Editing Charlie Chaplin (section)

==Biography==

===1889–1913: early years===

====Background and childhood hardship====
[[File:Chaplin at Hanwell.jpg|thumb|Seven-year-old Chaplin (centre, head slightly cocked) at the [[Central London District School]] for [[pauper]]s, 1897]]
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]].<ref>Charles Chaplin, Jr., with N. and M. Rau, ''My Father, Charlie Chaplin'', Random House: New York, (1960), pp. 7–8. Quoted in {{cite web |url=http://www.adherents.com/people/pc/Charlie_Chaplin.html |title=The Religious Affiliation of Charlie Chaplin |year=2005 |website=Adherents.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806142841/http://www.adherents.com/people/pc/Charlie_Chaplin.html |archive-date=6 August 2011 |access-date=3 March 2023 |url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref>Charlie Chaplin, My Autobiography, page 19. Quoted in {{cite web|url=http://www.adherents.com/people/pc/Charlie_Chaplin.html|url-status=usurped|title=The Religious Affiliation of Charlie Chaplin|year=2005 |website=Adherents.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806142841/http://www.adherents.com/people/pc/Charlie_Chaplin.html |archive-date=6 August 2011 |access-date=3 March 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Hopewell|first=John|date=23 September 2019|title=Carmen Chaplin to Direct 'Charlie Chaplin, a Man of the World' (Exclusive)|url=https://variety.com/2019/film/news/carmen-chaplin-direct-charlie-chaplin-a-man-of-the-world-1203344589/|access-date=10 October 2021|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hancock|first=Ian F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MG0ahVw-kdwC&q=chaplin|title=We are the Romani People|date=2002|publisher=University of Hertfordshire Press|isbn=978-1902806198|pages=129}}</ref> There is no official record of his birth, although Chaplin believed he was born at [[East Street]], [[Walworth]], in [[south London]].{{sfn|Robinson|p=10}}{{efn|An [[MI5]] investigation in 1952 was unable to find any record of Chaplin's birth.<ref>{{cite news |last=Whitehead |first=Tom |date=17 February 2012 |title=MI5 Files: Was Chaplin Really a Frenchman and Called Thornstein? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9086510/MI5-files-Was-Chaplin-really-a-Frenchman-and-called-Thornstein.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=11 April 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424011812/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9086510/MI5-files-Was-Chaplin-really-a-Frenchman-and-called-Thornstein.html |archive-date=24 April 2012}}</ref> Chaplin biographer David Robinson notes that it is not surprising that his parents failed to register the birth: "It was easy enough, particularly for music hall artists, constantly moving (if they were lucky) from one town to another, to put off and eventually forget this kind of formality; at that time the penalties were not strict or efficiently enforced."{{sfn|Robinson|p=10}} In 2011 a letter sent to Chaplin in the 1970s came to light which claimed that he had been born in a Gypsy caravan at [[Black Patch Park]] in [[Smethwick]], Staffordshire (now in the borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands). Chaplin's son [[Michael Chaplin (actor)|Michael]] has suggested that the information must have been significant to his father for him to retain the letter.<ref>{{cite news |date=18 February 2011 |title=Charlie Chaplin Was 'Born into a Midland Gipsy Family' |url=https://www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/02/18/charlie-chaplin-was-born-into-midland-gipsy-family/ |newspaper=Express & Star |access-date=17 February 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222045249/http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/02/18/charlie-chaplin-was-born-into-midland-gipsy-family/ |archive-date=22 February 2012}}</ref> Regarding the date of his birth, Chaplin believed it to be 16 April, but an announcement in the edition of 11 May 1889 of ''The Magnet'' stated it as the 15th.{{sfn|Robinson|p=xxiv}}}} His parents had married four years previously, at which time Charles Sr. became the legal guardian of Hannah's first son, [[Sydney Chaplin|Sydney John Hill]].{{sfn|Robinson|pp=3–4, 19}}{{efn|Sydney was born when Hannah Chaplin was 19. The identity of his biological father is not known for sure, but Hannah claimed it was a Mr. Hawkes.{{sfn|Robinson|p=3}}}} At the time of his birth, Chaplin's parents were both [[music hall]] entertainers. Hannah, the daughter of a shoemaker,{{sfn|Robinson|p=3}} had a brief and unsuccessful career under the stage name Lily Harley,{{sfn|Robinson|pp=5–7}} while Charles Sr., a butcher's son,{{sfn|Weissman|2009|p=10}} was a popular singer.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=9–10, 12}} Although they never divorced, Chaplin's parents were estranged by around 1891.{{sfn|Robinson|p=13}} The following year, Hannah gave birth to a third son, [[Wheeler Dryden|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.{{sfn|Robinson|p=15}}

{{quote box|width=25em|align=left|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|quote="I was hardly aware of a crisis because we lived in a continual crisis; and, being a boy, I dismissed our troubles with gracious forgetfulness."|source=Chaplin, on his childhood{{sfn|Chaplin|p=10}}}}

Chaplin's childhood was fraught with poverty and hardship, making his eventual trajectory "the most dramatic of all the rags to riches stories ever told" according to his authorised biographer [[David Robinson (film critic)|David Robinson]].{{sfn|Robinson|p=xv}} Chaplin's early years were spent with his mother and brother Sydney in the London district of [[Kennington]]. Hannah had no means of income, other than occasional nursing and dressmaking, and Chaplin Sr. provided no financial support.{{sfn|Robinson|p=16}} As the situation deteriorated, Chaplin was sent to [[Lambeth Workhouse]] when he was seven years old.{{efn|Hannah became ill in May 1896, and was admitted to hospital. Southwark Council ruled that it was necessary to send the children to a workhouse "owing to the absence of their father and the destitution and illness of their mother".{{sfn|Robinson|p=19}}}} The council housed him at the [[Central London District School]] for [[pauper]]s, which Chaplin remembered as "a forlorn existence".{{sfn|Chaplin|p=29}} He was briefly reunited with his mother 18 months later, but Hannah was forced to readmit her family to the workhouse in July 1898. The boys were promptly sent to [[West Norwood|Norwood]] Schools, another institution for destitute children.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=24–26}}

In September 1898, Hannah was committed to [[Cane Hill Hospital|Cane Hill]] mental asylum; she had developed [[psychosis]] seemingly brought on by an infection of [[syphilis]] and malnutrition.{{sfn|Weissman|2009|pp=49–50}} For the two months she was there, Chaplin and his brother Sydney were sent to live with their father, whom the young boys scarcely knew.{{sfn|Chaplin|pp=15, 33}} Charles Sr. was by then severely alcoholic, and life there was bad enough to provoke a visit from the [[National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children]].{{sfn|Robinson|p=27}} Chaplin's father died two years later, at 38 years old, from [[cirrhosis]] of the liver.{{sfn|Robinson|p=36}}

