What did Charlie Chaplin need for the film? ThePerson: Charlie Chaplin, biography, creativity, life story

Charlie Chaplin can easily be called one of the most famous people who lived on earth. Some teenagers may not know who he is, but the silent film legend's career spanned 75 years. He is like the Mickey Mouse of the human world, an icon recognized by people around the world.

But who really was Charlie Chaplin? He was an amazing and complex person. In this article we will tell you some facts that you will not find on the first page of Wikipedia.

1. Charlie Chaplin had 4 wives, each of whom was much younger than him

When he was 29, he married 16-year-old Mildred Harris, but they divorced 2 years later. When he was 35 years old, he married another 16-year-old girl, Lollita McMurray. The wedding took place in Mexico to avoid problems with US law. Their marriage broke up after 3 years. The divorce attracted a lot of attention. Charlie Chaplin's next chosen one was Paulette Goddard. They got married in 1936, but their relationship began much earlier - in 1932. Paulette was 22 years old and Charlie Chaplin was 43 years old. They divorced after 6 years “without any public fuss.” Charlie Chaplin's last wife was Oona O'Neill, daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill. The age difference between them was colossal: the famous comedian was 54, and his wife was 18 years old.

2. In 1975 - a couple of years before his death - Charlie Chaplin decided to take part in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike competition in France and only took third place

Some believe that this happened because of the color of his eyes - in life they were piercing blue, and judges and audiences saw Charlie Chaplin only with gray eyes in black and white films and photographs.

3. Charlie Chaplin was a perfectionist and on the set of the film “City Lights” he forced actress Virginia Cherill to reshoot one scene 342 times

4. His first paid concert took place when he was 7 years old.

Charlie was a music hall dancer. At the age of 14, he got his first theater role and played the delivery boy Billy in the play Sherlock Holmes (pictured above).

5. Charlie Chaplin's films were shown on hospital ceilings during World War I

Chaplin was a British citizen who lived in America during the First World War. He did not officially support either side, but his comedic talent was used to boost the morale of the wounded in hospitals.

6. Charlie Chaplin made a movie you've never seen

Despite the recognition that Charlie Chaplin received, not all of his films have survived to this day. “Her Friend is a Bandit” is a lost film by a great actor and director, known only from modern reviews.

7. He composed the music for most of his films himself.

Charlie Chaplin didn't know sheet music, but he composed the music for most of his films and could play the cello and piano by ear. You may have heard the music of Charlie Chaplin and don't even know it. Nat King Cole set the lyrics to the instrumental theme "Smile", written by Charlie Chaplin for his film Modern Times.

8. The Ku Klux Klan protested his 1923 film.

Despite the love and recognition that Chaplin received during his lifetime, there was at least one group that felt that he took his humor too far. It was the Ku Klux Klan. The South Carolina regional chapter protested the Charlie Chaplin film Pilgrim. Why? Because Chaplin played an escaped criminal who pretended to be a Protestant pastor. It hurt them.

9. He edited most of his films himself

Charlie Chaplin was very passionate about making his films: he starred in them, directed, produced and even edited almost everything he ever filmed. He was known for filming more than he needed and then editing the films in his room. For example, the film City Lights was shot on 314,256 feet (96 km) of film, of which 8,092 feet (2.5 km) remained.

10. He died in his sleep on Christmas Day

Chaplin died of old age on Christmas Day 1977 at his home in Switzerland. At his side was his wife Una and their seven children. He was reported to have died "in peace and quiet" at around 4am, "hours before his family's traditional Christmas celebration would begin." His wife told the press: "Charlie brought so much joy and although he had been ill for a long time, it was a shame he passed away forever on Christmas Day." Jack Lemmon is pictured presenting Charlie Chaplin with an Academy Award in 1972 at the age of 83.

Description of the photo

In 1917, Charlie Chaplin became the most expensive actor of that time, having signed a contract with the First National studio for $1 million.

Chaplin was left-handed and even played the violin with his left hand.

In pre-revolutionary Russia, Chaplin's films were not successful. A typical expression about them, published in the magazine “Projector”: “...Chaplin is far from a comic actor. He's just a clown, just "the one who gets slapped."<...>Here in Russia, Chaplin does not have the opportunity to have this success: he is very rude, overly primitive, and has little grace.<...>Such comedians as Max Linder, Prince, Patachon, including Andre Deed, are incomparably closer and more understandable to us.”

During the filming of The Great Dictator, Chaplin was warned that the film would have problems with censorship. Chaplin was asked to abandon the production of the film, assuring that it would never be shown either in England or in the United States so as not to harm neutral relations between the United States and Germany. The film was banned by Adolf Hitler, and in Germany the ban remained in force until 1958. However, the Fuhrer himself watched The Great Dictator twice.

In 1954, Chaplin was awarded the Soviet International Peace Prize

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Chaplin once took part incognito in a competition of doubles of himself (the image of the Tramp). According to one version, he took second place in the competition, according to another version - third.

One of the geniuses of cinema was never awarded an Oscar. Only at the end of his life was he given a statuette, but not for a specific work, but for his services in general, like many other film veterans.

Chaplin's body was stolen from his grave. The kidnappers demanded ransom from relatives and threatened to destroy the loot if they did not get their way. 11 weeks later, the police caught them, the actor’s body was returned, but in order to avoid a repetition of events, this time the grave was not covered with earth, but filled with cement.

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The rules of a happy person from Charlie Chaplin

In his autobiography, which Chaplin simply called “My Autobiography,” the actor wrote 12 truths, the knowledge of which will make you a happy person:

If you didn’t laugh today, consider the day lost.

Everything in the world is impermanent - especially troubles.

Life only seems tragic when you look at it from too close a distance. Stand back and enjoy.

We think too much and feel too little.

To learn to truly laugh, learn to play with what hurts you.

Don't get used to luxury. It is sad.

Failures don't mean anything bad at all. It takes a very brave person to fail miserably.

Only clowns are truly happy.

Beauty is something that doesn't need to be explained. She is always visible like this.

Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing at the right time and the right thing at the wrong time.

Don't give in to despair. This is a drug that does the worst thing to a person - it makes a person indifferent.

Only a crazy person can survive in this crazy world. Don't be ashamed of yourself.

Film "Circus", 1923

Film "City Lights", 1931

Film "By the Sea", 1915

Charles Spencer Chaplin, a man who became synonymous with 20th-century cinema, was born 125 years ago. Pioneering film producer Mack Sennett, who first gave Chaplin work in films, argued that Chaplin would still be talked about 100 years later. There will be in 500 - if there is anyone. But, unfortunately, in recent decades, Chaplin's touchingness, even if carefully remastered and re-released in Blu-ray format, has almost no place left in modern cinema. However, we have his films, in which laughter so often went hand in hand with tears.

