1. Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on April 16th, 1889 in
London, England. His parents, Charles and Hannah, were both
performers. A great heartbreak of Chaplin’s life was his
mother’s mental illness. Her consistent stints in asylums
forced Chaplin to be raised by his alcoholic father (with, at a
certain time, his father’s mistress.) Chaplin’s daughter
Geraldine, an actress, would portray her own grandmother in the
1992 biopic directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Robert
Downey Jr., in an Oscar-nominated leading role.
2. It wasn’t until several years after their mother’s death in
1928 that an adult Chaplin and his brother Sydney discovered the
existence of a half-brother, Wheeler Dryden, who was being raised
by their father. Wheeler’s son Spencer was the drummer for
the famed rock band Jefferson Airplane from 1967-1970.
3. Chaplin had a penchant for marrying his much younger leading
ladies. When he wed his first wife, Mildred Harris, in 1918, he
was 29 and she, a popular actress of the time, was only
16. Chaplin’s second wife, Lillita McMurray, was only
12-years-old when he met her on the set of his 1920 film “The
Kid,” they married four years later. Chaplin and Paulette
Goddard, a leading actress in several of his films, “secretly”
married in 1936. His fourth and last wife, Oona O’Neill,
daughter of famous playwright Eugene, was 18 to Chaplin’s 54 when
they wed in 1943. She and their eight children would be by
his side until his death.
4. If at all true, there’s simply no excuse for Charlie Chaplin
coming in third place in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike
contest. During his time, his famous mug was absolutely
everywhere, including in nearly 80 films. If that wasn’t
enough, on July 6, 1925, he became the first actor ever to appear
on the cover of Time magazine.
5. Chaplin was in excellent company when he founded, in 1941, The
Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (SIMPP),
dedicated to protecting independent producers at a time when
powerful major studios reigned in Hollywood. His seven
co-founders were: Walt Disney, Samuel Goldwyn (of MGM fame),
filmmaker Alexander Korda, “America’s Sweetheart” actress Mary
Pickford, “Gone with the Wind” producer David O. Selznick,
producer Walter Wanger, and screen legend Orson Welles.
6. When Chaplin came out of his retirement to accept an honorary
Oscar in 1972 for "the incalculable effect he has had in
making motion pictures the art form of this century”, he received
the longest standing ovation in Oscar history – five
minutes. Chaplin’s greatest honor came in 1975 when he was
knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
7. Chaplin’s star on Hollywood Boulevard is nestled between Ella
Fitzgerald’s and Ozzy Osborne’s.
8. Chaplin Avenue is a street named after the star in the San
Fernando Valley, very close to Clark Gable’s old
ranch. Chaplin also had a small planet named after him in
1981.
9. When Sotheby’s auctioned off Charlie’s trademark bowler and
cane on December 11, 1987 the take-home price was $151,246.00.
10. In 1953, at a time of McCarthyism and intense anti-communism,
Chaplin’s re-entry visa to the United States was revoked. He and
Oona made their home in Switzerland, where Chaplin would die of
natural causes on December 25, 1977, at the age of 88.
Liza Lentini is a playwright, essayist, and frequent contributor to Discover magazine's popular "20 Things You Didn't Know About..." column.