Hannah entered a period of remission but, in May 1903, became ill again.{{sfn|Robinson|p=27}} Chaplin, then 14, had the task of taking his mother to the infirmary, from where she was sent back to Cane Hill.{{sfn|Robinson|p=40}} He lived alone for several days, searching for food and occasionally sleeping rough, until Sydney{{snd}}who had joined the Navy two years earlier{{snd}}returned.{{sfnm|1a1=Weissman|1y=2009|1p=6|2a1=Chaplin|2pp=71–74|3a1=Robinson|3p=35}} Hannah was released from the asylum eight months later,{{sfn|Robinson|p=41}} but in March 1905, her illness returned, this time permanently. "There was nothing we could do but accept poor mother's fate", Chaplin later wrote, and she remained in care until her death in 1928.{{sfnm|1a1=Chaplin|1p=88|2a1=Robinson|2pp=55–56}}

====Young performer====
[[File:Chaplin in Sherlock Holmes.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A teenage Chaplin in the play ''[[Sherlock Holmes (play)|Sherlock Holmes]]'']]
Between his time in the poor schools and his mother succumbing to mental illness, Chaplin began to perform on stage. He later recalled making his first amateur appearance at the age of five years, when he took over from Hannah one night in [[Aldershot]].{{efn|According to Chaplin, Hannah had been booed off stage and the manager chose him{{snd}}as he was standing in the wings{{snd}}to go on as her replacement. He remembered confidently entertaining the crowd, and receiving laughter and applause.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=17|2a1=Chaplin|2p=18}}}} This was an isolated occurrence, but by the time he was nine Chaplin had, with his mother's encouragement, grown interested in performing. He later wrote: "[she] imbued me with the feeling that I had some sort of talent".{{sfn|Chaplin|p=41}} Through his father's connections,{{sfn|Marriot|p=4}} Chaplin became a member of the [[The Eight Lancashire Lads|Eight Lancashire Lads]] [[Clog dance|clog-dancing]] troupe, with whom he toured English music halls throughout 1899 and 1900.{{efn|The Eight Lancashire Lads were still touring until 1908; the exact time Chaplin left the group is unverified, but based on research, A. J. Marriot believes it was in December 1900.{{sfn|Marriot|p=213}}}} Chaplin worked hard, and the act was popular with audiences, but he was not satisfied with dancing and wished to form a comedy act.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=44}}

In the years Chaplin was touring with the Eight Lancashire Lads, his mother ensured that he still attended school but, by the age of 13, he had abandoned education.{{sfn|Louvish|p=19}}<!--mother-->{{sfn|Robinson|p=39}}<!--abandoned--> He supported himself with a range of jobs, while nursing his ambition to become an actor.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=76}} At 14, shortly after his mother's relapse, he registered with a theatrical agency in London's [[West End of London|West End]]. The manager sensed potential in Chaplin, who was promptly given his first role as a newsboy in [[Harry Arthur Saintsbury]]'s ''Jim, a Romance of Cockayne''.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=44–46}} It opened in July 1903, but the show was unsuccessful and closed after two weeks. Chaplin's comic performance, however, was singled out for praise in many of the reviews.{{sfnm|1a1=Marriot|1pp=42–44|2a1=Robinson|2pp=46–47|3a1=Louvish|3p=26}}

Saintsbury secured a role for Chaplin in [[Charles Frohman]]'s production of ''[[Sherlock Holmes (play)|Sherlock Holmes]]'', where he played Billy the pageboy in three nationwide tours.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=45, 49–51, 53, 58}} His performance was so well received that he was called to London to play the role alongside [[William Gillette]], the original Holmes.{{efn|William Gillette co-wrote the ''Sherlock Holmes'' play with [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], and had been starring in it since its New York opening in 1899. He had come to London in 1905 to appear in a new play, ''Clarice''. Its reception was poor, and Gillette decided to add an "after-piece" called ''The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes''. This short play was what Chaplin originally came to London to appear in. After three nights, Gillette chose to close ''Clarice'' and replace it with ''Sherlock Holmes''. Chaplin had so pleased Gillette with his performance in ''The Painful Predicament'' that he was kept on as Billy for the full play.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=59–60}}}} "It was like tidings from heaven", Chaplin recalled.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=89}} At 16 years old, Chaplin starred in the play's West End production at the [[Duke of York's Theatre]] from October to December 1905.{{sfn|Marriot|p=217}} He completed one final tour of ''Sherlock Holmes'' in early 1906, before leaving the play after more than two-and-a-half years.{{sfn|Robinson|p=63}}

====Stage comedy and vaudeville====
Chaplin soon found work with a new company and went on tour with his brother, who was also pursuing an acting career, in a [[Sketch comedy|comedy sketch]] called ''Repairs''.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=63–64}} In May 1906, Chaplin joined the juvenile act Casey's Circus,{{sfn|Marriot|p=71}} where he developed popular [[burlesque]] pieces and was soon the star of the show. By the time the act finished touring in July 1907, the 18-year-old had become an accomplished comedic performer.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1pp=64–68|2a1=Chaplin|2p=94}} He struggled to find more work, however, and a brief attempt at a solo act was a failure.{{efn|Chaplin attempted to be a "Jewish comedian", but the act was poorly received and he performed it only once.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=68|2a1=Marriot|2pp=81–84}}}}
[[File:Chaplin Karno advert.jpg|thumb|Advertisement from Chaplin's American tour with the [[Fred Karno]] comedy company, 1913]]

Meanwhile, Sydney Chaplin had joined [[Fred Karno]]'s prestigious comedy company in 1906 and, by 1908, he was one of their key performers.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=71|2a1=Kamin|2p=12|3a1=Marriot|3p=85}} In February, he managed to secure a two-week trial for his younger brother. Karno was initially wary, and considered Chaplin a "pale, puny, sullen-looking youngster" who "looked much too shy to do any good in the theatre".{{sfn|Robinson|p=76}} However, the teenager made an impact on his first night at the [[London Coliseum]] and he was quickly signed to a contract.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=76–77}} Chaplin began by playing a series of minor parts, eventually progressing to starring roles in 1909.{{sfn|Marriot|pp=103, 109}} In April 1910, he was given the lead in a new sketch, ''Jimmy the Fearless''. It was a big success, and Chaplin received considerable press attention.{{sfnm|1a1=Marriot|1pp=126–128|2a1=Robinson|2pp=84–85}}