At the age of seven, Chaplin slept on park benches whenever he was not in the workhouse. His mother, a singer, was incarcerated in a mental asylum, and his alleged father, music hall performer Charles Chaplin Sr., drank heavily and died when Charlie was ten. According to one legend, Chaplin was born in a gypsy caravan near Birmingham; the artist himself never found a birth certificate. Chaplin seemed to come out of nowhere. His childhood was hellishly difficult.

His path to success can be described in one paragraph. Little Charlie did not taste butter, was a shy, sickly child and grew up in an atmosphere of adultery, alcoholism and madness. To support himself, he danced, hat in hand, on the streets of London. At the age of nine he was already traveling around Britain with the Lancashire Boys, a group of rural tap dancers, and at 14 he received his first role in the theater. At the auditions, his greatest fear was that he would be asked to read a few lines - he was illiterate. At the age of 21, he goes on tour with Carnot's troupe (which also included comedian Stan Laurel) to America and decides to stay there. Just four years later, at 25, he was already a movie star and received astronomical money for those times - $1000 a week.

Despite his income, Charlie wore the shabbiest clothes and was not at all interested in his own appearance or even cleanliness. Accustomed to poverty, he made the strictest economy in everything his second nature, and success did not affect him in any way. He never bought himself a drink or treated anyone to it. His theater colleagues called him strange. And when he finally left the theater troupe to devote himself entirely to the then young cinema, no one particularly missed him.

Chaplin admired Max Linder, the king of French silent films, a saccharine comedian who had been performing comedies since 1908. When Linder arrived in Hollywood, Chaplin gave him his portrait with the inscription “To Professor Max from his student.” In the short film “Max’s Romance” (1912), the owner’s shoes spontaneously fell in love with the hotel neighbor’s women’s shoes. Chaplin got the same high black boots with clasps and wore them for decades after they went out of fashion. But in his films, Chaplin outdid his master by miles - he moved incredibly quickly, inserted more gags into scenes, and moved the plot forward with gestures and body language. The secret of Chaplin's success probably lay in the fact that in the image of his Tramp he combined both circus clowns, red and white - the mannered, elegantly suited Pierrot and the awkward Auguste in wide trousers and oversized boots.

Chaplin's personality contrasted greatly with his sweet on-screen persona. Chaplin was an egocentric - there is an anecdote that in response to an assistant’s remark that the camera’s dolly rails were visible in the frame, Chaplin replied: “If I’m in the frame, the audience will not look at anything else.”

In the short film “Woman” (1915), his Tramp dresses up in women’s clothing, shaved off his mustache and no longer even becomes effeminate, but completely loses any masculine traits - he flirts, smiles, and charms. Chaplin wore thick eyelashes, highlighting his beauty for the whole world to see. And the world reciprocated his feelings - especially women and children. Much has been said about the fact that Chaplin preferred women much younger than himself. His first love was 15 years old when they met. At the age of 53, Chaplin fell in love with 17-year-old Una O'Neill and was forced to face charges of immoral behavior in court. But Chaplin himself did not attach fundamental importance to sex and chose to remain completely silent about this side of his life in his autobiography.

Chaplinitis epidemic

Until the age of 30, his life was quiet and without any scandals, except for his insane popularity. Long before Beatlemania, in 1915, the Chaplinite epidemic began - toys, dolls and cards were made in the likeness of the comedian. Competitions were also held for the best film comedian imitators - according to legend, Chaplin took part in one of them and was removed for lack of realism.

He moved away from slapsticks, in which he deftly kicked fat guys with a mustache, and began to weave dark problems that plagued society into his comedies. The loss of parents and the care of orphans in The Kid (1921), social inequality in City Lights (1931), the global economic crisis in Modern Times (1936), Nazism in The Great Dictator (1940). Chaplin clearly and without unnecessary words combined jokes that everyone understood with no less understandable sorrows, skillfully moved from one emotion to another, completely opposite, and was proud that his films were watched even in those regions where they had never heard of Jesus Christ.

Lenin sought a meeting with him, Hitler copied the shape of his mustache - the powers that be were admired by his immeasurable power over the viewing masses. Before Chaplin, everyone was equal - politicians, illiterate Hindus, and architects of the Bauhaus school, who admired the complete lack of humanity in his image. “Isn’t that Chaplin mustache all that’s left of Europe’s face?” - Vladimir Mayakovsky wondered in 1923.

But the world fell out of love with Chaplin as quickly as it fell in love with him. For his socialist leanings and open sympathy for communism, he had to answer before the Committee on Un-American Activities. In restaurants, people deliberately moved away from him. And when he went to London, halfway across the ocean it turned out that his visa to return to the States had been cancelled. Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper wrote to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to give her the Chaplin file so she could attack the superstar: “Give me the material and I’ll hit him.” And although Hoover had a thick dossier on Chaplin with a report on the latter’s connections with German socialist artists - emigrants Hans Eisler and Bertolt Brecht, the stern FBI director refused her.

Chaplin remained an outcast for the rest of his life, secluded in Switzerland next to Vladimir Nabokov (and possibly serving as the prototype for the hero of Lolita). During this time, he recalled with pleasure the early days at Keystone and Essanay studios, when he was free, happy and could easily do whatever he wanted. As he himself said: “All I need for a comedy is a park, a policeman and a beautiful girl.”

"Monsieur Verdoux"
(1947)

The script was written by Orson Welles, who wanted to star Chaplin as Henri Landru, a turn-of-the-century serial killer who was believed to have murdered more than 300 women. As a result, Chaplin directed himself, buying the script from Welles for $1,500, moving the action to modern times. The black comedy became Chaplin's first post-war film, and if in The Great Dictator he parodied Hitler, here Chaplin's universe turned upside down - the little Tramp mutated into a professional bigamist, coyly justifying himself in court by the fact that his sins look rather modest against the background of weapons of mass destruction: “Compared to them, I’m an amateur.”

"Ramp Lights"
(1952)

Charlie worked for many years on the adaptation of the 1000-page novel about an old clown named Calvero and a young ballerina. The film was supposed to be the artist's farewell bow. The story is set in 1914, the year Chaplin made his first film, and is replete with quotes from Chaplin's early films and nostalgia for the music hall days of his parents' era. Charlie invited his longtime rival Buster Keaton to appear in the film, thinking that he would do him a great favor, but their scene together turned out to be extremely awkward. As a result, Footlights was Chaplin's last, very personal reflection on the nature of laughter and the death of all emotions.

