Charles Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin KBE (16 April 1889– 25 December 1977) was a British comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, "the Tramp", and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. 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. Chaplin's childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship, as his father was absent and his mother struggled financially, and he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine. When he was 14, his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Filming on The Kid began in August 1919 and, at 68 minutes, it was Chaplin's longest picture to date, the first of Chaplin's films to be released in the 1920s. For The Gold Rush, he recruited the actor Henry Bergman, who was to work with Chaplin for 30 years.

Chaplin wrote, directed, starred in and composed the music for his films. He was considered an eccentric yet brilliant personality, and due to his limitations on direction and production, he used excessive filming to get the right results. Acting on the silver screen, he honed his acting and comedic skills, frequently drawing from his personal experiences of hardship and poverty. His films, marked by slapstick comedy and elements of pathos, became timeless classics. Politically, Chaplin was accused of communist sympathies and some members of the press and public were scandalised by his involvement in a paternity suit and marriages to much younger women. An FBI investigation was opened, and Chaplin was forced to leave the U.S. for Switzerland in 1952, where he lived until his death in 1977.