Karno selected his new star to join the section of the company that toured North America's [[vaudeville]] circuit, a section which also included [[Stan Laurel]].<ref name="charliechaplin-articles-321">{{cite web |title=Chaplin – A Musical Biography |url=https://www.charliechaplin.com/en/articles/321-Chaplin-A-Musical-Biography |website=CharlieChaplin.com |access-date=23 February 2022}}</ref>{{sfn|Robinson|p=88}} The young comedian headed the show and impressed reviewers, being described as "one of the best pantomime artists ever seen here".{{sfn|Robinson|pp=91–92}} His most successful role was a drunk called the "Inebriate Swell", which drew him significant recognition.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=82|2a1=Brownlow|2p=98}} The role was in the play titled ''Mumming Birds'', known as ''A Night in an English Music Hall'' when Chaplin performed it on tour, which was the longest-running sketch the music halls produced, and included [[Pieing|throwing pies at the players]] among other innovations.<ref name="Louvish">{{cite news |last=Louvish |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Louvish |title=Tramps like us |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/mar/06/charlie-chaplin-film |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=6 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Ellis |first=Samantha |author-link=Samantha Ellis |title=Champagne and winkles |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/jan/28/theatre2 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=28 January 2004}}</ref> The tour lasted 21 months, and the troupe returned to England in June 1912.{{sfn|Robinson|p=95}} Chaplin recalled that he "had a disquieting feeling of sinking back into a depressing commonplaceness" and was, therefore, delighted when a new tour began in October.{{sfnm|1a1=Chaplin|1pp=133–134|2a1=Robinson|2p=96}}

===1914–1917: entering films===

====Keystone====
Six months into the second American tour, Chaplin was invited to join the New York Motion Picture Company. A representative who had seen his performances thought he could replace [[Fred Mace]], a star of their [[Keystone Studios]] who intended to leave.{{sfn|Robinson|p=102}} Chaplin thought the Keystone comedies "a crude mélange of rough and rumble", but liked the idea of working in films and rationalised: "Besides, it would mean a new life."{{sfn|Chaplin|pp=138–139}} He met with the company and signed a $150-per-week{{efn|${{Inflation|US|150|1913|fmt=c|r=-2}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{Inflation/fn|US}}}} contract in September 1913.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=103|2a1=Chaplin|2p=139}} Chaplin arrived in Los Angeles in early December,{{sfn|Robinson|p=107}} and began working for the Keystone studio on 5{{spaces}}January 1914.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bengtson |first=John |title=Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin |publisher=Santa Monica Press |year=2006}}</ref>
{{multiple image
| align             = left
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 
| image1            = Chaplin Making a Living 2.jpg
| width1            = 220
| caption1          = Chaplin (left) in his first film appearance, ''[[Making a Living]]'', with [[Henry Lehrman]], who directed the picture (1914)
| alt1              = Making a Living screenshot
| image2            = Chaplin Kid Auto Races.jpg
| width2            = 220
| caption2          = Chaplin's [[trademark look|trademark]] character "[[the Tramp]]" debuts in ''[[Kid Auto Races at Venice]]'' (1914), Chaplin's second released film
| alt2              = Kid Auto Races at Venice screenshot
}}

Chaplin's boss was [[Mack Sennett]], who initially expressed concern that the 24-year-old looked too young.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=141}} He was not used in a picture until late January, during which time Chaplin attempted to learn the processes of filmmaking.{{sfn|Robinson|p=108}} The [[Film reel|one-reeler]] ''[[Making a Living]]'' marked his film acting debut and was released on 2{{spaces}}February 1914. Chaplin strongly disliked the picture, but one review picked him out as "a comedian of the first water".{{sfn|Robinson|p=110}} For his second appearance in front of the camera, Chaplin selected the costume with which he became identified. He described the process in his autobiography:
{{blockquote|I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large{{spaces}}... I added a small moustache, which, I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression. I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=145}}{{efn|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{{snd}}which was its particular strength{{snd}}it would evolve during the whole rest of his career."{{sfn|Robinson|p=114}}}}}}

The film was ''[[Mabel's Strange Predicament]]'', but "[[the Tramp]]" character, as it became known, debuted to audiences in ''[[Kid Auto Races at Venice]]''{{snd}}shot later than ''Mabel's Strange Predicament'' but released two days earlier on 7{{spaces}}February 1914.{{sfn|Robinson|p=113}}<ref name=LATimes>{{cite news |last=Mostrom |first=Anthony |title=Unsuspecting extras go down in film history |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2011-jun-19-la-me-0619-then-20110619-story.html |date=19 June 2011}}</ref> Chaplin adopted the character as his screen persona and attempted to make suggestions for the films he appeared in. These ideas were dismissed by his directors.{{sfn|Robinson|p=120}} During the filming of his 11th picture, ''[[Mabel at the Wheel]]'', he clashed with director [[Mabel Normand]] and was almost released from his contract. Sennett kept him on, however, when he received orders from exhibitors for more Chaplin films.<ref>Chaplin, C. (1964). ''My Autobiography''. New York: Simon and Schuster.</ref> Sennett also allowed Chaplin to direct his next film himself after Chaplin promised to pay $1,500 (${{Inflation|US|1500|1913|fmt=c|r=-3}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars) if the film was unsuccessful.{{sfn|Robinson|p=121}}

''[[Caught in the Rain (film)|Caught in the Rain]]'', issued on 4{{spaces}}May 1914, was Chaplin's directorial debut and was highly successful.{{sfn|Robinson|p=123}} Thereafter he directed almost every short film in which he appeared for Keystone,{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=5}} at the rate of approximately one per week,{{sfn|Kamin|p=xi}} a period which he later remembered as the most exciting time of his career.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=153}} Chaplin's films introduced a slower form of comedy than the typical Keystone farce,{{sfn|Robinson|p=113}} and he developed a large fan base.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=125|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2pp=8–9}} In November 1914, he had a supporting role in the first [[feature length]] comedy film, ''[[Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914 film)|Tillie's Punctured Romance]]'', directed by Sennett and starring [[Marie Dressler]], which was a commercial success and increased his popularity.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=127–128}} When Chaplin's contract came up for renewal at the end of the year, he asked for $1,000 a week,{{efn|{{Inflation|US|1000|1913|fmt=eq|r=-3}}}} an amount Sennett refused, as he thought it was too large.{{sfn|Robinson|p=131}}