"A King in New York"
(1957)

Once upon a time there lived a man who knew how to make everyone laugh. He made adults laugh, he made children laugh, he even made himself laugh. And the clown had several golden rules for his life. The great actor adhered to these rules, did not deviate from them and called on others to implement them.

One of Chaplin's rules was this kind of thing: Only a clown is truly happy.

How did it happen that Chaplin considered this expression so important that he even included it in the rules? What did the clown do in life and in his profession:

1. made people laugh with various ridiculous situations in which anyone could find themselves more than once
2. knew how to show a way out of an absurd situation, but with a subtle line of humor, so as not to offend the vulnerable souls of society
3. in life he behaved like a loon, since he already knew how to professionally get out of ridiculous situations beautifully, with a dose of irony and with a smile on his lips.

All these professional skills help the clown to truly appreciate what is happening around him. How does an ordinary person perceive an absurd situation: He gets upset, cries, becomes gloomy for many hours, does not see friends cheering him up due to grief. Some even get depressed.

What does a clown do? Having found himself in an absurd situation not on stage, but in life, the clown laughs out of it, forgets about it instantly and moves on joyfully through life! This is the true skill of a clown - to be able to discard absurdity, not to let it overshadow one’s life with a dark cloud.

This is what Chaplin said in his rule: only a clown is truly happy.

What did the artist do? He looked at his comrade in misfortune for about five minutes with a sad clown look, and then he took the bottle and smashed it on a stone. When the driver asked why he did this, the clown replied: how many times have I shown comics about drunkenness, and now you are inviting me to become like that? Are you offering to be the one I make fun of?

The clown was outraged beyond measure, and the driver never again thought of washing down his grief with a bottle of alcohol. He remembered the clown's lesson for a long time.

Is it possible to draw any conclusion from this story? Yes. Can. clowns so often show the wrong side of life, ridiculing shortcomings, that they themselves will never want to be such a center of attention in society. Clowns also know: they make people laugh not only for the sake of money, but because people lack joy, so the clown smiles in life even in a difficult situation, because he believes that a smile works wonders.

Here it is quite appropriate to remember not only clowns, but also a children’s cartoon about smiling and the famous phrase “a smile will make everyone brighter!” Yes, it really will, and the clown knows about it. Use a smile as a weapon against evil and it will retreat, since a smile brings light to the souls of people, that light that has life-giving power for every living soul.

Charles Chaplin and Una O'Neill surrounded by children ©Fonds Debraine

In Switzerland, they not only opened a house-museum of the world’s most famous actor, but also built an entire Charlie’s World studio - a titanic project in collaboration with the Grévin Museum. In the house is the actor’s personal life, and in the studio is the entire history of the great comedian’s work. On opening day, RFI journalist Elena Servettaz visited Chaplin's World and Manoir de Ban, the Swiss estate of the British actor who built a career in Hollywood but never received an American passport.

In old photographs, which feature no shortage of Charles Chaplin's Swiss estate, the actor is almost always surrounded by children. At one point, the family even printed a special photo card for Christmas: in the center, Charles Chaplin with his wife Una O'Neill.

Smiling Oona in a little black dress, Chaplin with a smile on his face in a chic suit with a tie and the obligatory snow-white headscarf. Behind their parents are eight Chaplin children, four of whom not only grew up, but were also born here, on the family estate in Corzier-sur-Vevey, located inside a huge park. Oona Chaplin was carrying her fifth child when they moved in.

“Mom loved giving birth, and Dad loved seeing her pregnant,” joked Chaplin’s eldest daughter Geraldine.

Manoir de Ban is the last residence of "the most famous man in the world". Charles Chaplin lived in Switzerland for 25 years after he left the United States, where at that time Senator McCarthy was rampaging and a “witch hunt” was underway. There, Chaplin was pursued by the FBI, and some journalists and associations even called for a boycott of his films.

Chaplin's America and moving

Charles Chaplin lived in America for about 40 years, but never received American citizenship, traveling all his life with a British passport. In the USA, Chaplin realized what is called the “American Dream” and even became its embodiment. But there Charles Chaplin was condemned for the film “The Great Dictator”. Few people know that he had to film the film himself, with his own money, together with his brother Sidney.

American financiers believed that Germany was at that time a defense against communism. Six days after France and Great Britain entered the war against Nazi Germany, Charles Chaplin began filming.

In the USA, The Great Dictator was released at the end of 1940, and Europe had to wait until the end of the war to see this film...

“I would never have made this film if I had known about the camps at that moment,” Chaplin later said.

Oona and Charles Chaplin signed documents to purchase an estate with a park near Geneva on December 31, 1952. Manoir de Ban is an 1850s building with 14 rooms with fine furnishings. As the Swiss press of that time wrote, “Madame’s room is “Marie Antoinette”, Monsieur’s room is “Empire”.

"Two different stories - Charles and Charlie"

The idea of ​​​​creating a large museum dedicated to Charlie Chaplin and his works was born in 2000 in Switzerland as a result of a meeting between Swiss Philippe Meylan and Canadian Yves Durand. The first is an architect and friend of the Chaplin family, the second is a big fan of Chaplin's work. Chaplin's World CEO Jean-Pierre Pigeon says that the house and the museum were deliberately separated and that the studio was not built close to the actor's house.

“When you look at the Manoir, Charles Chaplin's home, this place is dedicated only to the family, his personal life, and the studio is dedicated to Charlie's masterpieces, these are two different stories - Charles and Charlie", he says.

In Chaplin's house there are home videos filmed by his wife Oona O'Neill. If you look only at old films, it will seem that Charles Chaplin joked non-stop.

Jean-Pierre Pigeon: "Yes. He loved to joke, it’s obvious, but at some point he still became a father. He wasn't a jokester 24/7, of course. At least that’s what his children say.”

However, the British writer Peter Ackroyd does not hide the dark sides of Chaplin's biography in his book. So he wrote that Chaplin had real “bulimia” when it came to women and he did not always treat them elegantly, including his wife Una O’Neill. At work he was also a tyrant, in life he was quite frugal, terrified of losing all his savings.

Difficult childhood

The fear of being left without money was apparently associated with the extremely difficult childhood of Charles Spencer Chaplin. What we will later see in the film “Baby”, Chaplin himself experienced - hunger, cold, wandering through the streets, nights in flophouses. After their parents' divorce, little Charles and his brother Sidney remained to live with their mother, Hannah Chaplin.

In the Chaplin’s World museum, the first halls also do not look joyful - this, in fact, was Chaplin’s childhood. “The only thing Chaplin remembered in color were the transport tickets that were lying everywhere in London; all his other memories were in black and white.”, says Jean-Pierre Pigeon, General Director of Chaplin’s World, in an interview with RFI.

