Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on
16th April 1889 in
Walworth, London, and lived a
Dickensian childhood, shared with his brother,
Sydney, that included extreme poverty, workhouses and seeing his mother's mental decline put her into an institution. Both his parents, though seperated when he was very young, were music hall artists, his father quite famously so. But it was his mother
Charlie idolised and was inspired by during his visits backstage while she performed, to take up such a career for himself. He acheived his ambition when he joined a dancing troup, the Eight
Lancashire Lads, and this eventually led onto parts in
Sherlock Holmes and
Casey's Court Circus. Sydney, meanwhile, had joined the famous
Fred Karno Company and quickly became a leading player and writer therein. He managed to get Charlie involved, and he too became a Karno star. For both boys, Karno was almost a college of comedy for them, and the period had a huge impact on Charlie especially. In 1910 Charlie toured the
U.S with the Karno group and returned for another in 1912. It was on this tour that he was head hunted by
Mack Sennett and his
Keystone Film Company, and Charlie was thus introduced into the medium of film. His first film, in
1914, was aptly titled Making A
Living, and it was directed by
Henry Lehrman. He starred in many of his
Keystones along side
Mabel Normand, who also directed three of his films, but it wasn't until
Twenty Minutes of Love that he had a taste of directing himself, and this quickly became the only way he worked. His success was such that he was able to move from one company to another, each time into a better deal. In
1915 , after thirty-five films, he moved to
Essanay, and it was here he really found his feet, not to mention his longest serving leading lady,
Edna Purviance. Notable films during this period include
The Champion,
The Tramp and
The Bank. In
1916 he moved to
Lone Star Mutual, with even greater control and financial rewards. Here he made the definitive
Chaplin short comedies,
The Rink,
Easy Street,
The Cure and
The Immigrant.
First National were next, and it was here he constructed his full length masterpiece,
The Kid.
Shorter comedies of note at this time included
Sunnyside and
The Idle Class. Along with his great friend,
Douglas Fairbanks, as well as
Mary Pickford and
D.W Griffith, Chaplin formed
United Artists in
1919. He made his first film for them in 1923, the Edna Purviance vehicle,
A Woman of Paris, perhaps the least known of his films, but it was followed by the Chaplin classics -
The Gold Rush,
The Circus,
City Lights and
Modern Times. It wasn't until
1940 that he made his first talkie,
The Great Dictator, to be followed by the more refined
Monsieur Verdoux and
Limelight, a look back to the music hall world of his youth. Limelight (
1952) was the last film he made in
America. McCarthyite political manouverings effectively ejected him from the country and he wasn't to return until
1972, when he received a special
Academy Award. In the meantime, though heartily welcomed back to
Britain, he moved to
Switzerland with his wife,
Oona O' Neill, and their children. He made two more films, A
King In New York (
1957, with
Dawn Addams) and
A Countess From Hong Kong (1967, with
Sophia Loren and
Marlon Brando) and spent his final years writing music for his films and enjoying his family life before he died, at 4 a.m on
Christmas Day in
1977.
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Overture/
Unveiling the Statue from 'City Lights' (1931)
Music composed by
Charles Chaplin [running time: 4:15]
A re-recording of the original 1931 score.
Conducted by
Carl Davis and
The City Lights Orchestra.
- published: 09 Mar 2014
- views: 9995