====Essanay====
[[File:Chaplin and Purviance in Work.jpg|thumb|Chaplin and [[Edna Purviance]], his regular leading lady, in ''[[Work (1915 film)|Work]]'' (1915)]]
The [[Essanay Studios|Essanay Film Manufacturing Company]] of Chicago sent Chaplin an offer of $1,250{{efn|{{Inflation|US|1250|1914|fmt=eq|r=-3}}}} a week, with a signing bonus of $10,000.{{efn|{{Inflation|US|10000|1914|fmt=eq|r=-3}}}} He joined the studio in late December 1914,{{sfn|Robinson|p=135}} where he began forming a stock company of regular players, actors he worked with again and again, including [[Ben Turpin]], [[Leo White]], [[Bud Jamison]], [[Paddy McGuire]], [[Fred Goodwins]] and [[Billy Armstrong (actor)|Billy Armstrong]]. Chaplin soon recruited a leading lady, [[Edna Purviance]], whom he met in a café and hired on account of her beauty. She went on to appear in 35 films with him over eight years;{{sfn|Robinson|pp=138–139}} the pair also formed a romantic relationship that lasted until 1917.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=141, 219}}

[[File:Charlie Chaplin.jpg |thumb|right|Chaplin portrayed for the role as [[The Tramp]]]]
[[File:The Tramp (film).jpg|thumb|Charlie Chaplin (1915) walking down the road dejectedly, in the famous last scene of [[The Tramp (film)|''The Tramp'']], filmed on location in [[Niles Canyon|Niles Canyon, California]]]]

Chaplin asserted a high level of control over his pictures and started to put more time and care into each film.{{sfnm|1a1=Neibaur|1p=23|2a1=Chaplin|2p=165|3a1=Robinson|3pp=140, 143}} There was a month-long interval between the release of his second production, ''[[A Night Out (1915 film)|A Night Out]]'', and his third, ''[[The Champion (1915 film)|The Champion]]''.{{sfn|Robinson|p=143}} The final seven of Chaplin's 14 Essanay films were all produced at this slower pace.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=20}} Chaplin also began to alter his screen persona, which had attracted some criticism at Keystone for its "mean, crude, and brutish" nature.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=6, 14–18}} The character became more gentle and romantic;{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=21–24}} ''[[The Tramp (film)|The Tramp]]'' (April 1915) was considered a particular turning point in his development.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=142|2a1=Neibaur|2pp=23–24}} The use of pathos was developed further with ''[[The Bank (1915 film)|The Bank]]'', in which Chaplin created a sad ending. Robinson notes that this was an innovation in comedy films, and marked the time when serious critics began to appreciate Chaplin's work.{{sfn|Robinson|p=146}} At Essanay, writes film scholar [[Simon Louvish]], Chaplin "found the themes and the settings that would define the Tramp's world".{{sfn|Louvish|p=87}}

During 1915, Chaplin became a cultural phenomenon. Shops were stocked with Chaplin merchandise, he was featured in cartoons and [[Charlie Chaplin comics|comic strips]], and several songs were written about him.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1pp=152–153|2a1=Kamin|2p=xi|3a1=Maland|3y=1989|3p=10}} In July, a journalist for ''[[Motion Picture Magazine|Motion Picture]]'' wrote that "Chaplinitis" had spread across America.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=8}} As his fame grew worldwide, he became the film industry's first international star.{{sfnm|1a1=Louvish|1p=74|2a1=Sklar|2p=72}} In September 1915, Chaplin topped a poll held by ''[[Pictures and the Picturegoer]]'' of the greatest British film actors, receiving 142,920 votes from readers.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/pictureg09odha/page/46/mode/1up|magazine=[[Pictures and the Picturegoer]]|title=Picture News and Notes|date=16 October 1915|page=46|access-date=1 October 2024}}</ref> The classic music hall sketch, ''A Night in an English Music Hall'', would be the basis for his 12th Essanay film, ''[[A Night in the Show]]'', released in November 1915.<ref name="Louvish"/> When the Essanay contract ended in December 1915,{{sfn|Robinson|p=149}}{{efn|After leaving Essanay, Chaplin found himself engaged in a legal battle with the company that lasted until 1922. It began when Essanay extended his last film for them, ''[[Burlesque on Carmen]]'', from a two-reeler to a feature film (by adding out-takes and new scenes with [[Leo White]]) without his consent. Chaplin applied for an injunction to prevent its distribution, but the case was dismissed in court. In a counter-claim, Essanay alleged that Chaplin had broken his contract by not producing the agreed number of films and sued him for $500,000 in damages. In addition, the company compiled another film, ''[[Triple Trouble (1918 film)|Triple Trouble]]'' (1918), from various unused Chaplin scenes and new material shot by White.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=149–152}}}} Chaplin, fully aware of his popularity, requested a $150,000{{efn|{{Inflation|US|150000|1918|fmt=eq|r=-4}}}} signing bonus from his next studio. He received several offers, including [[Universal Pictures|Universal]], [[Fox Film|Fox]] and [[Vitagraph Studios|Vitagraph]], the best of which came from the [[Mutual Film]] Corporation at $10,000{{efn|{{Inflation|US|10000|1918|fmt=eq|r=-3}}}} a week.{{sfn|Robinson|p=156}}

====Mutual====
[[File:Charlie Chaplin with doll.jpg|thumb|left|upright|By 1916, Chaplin was a global phenomenon. Here he shows off some of his merchandise, {{circa|1918}}.]]
A contract was negotiated with Mutual that amounted to $670,000{{efn|{{Inflation|US|670000|1916|fmt=eq|r=-5}}}} a year,<ref>{{cite journal|title=C. Chaplin, Millionaire-Elect |url=https://archive.org/details/PhotoplayMagazineMay1916 |journal=[[Photoplay]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/PhotoplayMagazineMay1916/page/n57 58] |volume=IX |issue=6 |date=May 1916 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140117045754/https://archive.org/details/PhotoplayMagazineMay1916 |archive-date=17 January 2014}}</ref> which Robinson says made Chaplin{{snd}}at 26 years old{{snd}}one of the highest-paid people in the world.{{sfn|Robinson|p=160}} The high salary shocked the public and was widely reported in the press.{{sfn|Larcher|p=29}} John R. Freuler, the studio president, explained: "We can afford to pay Mr. Chaplin this large sum annually because the public wants Chaplin and will pay for him."{{sfn|Robinson|p=159}}