However, Chaplin never reproached his parents for their poverty. The mother, a former pop actress, broke up with her father, a once talented actor, because of his addiction to wine.

Film "The Kid", 1921. © Roy Export SAS

Chaplin's My Autobiography (Penguin Modern Classics), which he wrote in the same house in Switzerland while working six to eight hours a day, shows how much Charles loved his mother, even when she couldn't contain them. Life was so difficult that due to hunger, Charles Chaplin's mother temporarily lost her mind and was forced to undergo rehabilitation in psychiatric hospitals. But in his autobiography, Chaplin wrote an entire ode to his mother.

Charlie Chaplin: “Every evening, returning from the theater, my mother used to lay out sweets on the table for Sydney (Charles Chaplin’s half-brother - ed.) and for me, in the morning we would find a piece of pie or candy - believing that we should not make noise, because she usually slept late.”

However, such times were only at the very beginning, then the mother sent the boys to their neighbors - the McCarthy family. Chaplin loved to go there only because he could have a hearty meal there, but even despite his hunger, he still preferred to spend time at home with his mother.

Charlie Chaplin: “Of course, there were days when I stayed at home; my mother made tea and fried bread in beef fat, I loved it, then for an hour she read with me, because she read beautifully, and I discovered the happiness of being next to her, I realized that I had a place It’s nicer to stay at home than to go to the McCarthy family.”

In Chaplin's world, mother is associated with childhood, and therefore also with gnawing poverty. He said that even the poorest families could afford a piece of meat baked over the fire on weekends - an unprecedented luxury for their family, for this he was angry with his mother for a long time and was ashamed that even on weekends they could not eat normally. One day they managed to save some money to buy a piece of meat, which they cooked over the fire. The meat shrunk to some ridiculous size, but then the boy felt happy and was eternally grateful to his poor mother.

In addition, little Charles owes his first performance on stage to Hannah Chaplin. In the book “My Autobiography,” he recalls that his mother’s voice often broke during stage performances due to colds and weakness, and then the audience laughed at the poor woman. On one of these days, when Hannah Chaplin was once again unable to continue her performance, and the audience booed her, 5-year-old Charles came on stage in her place and sang the then-famous song about Jack Jones...

The audience threw coins at the kid, he then paused for a moment and said: wait a minute, please, I’ll quickly pick up all the money and continue singing again. The spectators were dying of delight and tenderness.

The house where the doors didn't close

Michael Chaplin, the son of Charles Chaplin, who attended the inauguration of the museum on his father’s birthday, April 16, said that he spent his entire childhood in the Manoir de Ban house in Corziers-sur-Vevey.

Michael Chaplin:“I went to a regular school near my house. Sometimes I would bring friends home to play in our beautiful park. I remember how some of them stated with regret that my father was already an elderly, gray-haired man. This is not Charlie, they told me, poorly hiding their disappointment that they did not meet the Tramp in this house. Unfortunately, he was not there. This homeless tramp, this gypsy, who was always on the move, unfortunately, did not live here. But together with (the museum) Chaplin's World, we can say that he will finally find a home here. Now he will be fine.", explains Michael Chaplin, president of the Charlie Chaplin Museum Foundation. After Chaplin's death, pilgrimages from all over the world to the actor's house did not stop, " some even rushed to kiss the walls, they were so grateful to him for his films. That’s how I realized how powerfully my father’s art spoke to people from anywhere in the world.”

“Michael Jackson came here and then invited the whole family to Disneyland. Surrealism!” recalled relatives. “The gypsies became our friends: they returned here several times and gave us huge holidays,” says Michael Chaplin. The house often hosted large afternoon teas for neighboring children from difficult families, and once even for children from Chernobyl, who were brought to Switzerland for rehabilitation...

From project to opening

And so it turned out that during a visit to Chaplin’s World, visitors will plunge headlong into the black and white world of Chaplin mania, and during a visit to the house they will learn about how “the most famous man in the world” lived.

CEO Chaplin's World Jean-Pierre Pigeon: “A whole epic is connected with the Manoir de Ban estate! Charles Chaplin passed away on December 25, 1977. And his wife Una - in 1991. After which the two Chaplin children settled in this house along with their families - Michael and Eugene. In 2000 they decided to sell Manoir. When family friend Philippe Meylan found out about this, he said: “No, what are you talking about!” This is impossible! Something needs to be done! We can't let this kind of legacy just go away." This is how their first conversation took place, during which they discussed the possibility of turning Charlie Chaplin's house into a museum. Michael and Eugene Chaplin then said that they really didn’t want the house to turn into a mausoleum, this was one of their main demands. They wanted the place to continue to be a place of laughter and emotion. As a result of several months of work, Philippe Meylan wrote a hundred-page draft and showed it to Chaplin's family. They loved it and decided to sell the house through the Charles Chaplin Museum Foundation.”

A full 16 years passed from idea to opening. The opening of the museum was initially planned for 2005. The project developers - Yves Durand and Philippe Meylan - began to settle formalities with the construction plan, and in Switzerland these are often very long processes. Moreover, according to Swiss law, local residents can challenge any project. What happened at some point: one of the people living in the neighborhood wanted the Chaplin’s World project to be closed, fearing a large influx of tourists to the quiet town of Corzier-sur-Vevey. The proceedings with the neighbor lasted five years. Further construction was delayed due to financial issues. In total, about 60 million Swiss francs were spent on the creation of the museum.

After a visit to the Chaplin’s World studio, visitors will learn how the film “The Kid”, “Modern Times” was filmed, and will also see how Charles Chaplin wrote not only the scripts and director’s notes, but also the music. Chaplin was self-taught and did not know musical notation, but he wrote almost all the musical accompaniment for his films himself.

Hitler and the "Great Dictator"

At the very beginning of filming “The Great Dictator,” Chaplin wondered how to shoot this picture, because his character, Charlie, does not speak. “And then suddenly I found a solution. It was even obvious. Even while playing Hitler, I could rant through my body language and be as talkative as I needed to be. And vice versa, when I played Charlie, I could remain silent a little."- said Chaplin.

Chaplin's World has an entire room dedicated to "The Great Dictator." “Hitler was one of the greatest actors I have ever seen,” said Charles Chaplin. Later, when one of the employees of the Nazi German Ministry of Culture managed to escape, he met with Charles Chaplin and told him that Hitler watched The Great Dictator alone.

“I would give anything to know what he thinks of him,” Chaplin answered him. It is believed that it was from the final scene of The Great Dictator that Chaplin was unable to renew his American visa and was forced to leave for Switzerland to escape McCarthyism.

