-1968). Chaplin III acted with his father in “Limelight” (1952) and in 1960 he wrote a book about his family life, entitled: “My Father, Charlie Chaplin”, and the American actor Sydney Earle Chaplin (1926-2009). — With Oona O'Neill, Chaplin had seven children: the Anglo-American actress Geraldine Leigh Chaplin (1944-) famous for working in the film: “Doctor Zhivago” (1965); the Anglo-American circus artist Victoria Agnes Chaplin-Thierrée (1951-); American actor Michael John Chaplin (1946-); American actress Josephine Hannah Chaplin (1949-2023); Swiss actress and producer Jane Chaplin (1957-); the Swiss real estate businesswoman, based in Paris, France, Annette Emily Chaplin (1959-); Swiss-born English composer and actor Christopher James Chaplin (1962-), is Chaplin's youngest son.