Mutual gave Chaplin his own Los Angeles studio to work in, which opened in March 1916.{{sfn|Robinson|p=164}} He added two key members to his stock company, [[Albert Austin]] and [[Eric Campbell (actor)|Eric Campbell]],{{sfn|Robinson|pp=165–166}} and produced a series of elaborate two-reelers: ''[[The Floorwalker]]'', ''[[The Fireman (1916 film)|The Fireman]]'', ''[[The Vagabond (1916 film)|The Vagabond]]'', ''[[One A.M. (1916 film)|One A.M.]]'' and ''[[The Count (film)|The Count]]''.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=169–173}} For ''[[The Pawnshop]]'', he recruited the actor [[Henry Bergman]], who was to work with Chaplin for 30 years.{{sfn|Robinson|p=175}} ''[[Behind the Screen]]'' and ''[[The Rink (film)|The Rink]]'' completed Chaplin's releases for 1916. The Mutual contract stipulated that he release a two-reel film every four weeks, which he had managed to achieve. With the new year, however, Chaplin began to demand more time.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=179–180}} He made only four more films for Mutual over the first ten months of 1917: ''[[Easy Street (1917 film)|Easy Street]]'', ''[[The Cure (1917 film)|The Cure]]'', ''[[The Immigrant (1917 film)|The Immigrant]]'' and ''[[The Adventurer (1917 film)|The Adventurer]]''.{{sfn|Robinson|p=191}} With their careful construction, these films are considered by Chaplin scholars to be among his finest work.<ref>{{cite web |title="The Happiest Days of My Life": Mutual |url=http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/resources/bfi/biog/biog.php?fid=biog6 |url-status=dead |work=Charlie Chaplin |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=28 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122054424/http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/resources/bfi/biog/biog.php?fid=biog6 |archive-date=22 November 2012}}</ref>{{sfnm|1a1=Brownlow|1p=45|2a1=Robinson|2p=191|3a1=Louvish|3p=104|4a1=Vance|4y=2003|4p=203}} Later in life, Chaplin referred to his Mutual years as the happiest period of his career.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=188}} However, Chaplin also felt that those films became increasingly formulaic over the period of the contract, and he was increasingly dissatisfied with the working conditions encouraging that.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brownlow |first1=Kevin |last2=Gill |first2=David |title=Unknown Chaplin |publisher=Thames Silent |date=1983}}</ref>

Chaplin was attacked in the British media for not fighting in the [[First World War]].{{sfn|Robinson|p=185}} He defended himself, claiming that he would fight for Britain if called and had registered for the American draft, but he was not summoned by either country.{{efn|The British embassy made a statement saying: "[Chaplin] is of as much use to Great Britain now making big money and subscribing to war loans as he would be in the trenches."{{sfn|Robinson|p=186}}}} Despite this criticism, Chaplin was a favourite with the troops,{{sfn|Robinson|p=187}} and his popularity continued to grow worldwide. ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' reported that the name of Charlie Chaplin was "a part of the common language of almost every country", and that the Tramp image was "universally familiar".{{sfn|Robinson|p=210}} In 1917, professional Chaplin imitators were so widespread that he took legal action,{{sfn|Robinson|pp=215–216}} and it was reported that nine out of ten men who attended costume parties, did so dressed as the Tramp.{{sfn|Robinson|p=213}} The same year, a study by the [[Boston Society for Psychical Research]] concluded that Chaplin was "an American obsession".{{sfn|Robinson|p=213}} The actress [[Minnie Maddern Fiske]] wrote that "a constantly increasing body of cultured, artistic people are beginning to regard the young English buffoon, Charles Chaplin, as an extraordinary artist, as well as a comic genius".{{sfn|Robinson|p=210}}

===1918–1922: First National===
[[File:Poster - A Dog's Life 01.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[A Dog's Life (1918 film)|A Dog's Life]]'' (1918). It was around this time that Chaplin began to conceive the Tramp as a [[Pierrot|sad clown]].]]

In January 1918, Chaplin was visited by leading British singer and comedian [[Harry Lauder]], and the two acted in a short film together.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYf7O4kzGJQ Chaplin] "Charlie Chaplin meets Harry Lauder{{snd}}Rare Archival Footage", Roy Export Company Ltd., Association Chaplin via YouTube. Retrieved 1 November 2018.</ref>

Mutual was patient with Chaplin's decreased rate of output, and the contract ended amicably. With his aforementioned concern about the declining quality of his films because of contract scheduling stipulations, Chaplin's primary concern in finding a new distributor was independence; Sydney Chaplin, then his business manager, told the press: "Charlie [must] be allowed all the time he needs and all the money for producing [films] the way he wants{{spaces}}... It is quality, not quantity, we are after."{{sfn|Robinson|p=221}} In June 1917, Chaplin signed to complete eight films for [[First National Pictures|First National Exhibitors' Circuit]] in return for $1{{spaces}}million.{{efn|{{Inflation|US|1000000|1917|fmt=eq|r=-5}}}}{{sfn|Schickel|p=8}} He chose to build his own studio, situated on five acres of land off [[Sunset Boulevard]], with production facilities of the highest order.{{sfnm|1a1=Chaplin|1p=203|2a1=Robinson|2pp=225–226}} [[Charlie Chaplin Studios]] was completed in January 1918,{{sfn|Robinson|p=228}} and Chaplin was given freedom over the making of his pictures.<ref name="BFI first national">{{cite web|url=http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/resources/bfi/biog/biog.php?fid=biog7 |title=Independence Won: First National |work=Charlie Chaplin |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=5 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324095424/http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/resources/bfi/biog/biog.php?fid=biog7 |archive-date=24 March 2012}}</ref>

''[[A Dog's Life (1918 film)|A Dog's Life]]'', released April 1918, was the first film under the new contract. In it, Chaplin demonstrated his increasing concern with story construction and his treatment of the Tramp as "a sort of [[Pierrot]]".{{sfn|Chaplin|p=208}} The film was described by [[Louis Delluc]] as "cinema's first total work of art".{{sfn|Robinson|p=229}} Chaplin then embarked on the [[Liberty bond#Sales difficulties and the subsequent campaign|Third Liberty Bond]] campaign, touring the United States for one month to raise money for the Allies of the First World War.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=237, 241}} He also produced a short propaganda film at his own expense, donated to the government for fund-raising, called ''[[The Bond]]''.{{sfn|Robinson|p=244}} Chaplin's next release was war-based, placing the Tramp in the trenches for ''[[Shoulder Arms]]''. Associates warned him against making a comedy about the war but, as he later recalled: "Dangerous or not, the idea excited me."{{sfn|Chaplin|p=218}} He spent four months filming the picture, which was released in October 1918 with great success.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=241–245}}