Last days at Manoir de Ban

©Roy Export Co Est

In Switzerland, Charles Chaplin never learned French and became angry when one of the children switched to French at dinner. It may seem that in Manoir de Ban Charlie Chaplin has turned from the embodiment of the American dream into an “ordinary man.” However, it was there that he wrote the scripts for his last two films, A King in New York and A Countess from Hong Kong, with Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. “The King of New York” was banned from showing in the United States until 1973: due to the king’s connection with the boy Rupert, who read Karl Marx in one of the schools in New York, the king himself was accused of having connections with communists. So Chaplin ridiculed McCarthyism, which drove him out of the country.

Charles Chaplin did not stop writing and composing music in Switzerland until his death. “To work is to live. And I want to live,” he said. Charles Chaplin passed away at his home, Manoir de Ban, on Christmas Day 1977. Una O'Neill and his children remained by his side until the last moment.

1. During the McCarthy era, Chaplin was accused of being a communist and not telling anyone about it. Particularly active fighters tore off a tile from the Walk of Fame with paintings and imprints of Chaplin’s feet and hands. She got lost, so it was not possible to return her to her place.

2. Chaplin, already a world-famous actor, took part in the competition for the best “Charlie Chaplin Double” and lost, taking only third place.

3. Chaplin's body was stolen from the grave. The kidnappers demanded ransom from relatives and threatened to destroy the loot if they did not get their way. 11 weeks later, the police caught them, the actor’s body was returned, but in order to avoid a repetition of events, this time the grave was not covered with earth, but filled with cement.

4. Charlie Chaplin became the first actor in history to have his photograph published on the cover of a magazine. Time magazine did this on July 6, 1925.

5. Charlie Chaplin never managed to win an Oscar in the acting category. Nevertheless, he became the only person in history who was first awarded two Oscars for his overall contribution to the development of cinema (this award is usually given to those who have already completed their careers), and then another in the category “Best Music for a Film.”
6. Charlie Chaplin was a famous heartthrob. Several women sued him, demanding compensation for the maintenance of their common not-so-legitimate children. In 1940, actress Joan Barry sued, and despite the fact that Chaplin's paternity had not been proven, the judge, tired of having to deal with Charlie's women several times a year, forced the actor to pay Miss Barry monthly alimony of $75 (huge money in those days) until this child, not his, reaches adulthood. And Chaplin paid.
7. Chaplin considered the image of “The Tramp” so successful that he used it in 70 films over 26 years. Chaplin responded to all attacks that he was unoriginal: “It is your claims that are unoriginal.”
8. In his autobiography, which Chaplin simply called “My Autobiography,” the actor wrote 12 truths, the knowledge of which will make you a happy person:

If you didn't laugh today, consider the day lost.

Everything in the world is impermanent - especially troubles.

Life only seems tragic when you look at it from too close a distance. Stand back and enjoy.

We think too much and feel too little.

To learn to truly laugh, learn to play with what hurts you.

Don't get used to luxury. It is sad.

Failures don't mean anything bad at all. It takes a very brave person to fail miserably.

Only clowns are truly happy.

Beauty is something that doesn't need to be explained. She is always visible like this.

Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing at the right time and the right thing at the wrong time.

Don't give in to despair. This is a drug that does the worst thing to a person - it makes a person indifferent.

Only a crazy person can survive in this crazy world. Don't be ashamed of yourself.

One of the greatest actors in history, Charlie Chaplin, was a very complex man with a complex and confusing life. He was called a comedian with a sad face, and this was only partly his on-screen role - in fact, there are enough gloomy pages in his biography, which reflected on the kind of person he was. But the films with his participation are considered recognized classics, and they will probably always have fans.

Facts from the life of Charlie Chaplin

1. The parents of the future star were music hall actors, very popular in their time.
2. Charlie Chaplin, an American actor, was born in Great Britain, in London (see).
3. Charlie first performed on stage when he was only 5 years old.
4. Chaplin had gypsy blood on his father's side, which he was very proud of. He himself mentioned this fact in his biography.
5. Charlie Chaplin's life was not easy from the very beginning. When he was still a child, his father began to drink heavily and died early due to alcohol, and his mother first became seriously ill and then lost her mind.
6. The young actor was forced to start earning a living early, which is why he hardly showed up at school, working as a newspaper delivery boy, an assistant in a printing house, and a doctor’s assistant.
7. As an aspiring actor, young Charlie Chaplin was almost illiterate. Once, when he was called to audition, he was afraid that he would be asked to read the text from the script for his role, since he could hardly read.
8. As a teenager, Charlie began to master the violin, playing for many hours every day. Subsequently, he was a musician in a variety show for several years.
9. Chaplin became the first actor in the world whose photo was published on the cover of a magazine.
10. He won three Oscars, but none of them were awarded for acting.
11. In 1954, Charlie Chaplin was awarded the International Peace Prize.
12. In addition to acting on stage, Charlie Chaplin composed music for films, wrote scripts and acted as a producer.
13. For the film “The Great Dictator,” in which he ridiculed Adolf Hitler, the latter added him to the list of his personal enemies.
14. Chaplin was left-handed. He even played the violin not with his right hand, but with his left. In general, there are many left-handers in Hollywood, for example, Keanu Reeves (see).
15. The Queen of England awarded Charlie Chaplin a knighthood in 1975.
16. Chaplin was married 4 times and left behind 12 children. Perhaps there are actually more, since he had many affairs and love affairs throughout his life.
17. The most popular image captured by Charlie Chaplin on screen was the Tramp, a small, awkward man in a bowler hat and huge boots. He used it in more than 70 films over several decades.
18. Chaplin loved dancing, and his favorite style was tango (see).
19. During the 40 years he lived in the United States, Charlie Chaplin never received American citizenship. At one time in the 50s, he was completely denied entry into this country because of his left-wing political views and “moral laxity.”
20. The actor's last son was born when he was 72 years old.
21. Already famous, he incognito took part in a Charlie Chaplin lookalike competition, which he failed to win.
22. In 1917, he became the first actor in history to sign a $1 million contract.
23. In 1928, Charlie Chaplin predicted the collapse of the exchange-traded fund that heralded the beginning of the Great Depression, and sold all the shares he owned in advance.
24. With the beginning of the Second World War, he began to be considered a communist due to the fact that the actor was an activist in the organization “Help to Russia in the War” and campaigned for the opening of a second front, and began one of his speeches with the address “comrades!”
25. Chaplin was passionate about boxing and often attended matches of famous boxers.
26. One of Charlie Chaplin's ex-wives later became the wife of Vladimir Nabokov, the famous writer, author of Lolita and a number of other remarkable works (see).
27. After Chaplin's death, his grave was dug up and his body was stolen. The grave diggers demanded a ransom for him, but the police managed to detain them.
28. Charlie Chaplin is the only person in the world to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
29. He wrote an autobiography about his life, calling it simply and succinctly - “My Autobiography.”
30. The music for most of Charlie Chaplin's films was written by himself.

