Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London, England in 1889, the son of two music hall performers. His impoverished childhood saw him working on stage by the age of 8. By the age of 18, he was a member of Fred Karno’s vaudeville troupe (along with Arthur Stanley Jefferson, later known as Stan Laurel). The company toured the U.S. in 1910 and 1912, and Chaplin decided to stay. He was hired by comedy maestro Mack Sennett and debuted in movies in 1914. In his second film, he invented his “Little tramp” character, and his meteoric rise to stardom began. By 1915, movie theaters around the world could pack the house by placing a lifesize cutout picture of him outside the box office with the sign, “I am here today.” He was the most successful comic star on the screen, spawning numerous imitators. He also deepened and elevated screen comedy with human insight and drama.

Chaplin began writing, directing and producing his films the same year he debuted. Moving to Essanay Studios in 1915 and then to Mutual in 1916, he took complete control over his productions, creating early classic shorts such as EASY STREET, THE PAWNSHOP, THE CURE, AND THE IMMIGRANT. In 1919, he and D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks joined together to form United Artists. During the 20’s he wrote, directed, produced, edited and starred in a series of enormous successes including THE KID, THE GOLD RUSH and THE CIRCUS. For THE CIRCUS, the Motion Picture Academy gave him a Special Award for writing, acting, directing and producing, saying in a letter to him, “The collective accomplishments thus displayed place you in a class by yourself.” When sound took over the movie industry, only Chaplin had the power and popularity to resist: his first two sound films, CITY LIGHTS (1931) and MODERN TIMES (1936), were really both silent films with music (which Chaplin composed) and sound effects, but no dialogue. His first full sound film, THE GREAT DICTATOR, saw Chaplin playing two parts: his Little Tramp (in that character’s final screen appearance) has been re-cast as a Jewish Barber who is persecuted by the dictator Adenoid Hynkel, a satirical portrayal of Adolf Hitler (also Chaplin). Chaplin subsequently made the black comedy MONSIEUR VERDOUX, the vaudeville-based LIMELIGHT, and the satirical A KING IN NEW YORK. His last film, A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG, was one of his few films in which he did not star. He was knighted in 1975, and died in his sleep in Switzerland in 1977.