====United Artists, Mildred Harris, and ''The Kid''====
After the release of ''Shoulder Arms'', Chaplin requested more money from First National, which was refused. Frustrated with their lack of concern for quality, and worried about rumours of a possible merger between the company and [[Famous Players–Lasky]], Chaplin joined forces with [[Douglas Fairbanks]], [[Mary Pickford]] and [[D. W. Griffith]] to form a new distribution company, [[United Artists]], in January 1919.{{sfnm|1a1=Chaplin|1pp=219–220|2a1=Balio|2p=12|3a1=Robinson|3p=267}} The arrangement was revolutionary in the film industry, as it enabled the four partners{{snd}}all creative artists{{snd}}to personally fund their pictures and have complete control.{{sfn|Robinson|p=269}} Chaplin was eager to start with the new company and offered to buy out his contract with First National. They refused and insisted that he complete the final six films owed.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=223}}
[[File:Chaplin The Kid 2 crop.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''[[The Kid (1921 film)|The Kid]]'' (1921), with [[Jackie Coogan]], combined comedy with drama and was Chaplin's first film to exceed an hour.]]

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.{{sfn|Robinson|p=246}} Soon after, the pregnancy was found to be false.{{sfn|Robinson|p=248}} Chaplin was unhappy with the union and, feeling that marriage stunted his creativity, struggled over the production of his film ''[[Sunnyside (1919 film)|Sunnyside]]''.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1pp=246–249|2a1=Louvish|2p=141}} Harris was by then legitimately pregnant, and on 7{{spaces}}July 1919, gave birth to a son. Norman Spencer Chaplin was born malformed and died three days later.{{sfn|Robinson|p=251}} The marriage ended in April 1920, with Chaplin explaining in his autobiography that they were "irreconcilably mismated".{{sfnm|1a1=Chaplin|1p=235|2a1=Robinson|2p=259}}

Losing the child, plus his own childhood experiences, are thought to have influenced Chaplin's next film, which turned the Tramp into the caretaker of a young boy.<ref name="BFI first national"/>{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=252|2a1=Louvish|2p=148}} For this new venture, Chaplin also wished to do more than comedy and, according to Louvish, "make his mark on a changed world".{{sfn|Louvish|p=146}} Filming on ''[[The Kid (1921 film)|The Kid]]'' began in August 1919, with four-year-old [[Jackie Coogan]] his co-star.{{sfn|Robinson|p=253}} ''The Kid'' was in production for nine months until May 1920 and, at 68 minutes, it was Chaplin's longest picture to date.{{sfn|Robinson|p=261}} Dealing with issues of poverty and parent–child separation, ''The Kid'' was one of the earliest films to combine comedy and drama.{{sfn|Chaplin|pp=233–234}} It was released in January 1921 with instant success, and, by 1924, had been screened in over 50 countries.{{sfn|Robinson|p=265}}

Chaplin spent five months on his next film, the two-reeler ''[[The Idle Class]]''.{{sfn|Robinson|p=269}} Work on the picture was for a time delayed by more turmoil in his personal life. First National had on 12 April announced Chaplin's engagement to the actress [[May Collins]], whom he had hired to be his secretary at the studio. By early June, however, Chaplin "suddenly decided he could scarcely stand to be in the same room" as Collins, but instead of breaking off the engagement directly, he "stopped coming in to work, sending word that he was suffering from a bad case of influenza, which May knew to be a lie."<ref>{{cite book |last=Milton |first=Joyce |title=Tramp |date=1996 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=-0-06-017052-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/tramplifeofcharl00milt/page/184 184] |url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/tramplifeofcharl00milt/page/184}}</ref>

Ultimately work on the film resumed, and following its September 1921 release, Chaplin chose to return to England for the first time in almost a decade.{{sfn|Robinson|p=282}} He wrote a book about his journey, titled ''My Wonderful Visit''.<ref>''[https://famousclowns.org/charlie-chaplin/my-wonderful-visit-by-charlie-chaplin-chapter-i/ My Wonderful Visit]''.</ref> He then worked to fulfil his First National contract, releasing ''[[Pay Day (1922 film)|Pay Day]]'' in February 1922. ''[[The Pilgrim (1923 film)|The Pilgrim]]'', his final short film, was delayed by distribution disagreements with the studio and released a year later.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=295–300}}

===1923–1938: silent features===

====''A Woman of Paris'' and ''The Gold Rush''====
Having fulfilled his First National contract, Chaplin was free to make his first picture as an independent producer. In November 1922, he began filming ''[[A Woman of Paris]]'', a romantic drama about ill-fated lovers.{{sfn|Robinson|p=310}} Chaplin intended it to be a star-making vehicle for Edna Purviance,{{sfn|Robinson|p=302}} and did not appear in the picture himself other than in a brief, uncredited cameo.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=311–312}} He wished the film to have a realistic feel and directed his cast to give restrained performances. In real life, he explained, "men and women try to hide their emotions rather than seek to express them".{{sfn|Robinson|pp=319–321}} ''A Woman of Paris'' premiered in September 1923 and was acclaimed for its innovative, subtle approach.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=318–321}} The public, however, seemed to have little interest in a Chaplin film without Chaplin, and it was a [[box office bomb|box office disappointment]].{{sfn|Louvish|p=193}} The filmmaker was hurt by this failure{{snd}}he had long wanted to produce a dramatic film and was proud of the result{{snd}}and soon withdrew ''A Woman of Paris'' from circulation.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=302, 322}}
[[File:Chaplin the gold rush boot.jpg|thumb|The Tramp resorts to eating his boot in ''[[The Gold Rush]]'' (1925).]]