Biography.

Charlie Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889 in London at 287 Kenington Road in the family of actors Lily Harley and Charles Chaplin.

His life had everything: a happy early childhood, a hungry adolescence and, of course, popularity, fame and wealth, which he earned with his acting skills. The viewer will forever remember the relaxed, lively and mischievous tramp who has evoked positive emotions in him for so many years. He first appeared on stage at the age of 5 and immediately received a storm of applause (his mother Lily Harley lost her voice during the performance and, in order to somehow defuse the situation, the director of the performance suggested bringing little Charlie on stage with a comic song that was popular at that time - he once saw a lively boy presenting something to Lily’s friends). He hadn’t even sung a couple of verses, and coins were already flying onto the stage. And then he stopped singing and told everyone that he would finish singing the song after he had gathered them. This caused everyone to laugh. This laughter became even stronger when he began to accompany the director so that he would give the money to his mother and not take it for himself. Yes, in this behavior we can easily recognize the movie Charlie - spontaneous and not constrained by any conventions, touching in his attempts to be practical and caring.

This applause that sounded after the performance was the last for his mother Lily Harley, she soon completely lost her voice and was forced to leave the stage. A period of difficulties began in the life of little Charlie and his brother Sydney. The mother earned extra money by sewing, keeping the children's spirits up with the help of the Bible, and also entertaining them with artistic stories in their faces. But the situation became worse and worse. And one day the boys were informed that their mother had lost her mind and was sent to a psychiatric hospital. This meant that their future fate had to be decided by the court, which sentenced Charlie and Sydney to live with their father. Life in my father's house was not much different from life on the street. Their stepmother disliked them from the very beginning and kept kicking them out of the house, while their father drank and preferred not to interfere in anything. It became clear that the boys would have to worry about their future fate on their own. Sydney, who turned 16, got a job as a bugler on a ship, and Charlie tried a lot of professions.
He sold newspapers, tried to become a glass blower, a printer. But it should be noted that he never gave up the idea of ​​becoming an actor and regularly visited theater agencies. And in the end he achieved his goal, he was offered to play the role of a messenger in the play "Sherlock Holmes". Interestingly, when he was handed the text of the role, his greatest fear was that he would have to read it out loud (he had long forgotten what school was and read it literally syllable by syllable). It’s good that there was still a week left before the rehearsal and Charlie, with the help of his brother, managed to cope with the text. His efforts were rewarded. The performance in which he was involved was a huge success. It became clear that the theatrical environment did not reject the little ragamuffin. After this there were many years of painstaking work on stage, which ended with another success: he was invited to play sketches in the corpse of the then famous clownery director Fred Karno. And already in 1910 he went on his first tour to Paris, where he was applauded by the Folies Bergere, Olympia and Segal. And in 1911, Carnot’s troupe set off to conquer the United States on a cattle ship. The tours are repeated again and Charlie Chaplin is seriously thinking about moving to America for permanent residence. Moreover, the method of conquering this continent has already been seen - this is a movie. Charlie is fascinated by the work of Max Linder, the undisputed leader of the then comic cinema, and he wants to try himself in this art. Back then, you could shoot a whole picture for a couple of thousand dollars.

Mack Sennett

Cinema began to show reciprocal interest in the actor. One day a young extra from the group D.W. Griffith, during Charlie's speech, exclaimed: "This is the guy I will offer a contract if I ever succeed!" Fate gave him such an opportunity. And Mack Sennett founded the film company Keystone Film.
And it was with him that Chaplin began his triumphant ascent to the cinema Olympus. It was within the walls of this film company that the image of the little tramp was born.
Here is how it was. Chaplin, in his usual suit, wandered around the studio idle, and caught the eye of Senet, who was looking for an image for another comedy. Of course, there was no script; the plot unfolded spontaneously, starting from a chain of comic episodes that followed one after another. Sennett sent Chaplin to his dressing room, asking him to do “any kind of comedy makeup.” Chaplin later recalled: “On the way to the costume room, I instantly decided to put on wide trousers that would sit like a bag on me, excessively large shoes and a bowler hat that was too small for me, and huge shoes. I did not immediately decide whether I would be old or young. But, remembering that Sennett considered me too young, he glued on himself a small mustache, which, in my opinion, should have made me look older without hiding my facial expressions." Note that Chaplin did not part with this mustache the entire time he played the tramp. He was convinced that no barber could make such things, and he seriously insisted that if they were completely worn out, he would pretend to be a tramp shaven. In general, Chaplin was sensitive to hair and always cut his own hair, and often even combed his actresses’ hair for filming, so it was clearly not by chance that the profession of hairdresser was chosen for his hero in “The Great Dictator.” But let's return to the moment of birth of the main movie character of all times. "When I was dressing, I had not yet thought about what kind of character should be hidden behind this appearance, but as soon as I was ready, the costume and makeup suggested the image to me. I felt it, and when I returned to the pavilion, my character had already been born. I had already was this man and, approaching Sennett, began to walk around with a proud look, casually waving his cane...

-You see, he is very versatile - he is a tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, but in general, he is a lonely creature dreaming of beautiful love and adventure. He wants you to believe that he is a scientist or a musician or a duke or a polo player. And at the same time, he is ready to pick up a cigarette butt from the sidewalk or take candy from a child.

And, of course, under the right circumstances, he is capable of giving a lady a kick in the ass, but only under the influence of strong anger." Sennett, rolling with laughter, sent Chaplin to the set. And so the tramp entered the world cinema - through the hotel lobby: on this In the filming, Chaplin portrayed his hero at the moment when he, posing as a guest, is trying to enter the lobby of an expensive hotel to warm up. He entered, immediately tripped over the leg of a lady, turned around, apologized, raising his bowler hat, moved on and tripped again - about spittoon, and again took off his bowler hat and bowed. The cameraman who was filming this burst out laughing. Then it turned out that actors, costume designers, and set builders came running to watch Charlie’s episode. It was a success. But it was necessary to achieve success with the viewer too. And then Charlie had to prove that he was right to the directors, who believed that he moved too little in the frame.According to the prevailing ideas of that time, the comedy should consist entirely of chases, running, climbing on roofs and jumping anywhere. If Charlie nevertheless insisted on his version of the script, his material was mercilessly chopped up during editing. He even learned how to adapt to this inevitable evil, and staged the most spectacular stunts at the beginning and end of the episode, since it was impossible to cut out either the hero’s appearance on the screen or his exit from the episode. Finally, after the resounding success of Chaplin’s fourth film (the demand for it was much higher than 45 copies released, and at that time a circulation of 30 copies was considered a success), Mack Sennett allowed him to direct his films independently. The undoubted advantage of working at Keystone was that there was a “wonderful spirit of improvisation” that Chaplin retained throughout his life. The first film for which he considered it necessary to write a script was “The Great Dictator” (1939), before which everything was born from one idea, around which the plot was impromptu built and tricks were invented.

