a b Presented by Paul Merton, directed by Tom Cholmondeley (1 June 2006). "Charlie Chaplin". Silent Clowns. British Broadcasting Corporation. BBC Four. 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]

Before the creation of United Artists, Chaplin married for the first time. The 16-year-old actress Mildred Harris had revealed that she was pregnant with his child, and in September 1918, he married her quietly in Los Angeles to avoid controversy. [135] Soon after, the pregnancy was found to be false. [136] Chaplin was unhappy with the union and, feeling that marriage stunted his creativity, struggled over the production of his film Sunnyside. [137] Harris was by then legitimately pregnant, and on 7 July 1919, gave birth to a son. Norman Spencer Chaplin was born malformed and died three days later. [138] The marriage ended in April 1920, with Chaplin explaining in his autobiography that they were "irreconcilably mismated". [139] Sbardellati, John; Shaw, Tony (2003). "Booting a Tramp: Charlie Chaplin, the FBI, and the Construction of the Subversive Image in Red Scare America" (PDF). Pacific Historical Review. 72 (4): 495–530. doi: 10.1525/phr.2003.72.4.495. S2CID 161624961. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.Sbardellati, John (2012). J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI and the Origins of Hollywood's Cold War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801450082. AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on 18 August 2015 . Retrieved 8 February 2013. Although Chaplin remained politically active in the years following the failure of Monsieur Verdoux, [af] his next film, about a forgotten music hall comedian and a young ballerina in Edwardian London, was devoid of political themes. Limelight was heavily autobiographical, alluding not only to Chaplin's childhood and the lives of his parents, but also to his loss of popularity in the United States. [295] The cast included various members of his family, including his five oldest children and his half-brother, Wheeler Dryden. [296] McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–" . Retrieved 28 May 2023.

The Happiest Days of My Life": Mutual". Charlie Chaplin. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 22 November 2012 . Retrieved 28 April 2012.The Greatest Films Poll: Critics Top 250 Films". Sight & Sound. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 7 February 2016 . Retrieved 31 January 2013. Testimony Completed, Jury To Get Clark Case Tomorrow". Manti Messenger. Manti, UT. 8 June 1928. pp.1, 4 – via Newspapers.com. In 2003, declassified British archives belonging to the British Foreign Office revealed that George Orwell secretly accused Chaplin of being a secret communist and a friend of the USSR [293] in the Orwell's list document. Chaplin's name was one of 35 that Orwell gave to the Information Research Department (IRD), a secret British Cold War propaganda department which worked closely with the CIA. [293] Chaplin was not the only actor in America whom Orwell accused of being a secret communist. He also described American civil-rights leader and actor Paul Robeson as being "anti-white". [293] Limelight and banning from the United States Limelight (1952) was a serious and autobiographical film for Chaplin. His character, Calvero, is an ex- music hall star (described in this image as a "Tramp Comedian") forced to deal with his loss of popularity.

Kamin, Dan (2011) [2008]. The Comedy of Charlie Chaplin: Artistry in Motion. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810877801. Charlie Gold EDT by Revlon. A sweet and powdery perfume released in 1995 as part of the classic Charlie line of fragrances. Robinson notes that this was not strictly true: "The character was to take a year or more to evolve its full dimensions and even then–which was its particular strength–it would evolve during the whole rest of his career." [70] Charlie does not try too hard to win you over. It is a perfect blend of notes. It does not attempt to over seduce you or impress you because it doesn’t have to. This fragrance is powerful, edgy and floral. Google Doodles a Video Honouring Charlie Chaplin". News18. 15 April 2011. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016 . Retrieved 15 April 2011.

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. In 1998, the film critic Andrew Sarris called Chaplin "arguably the single most important artist produced by the cinema, certainly its most extraordinary performer and probably still its most universal icon". [438] He is described by the British Film Institute as "a towering figure in world culture", [439] and was included in Time magazine's list of the " 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century" for the "laughter [he brought] to millions" and because he "more or less invented global recognizability and helped turn an industry into an art". [440] In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Chaplin as the 10th greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema. [441] London Film Museum: About Us". London Film Museum. Archived from the original on 28 August 2012 . Retrieved 3 March 2023. Ujjal, Kumar (16 April 2020). "Charlie Chaplin: The First Actor in the world to be on the cover of Times magazine". Infotoline . Retrieved 1 April 2021. 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.