Chaplin returned to comedy for his next project. Setting his standards high, he told himself "This next film must be an epic! The Greatest!"{{sfn|Louvish|p=195}} Inspired by a photograph of the 1898 [[Klondike Gold Rush]], and later the story of the [[Donner Party]] of 1846–1847, he made what Geoffrey Macnab calls "an epic comedy out of grim subject matter".{{sfnm|1a1=Kemp|1p=64|2a1=Chaplin|2p=299}} In ''[[The Gold Rush]]'', the Tramp is a lonely [[prospecting|prospector]] fighting adversity and looking for love. With [[Georgia Hale]] as his leading lady, Chaplin began filming the picture in February 1924.{{sfn|Robinson|p=337}} Its elaborate production, costing almost $1{{spaces}}million,{{sfn|Robinson|p=358}} included [[location shooting]] in the [[Truckee Range|Truckee mountains]] in [[Nevada]] with 600 extras, extravagant sets, and [[special effect]]s.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=340–345}} The last scene was shot in May 1925 after 15 months of filming.{{sfn|Robinson|p=354}}

Chaplin felt ''The Gold Rush'' was the best film he had made.{{sfn|Robinson|p=357}} It opened in August 1925 and became one of the highest-grossing films of the silent era, with a U.S. box-office of $5{{spaces}}million.{{efn|{{Inflation|US|5000000|1925|fmt=eq|r=-5}}}}{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=358|2a1=Kemp|2p=63}} The comedy contains some of Chaplin's most famous sequences, such as the Tramp eating his shoe and the "Dance of the Rolls".{{sfnm|1a1=Kemp|1pp=63–64|2a1=Robinson|2pp=339, 353|3a1=Louvish|3p=200|4a1=Schickel|4p=19}} Macnab has called it "the quintessential Chaplin film".{{sfn|Kemp|p=64}} Chaplin stated at its release: "This is the picture that I want to be remembered by".{{sfn|Vance|2003|p=154}}

====Lita Grey and ''The Circus''====
[[File:Lita Grey.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lita Grey]], whose bitter divorce from Chaplin caused a scandal]]

While making ''The Gold Rush'', Chaplin married for the second time. Mirroring the circumstances of his first union, [[Lita Grey]] was a teenage actress, originally set to star in the film, whose surprise announcement of pregnancy forced Chaplin into marriage. She was 16 and he was 35, meaning Chaplin could have been charged with [[statutory rape]] under California law.{{sfn|Robinson|p=346}} He therefore arranged a discreet marriage in Mexico on 25 November 1924.{{sfnm|1a1=Chaplin and Vance|1p=53|2a1=Vance|2y=2003|2p=170}} They originally met during her childhood and she had previously appeared in his works ''The Kid'' and ''The Idle Class''.{{sfn|Chaplin and Vance|pp=xvi, xviii, 4, 26, 30}} Their first son, [[Charles Chaplin Jr.|Charles Spencer Chaplin III]], was born on 5{{spaces}}May 1925, followed by [[Sydney Chaplin (American actor)|Sydney Earl Chaplin]] on 30 March 1926.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=355, 368}} On 6 July 1925, Chaplin became the first movie star to be featured on a ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' [[List of covers of Time magazine (1920s)|cover]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Charlie Chaplin: The First Actor in the world to be on the cover of Times magazine|first=Kumar|last=Ujjal|url=https://infotonline.com/charlie-chaplin-on-the-cover-of-times-magazine/|date=16 April 2020|access-date=1 April 2021|website=Infotoline|archive-date=25 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625015109/https://infotonline.com/charlie-chaplin-on-the-cover-of-times-magazine/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

It was an unhappy marriage, and Chaplin spent long hours at the studio to avoid seeing his wife.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=350, 368}} In November 1926, Grey took the children and left the family home.{{sfn|Robinson|p=371}} A bitter divorce followed, in which Grey's application{{snd}}accusing Chaplin of infidelity, abuse and of harbouring "perverted sexual desires"{{snd}}was leaked to the press.{{sfnm|1a1=Louvish|1p=220|2a1=Robinson|2pp=372–374}}{{efn|In her memoirs, Lita Grey later claimed that many of her complaints were "cleverly, shockingly enlarged upon or distorted" by her lawyers.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=96}}}} Chaplin was reported to be in a state of nervous breakdown, as the story became headline news and groups formed across America calling for his films to be banned.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1pp=372–374|2a1=Louvish|2pp=220–221}} Eager to end the case without further scandal, Chaplin's lawyers agreed to a cash settlement of $600,000{{efn|{{Inflation|US|600000|1927|fmt=eq|r=-4}}}}{{snd}}the largest awarded by American courts at that time.{{sfn|Robinson|p=378}} His fan base was strong enough to survive the incident, and it was soon forgotten, but Chaplin was deeply affected by it.{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=1989|1pp=99–105|2a1=Robinson|2p=383}} Less than five months after the divorce, Grey's former butler [[Murder of Don Solovich|Don Solovich]] was murdered in Utah, and articles speculated about connections between Chaplin and the murder.<ref name=Strange>{{cite news |newspaper=[[New York Daily News]] |location=New York City |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-charlie-chaplin-murder/112404948/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |title=What Was Justice: The Strange Killing of Don Solovich, Known as Hollywood's Mystery Man |date=21 October 1928 |pages=46–47}}</ref><ref name=Sensational>{{cite news |date=7 May 1928 |title=Sensational Evidence Promised in Solovich Murder Trial: Attorney Hints at Revelations |pages=18 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-sensational-eviden/125115092/ |access-date=26 May 2023 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref name=Completed>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-manti-messenger-testimony-completed/125113276/ |title= Testimony Completed, Jury To Get Clark Case Tomorrow |newspaper=Manti Messenger |location=Manti, UT |date=8 June 1928 |pages=1, 4| via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Before the divorce suit was filed, Chaplin had begun work on a new film, ''[[The Circus (1928 film)|The Circus]]''.{{sfn|Robinson|p=360}} He built a story around the idea of walking a tightrope while besieged by monkeys, and turned the Tramp into the accidental star of a circus.{{sfn|Robinson|p=361}} Filming was suspended for ten months while he dealt with the divorce scandal,{{sfn|Robinson|pp=371, 381}} and it was generally a trouble-ridden production.{{sfn|Louvish|p=215}} Finally completed in October 1927, ''The Circus'' was released in January 1928 to a positive reception.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=382}} At the [[1st Academy Awards]], Chaplin was given a special trophy "For versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing ''The Circus''".<ref name="circus">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Pfeiffer |first=Lee |title=The Circus – Film by Chaplin [1928] |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Circus |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=9 August 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905164503/https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Circus |archive-date= 5 September 2015}}</ref> Despite its success, he permanently associated the film with the stress of its production; Chaplin omitted ''The Circus'' from his autobiography, and struggled to work on it when he recorded the score in his later years.{{sfnm|1a1=Brownlow|1p=73|2a1=Louvish|2p=224}}

====''City Lights''====
{{Rquote|right|text=I was determined to continue making silent films{{spaces}}... I was a pantomimist and in that medium I was unique and, without false modesty, a master.|author=Charlie Chaplin, explaining his defiance against [[sound film|sound]] in the 1930s{{sfn|Chaplin|p=322}}}}

By the time ''The Circus'' was released, Hollywood had witnessed the introduction of [[sound film]]s. Chaplin was cynical about this new medium and the technical shortcomings it presented, believing that "talkies" lacked the artistry of silent films.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=389|2a1=Chaplin|2p=321}} He was also hesitant to change the formula that had brought him such success,{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=465|2a1=Chaplin|2p=322|3a1=Maland|3y=2007|3p=29}} and feared that giving the Tramp a voice would limit his international appeal.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=389|2a1=Maland|2y=2007|2p=29}} He, therefore, rejected the new Hollywood craze and began work on a new silent film. Chaplin was nonetheless anxious about this decision and remained so throughout the film's production.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=389|2a1=Maland|2y=2007|2p=29}}
[[File:Chaplin City Lights still.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[City Lights]]'' (1931) is regarded as one of Chaplin's finest works.]]