And success was already growing like an avalanche. Everywhere Chaplin was greeted by jubilant and grateful crowds of admirers of his talent; in all the toy stores there were figures of the little tramp; The powers that be and famous people sought his acquaintance. But he didn't have many real friends. He was in no hurry to get married, because he believed that the family took up too much time, and when his best friend Douglas Fairbanks married Mary Pinkford, he had something like his own family.

Mary Pinkford

A little later, in order not to depend on distributors, they together decided to found their own film company and called it “United Artist”. The first film made for her was “The Gold Rush,” the rental of which completely covered the million-dollar deficit that had formed by that time for the company.

Still, Chaplin was destined to fall into the “affectionate net.” The affair with the lovely Milred Harris ended in a forced marriage, which did not last even two years and left Chaplin with a feeling of heavy absurdity.
In addition, the misunderstanding that immediately arose between him and his wife had a bad effect on creativity. Chaplin was close to depression when he accidentally saw an eccentric dancer performing with his four-year-old son in a cabaret. Jackie Coogan (that was the boy's name) was magnificent, and Chaplin realized that he simply had to cast this child in his next film. Ideas just started pouring in: “Imagine, a kid runs through the streets and breaks windows, and then a tramp glazier appears and puts them in. And what a delight - the kid and the tramp live together and find themselves in the most incredible adventures!” It didn't take long to persuade Jackie's father. In response to passionate pleas to allow his son to be filmed - only in one single picture! - Coogan Sr. calmly replied: “Yes, take this bug to your health!” Jackie turned out to be the ideal artist - he grasped the right idea on the fly and lived in his role so that there was no fuss with the psychological side of the matter. The difficulty only arose when the baby had to cry on camera. Since Jackie was having too much fun on the set of Chaplin, he had to resort to the “help” of his father, who threatened his son that if he did not cry, he would be taken away from the studio. The response was immediate and exceeded all expectations. Thus was born “The Kid” - the film with which Chaplin made another discovery; It’s not just “slap comedy” that can be successful; comedy can remain funny while being truly moving.

The premiere of "The Kid" in New York was a triumph. Jackie Coogan created a sensation, the press was choked with delight and ranked Chaplin's new film as a cinema classic, but Chaplin... never showed up at the premiere, preferring to sit out in California. In fact, no matter how successful he was, he was unable to overcome deep self-doubt until the end of his life. Watching his films later, he could admire them loudly, but when releasing a new creation on the screen, he was always panicky afraid of failure, and after each film he declared that he would not shoot anything else. Sometimes there were real reasons for such “crisis” sentiments. The appearance of sound cinema was such a shock for Chaplin, as for many cinema luminaries.
Not everyone was destined to break the sound barrier. For a long time, Chaplin could not come to terms with the fact that movie heroes had now acquired the gift of speech and, therefore, could no longer live according to the laws of pantomime. A real farewell to silent cinema was City Lights, Chaplin's last completely silent film. Here his tramp, with his touchingly selfless love for the blind flower girl, finally crystallizes into a myth.

Out of confusion about the future, Chaplin decided to heal himself by traveling and went first to Japan (where he was almost killed by activists of one of the radical political groups), and then sailed with the beautiful Pollet Godard to China, and Jacques Cocteau was on the same ship with him, leaving enthusiastic memories about this acquaintance. While traveling, the idea of ​​“New Times” was born. In this film, Chaplin used noise for the first time; the world in his films was no longer silent, but the heroes still remained mute.
The existence of sound cinema became impossible to ignore any longer, and then life gave Chaplin the idea of ​​a parody of Hitler. The pseudo-German language of the oratorios of the “great dictator” Adenoid Ginkel became that brilliant compromise that reconciled the legend of silent cinema with talking heroes.
Preparing for the role of the “great dictator,” Chaplin collected all the chronicle footage of Hitler available to him, studying his every pose, every intonation, every “story” (the Fuhrer hugging children, the Fuhrer in overalls, etc.). “This guy is a great actor,” Chaplin repeated at every viewing. “But he’s the best actor of all of us.”

The film, of course, was a success; They were waiting for him - after all, England had already entered the war and France had been occupied. War engulfed Europe. But in the States the picture was assessed differently. One of the Hollywood directors asked Chaplin for permission to reprint his hero's final speech on his Christmas cards, because he considered this text full of humanity and hope - and at the same time, some publications wrote that Chaplin was pointing a “communist finger” at the audience. Roosevelt's only response to the picture was the words: "Your picture caused us a lot of trouble in Argentina." And then Chaplin spoke at several events in support of the opening of a second front and fervently called for help for the Russians in the war against Hitler. From that time until 1952, when he was forced to actually flee the United States, his life was no longer calm. In 1943, a dirty case was fabricated against Chaplin, the accuser of which was a certain Joan Barry, who claimed that Charles was the father of her child. Genetic testing did not confirm paternity, but the defendant had to spend more than one terrible week awaiting a court decision. If the jury had found him guilty on all charges, Chaplin would have faced twenty years in prison. Then troubles began with censorship, which became increasingly aggressive against his films. Antisocial and antimoral motives were found in the script for Monsieur Verdoux, and when Chaplin tried to explain his positions, he was accused of hostility towards the Catholic Church, state and society. The film, however, was released, but only so that, after its release, Chaplin’s accusations of “anti-American activities” were fully promoted.
America, however, also presented him with the real and most important gift in his life - meeting Una O'Neill, the daughter of a famous playwright.

She was 18, he was 54. The marriage concluded during the trial turned out to be so happy, and Chaplin loved his wife so much that, for example, for the sake of lunch with Una, he could drop everything and rush home from the studio. They went to Europe together - first to Chaplin's homeland, England, where the sensitive Una admired the beauties of Albion, seeing how Charlie blossomed from these delights. And then the family settled in Switzerland, in the small town of Vevey. Charlie still filmed his later masterpieces - Footlights (1952), A King in New York (1957) and A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), but he devoted more and more time to literary works and family. This marriage produced 8 children - 5 daughters and 3 sons.
In the spring of 1972, the American Film Academy awarded 83-year-old Chaplin an honorary Oscar for his great contribution to the art of cinema."

On September 3 in Venice he received the Golden Lion. On March 4, 1975, Queen Elizabeth awarded the author of The Great Dictator a knighthood. On December 25, 1977, Charlie Chaplin passed away.
He managed to sum up his long and full life: “It fell to my lot to be the darling of the whole world, I was loved and hated. Yes, the world gave me all the best, and only a little of the worst. Whatever the vicissitudes of my fate, I believe "that both happiness and misfortune are brought by a random wind, like a cloud in the sky. And knowing this, I do not despair when trouble comes, but instead I rejoice at happiness as a pleasant surprise."

Charlie Chaplin is an American and English actor, a symbol of silent cinema, best known for his role as the tramp Charlie - whose little tragedies the whole world still laughs at.

Difficult childhood and first roles

Charlie Chaplin was born into a family of actors. His father was at one time a very famous performer of songs in London music halls. But literally a year after Charlie was born, he left the family. Mother was also a singer and actress. He grew up with his older brother Sidney, whom his mother gave birth to before marriage. But the boy also bore the last name Chaplin.

Charlie Chaplin played his first role at the age of 5. My mother fell ill - she started having problems with her throat, and could not go on stage. Then little Charlie came out into the spotlight instead of her and began to sing her song. The enthusiastic public received the baby with a bang: he was bombarded with coins and bills, which he immediately began collecting. The audience was very amused by this number, because the boy did not even finish the song. But, having collected the money, he finished singing the composition and ran away.

Thus, this was both the first performance and the first money earned.

Since then, the mother has never returned to the stage: after leaving her husband’s family, she began to have mental problems and was placed in a hospital. The children were sent to a shelter for poor children.

At the age of 9, Charlie joined the dance group for talented children “Eight Lancashire Boys”, it was there that he first succeeded in a comic role, but he would have to leave the group after a year and a half - he needed to earn a living. Therefore, the boy sells newspapers on the streets, helps a doctor he knows, and works part-time at a local printing house - but no one dared to give the little boy a permanent job.

At the age of 14, he finally finds himself in his element: he is taken as a messenger to the theater and offered a small role in the play. Charlie's greatest fear was that he would be told to read the role out loud - after all, he practically could not read, but his older brother helped him cope with this problem.

Charlie the actor and the USA

Already at the age of 16, Charlie began to play in the theater constantly, he took part in variety show productions. In addition, he studies music diligently - he plays the violin for four and sometimes 16 hours every day and takes additional lessons from the theater conductor.

At the beginning of 1908, he received a permanent position as an actor in Fred Karnot's theatrical enterprise - they supplied sketches and pantomimes for almost all London music halls. Charlie jumps at the chance and soon becomes one of the main actors in a number of productions.

In 1910-1912, Charlie was on tour with the Carnot troupe in the USA. The next few months in England lead him to the idea that he needs to return to America, so when the troupe gathers there again for performances, Charlie goes too. But with a firm decision to stay there.

At one of his performances, Charlie caught the eye of film producer Mack Sennett, who invited him to try himself in the film industry. The first roles did not bring success: Sennett even began to think that he had made a mistake, but the actress Mabel Normand persuaded him to give the boy another chance. And she was right - films with Chaplin began to generate income. But Charlie wanted to write his own scripts and make his own films.

The birth of "Tramp" and popularity

In February 1914, the first film with the tramp Charlie, “Children's Car Racing,” appeared. The image of a clumsy young man took shape literally in a few minutes: trousers that were too wide, big shoes, but a small bowler hat and a mustache that didn’t fit his size. As Charlie himself explained: he glued on his mustache so as not to appear too young, but at the same time he did not want to hide his facial expressions with anything.

But Chaplin no longer wanted to work for someone. Therefore, he left Sennett and in the same 1914 he released his film, where he was a screenwriter, director, and actor. He likes this kind of life: his earnings have also increased significantly. This is no longer $150 a week, but a minimum of $1,250, and this does not include bonuses for contracts.

In 1917, Charlie Chaplin became the most expensive actor of his time - he signed a contract for $1 million with the film studio First National Pictures.

First independent films

In 1919, Chaplin formed his own studio, United Artists, with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and David W. Griffith. He begins making feature films.

But his first work, the film “A Woman of Paris,” was received rather coolly by the public. People didn't want deep dramas, they preferred tramp Charlie to laugh at. But critics appreciated the movie; they realized that although Chaplin is a successful actor, he is, first of all, an author.

Then his masterpieces appeared: “The Gold Rush” in 1925 and “The Circus” in 1928.

Despite the fact that films had already begun to be made with sound, Chaplin remained faithful to silent films. His last film in this genre was the anti-Hitler film “The Great Dictator,” which was released in 1940. Tramp Charlie never appeared in his films again.

At the same time, US authorities begin persecution against Chaplin. He is suspected of communism, so the FBI is collecting dirt on him. “The Great Dictator” played a cruel joke on Chaplin: in countries where Nazism flourishes, he is considered a “dirty Jew,” and in America they blame him for “pointing a communist finger at the audience.” Viewers wrote him threatening letters, and distributors waved him off - they did not dare rent such a film because of the slippery subject matter.

His next film, Monsieur Verdoux, was banned from release altogether.

Departure from the USA, last years of life

When Charlie Chaplin left for England in 1952 to present his new film Footlights there, he could no longer return to the USA - he was banned from returning.

Therefore, the actor buys a house in Switzerland in the city of Vevey.

The next time he comes to America is only in 1972 - he will be given a short-term visa for the Academy Awards ceremony.

Charlie Chaplin's last film was A Countess from Hong Kong, starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando.

The actor died in his sleep on December 25, 1977, and was buried in the local cemetery in the city of Vevey. A monument to the actor was erected on the shore of Lake Geneva.

Titles and awards:

In 1954 he was awarded the Peace Prize.

In 1965 he received the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to the development of European culture.

In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Charlie Chaplin.

Chaplin received three Oscars: in 1929, 1972 and 1973.

• Chaplin once took part incognito in a Tramp look-alike competition at a San Francisco theater and did not even make it to the finals of the competition.
• Chaplin was very proud of the fact that a drop of gypsy blood flows in his veins - his grandmother came from a family of gypsies.
• Charlie Chaplin's famous cane stance is a tribute to his father. This is how Charlie remembered him from a photograph he saw as a child.
• Chaplin was married four times and had 12 children.
• After his death, Chaplin's coffin was stolen for ransom. The criminals were caught, and the actor’s body was reburied under an almost 2-meter layer of concrete.