When filming began at the end of 1928, Chaplin had been working on the story for almost a year.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=398|2a1=Maland|2y=2007|2pp=33–34, 41}} ''[[City Lights]]'' followed the Tramp's love for a blind flower girl (played by [[Virginia Cherrill]]) and his efforts to raise money for her sight-saving operation. It was a challenging production that lasted 21 months,{{sfn|Robinson|p=409|ps=, records the date filming ended as 22 September 1930.}} with Chaplin later confessing that he "had worked himself into a neurotic state of wanting perfection".{{sfn|Chaplin|p=324}} One advantage Chaplin found in sound technology was the opportunity to record a musical score for the film, which he composed himself.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=324}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.charliechaplin.com/biography/articles/205-Chaplin-as-a-composer |title=Chaplin as a composer |publisher=CharlieChaplin.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705021919/http://www.charliechaplin.com/biography/articles/205-Chaplin-as-a-composer |archive-date= 5 July 2011}}</ref>

Chaplin finished editing ''City Lights'' in December 1930, by which time silent films were an anachronism.{{sfn|Robinson|p=410}} A preview before an unsuspecting public audience was not a success,{{sfn|Chaplin|p=325}} but a showing for the press produced positive reviews. One journalist wrote: "Nobody in the world but Charlie Chaplin could have done it. He is the only person that has that peculiar something called 'audience appeal' in sufficient quality to defy the popular penchant for movies that talk."{{sfn|Robinson|p=413}} Given its general release in January 1931, ''City Lights'' proved to be a popular and financial success, eventually grossing over $3{{spaces}}million.{{efn|{{Inflation|US|3000000|1931|fmt=eq|r=-5}}}}{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=2007|1pp=108–110|2a1=Chaplin|2p=328|3a1=Robinson|3p=415}} The [[British Film Institute]] called it Chaplin's finest accomplishment, and the critic [[James Agee]] hails the closing scene as "the greatest piece of acting and the highest moment in movies".<ref name="bfi great features">{{cite web|url=http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/resources/bfi/biog/biog.php?fid=biog9 |title=United Artists and the Great Features |work=Charlie Chaplin |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=21 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406094725/http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/resources/bfi/biog/biog.php?fid=biog9 |archive-date= 6 April 2012}}</ref>{{sfn|Maland|2007|pp=10–11}} ''City Lights'' became Chaplin's personal favourite of his films and remained so throughout his life.{{sfn|Vance|2003|p=208}}

==== Travels, Paulette Goddard and ''Modern Times'' ====
''City Lights'' had been a success, but Chaplin was unsure if he could make another picture without dialogue. He remained convinced that sound would not work in his films, but was also "obsessed by a depressing fear of being old-fashioned".{{sfn|Chaplin|p=360}} In this state of uncertainty, early in 1931, the comedian decided to take a holiday and ended up travelling for 16 months.{{sfnm|1a1=Louvish|1p=243|2a1=Robinson|2p=420}}{{efn|Chaplin left the United States on 31 January 1931, and returned on 10 June 1932.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=664–666}}}} He spent months travelling Western Europe, including extended stays in France and Switzerland, and spontaneously decided to visit Japan.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=429–441}} The day after he arrived in Japan, Prime Minister [[Inukai Tsuyoshi]] was assassinated by ultra-nationalists in the [[May 15 Incident]]. The group's original plan had been to provoke a war with the United States by assassinating Chaplin at a welcome reception organised by the prime minister, but the plan had been foiled due to delayed public announcement of the event's date.{{sfn|Silverberg|pp=1–2}}
[[File:Modern Times poster.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Modern Times (film)|Modern Times]]'' (1936), described by Jérôme Larcher as a "grim contemplation on the automatisation of the individual"{{sfn|Larcher|p=64}}]]

In his autobiography, Chaplin recalled that on his return to Los Angeles, "I was confused and without plan, restless and conscious of an extreme loneliness". He briefly considered retiring and moving to China.{{sfn|Chaplin|pp=372, 375}} Chaplin's loneliness was relieved when he met 21-year-old actress [[Paulette Goddard]] in July 1932, and the pair began a relationship.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=453|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2p=147}} He was not ready to commit to a film, however, and focused on writing a [[Serial (literature)|serial]] about his travels (published in ''[[Woman's Home Companion]]'').{{sfn|Robinson|p=451}} The trip had been a stimulating experience for Chaplin, including meetings with several prominent thinkers, and he became increasingly interested in world affairs.{{sfn|Louvish|p=256}} The state of labour in America troubled him, and he feared that capitalism and machinery in the workplace would increase unemployment levels. It was these concerns that stimulated Chaplin to develop his new film.{{sfnm|1a1=Larcher|1p=63|2a1=Robinson|2pp=457–458}}

''[[Modern Times (film)|Modern Times]]'' was announced by Chaplin as "a satire on certain phases of our industrial life".{{sfn|Louvish|p=257}} Featuring the Tramp and Goddard as they endure the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]], it took ten and a half months to film.{{sfn|Robinson|p=465}} Chaplin intended to use spoken dialogue but changed his mind during rehearsals. Like its predecessor, ''Modern Times'' employed sound effects but almost no speaking.{{sfn|Robinson|p=466}} Chaplin's performance of a gibberish song did, however, give the Tramp a voice for the only time on film.{{sfn|Robinson|p=468}} After recording the music, Chaplin released ''Modern Times'' in February 1936.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=469–472, 474}} It was his first feature in 15 years to adopt political references and social realism,{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=150}} a factor that attracted considerable press coverage despite Chaplin's attempts to downplay the issue.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=144–147}} The film earned less at the box-office than his previous features and received mixed reviews, as some viewers disliked the politicising.{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=1989|1p=157|2a1=Robinson|2p=473}} Today, ''Modern Times'' is seen by the British Film Institute as one of Chaplin's "great features",<ref name="bfi great features"/> while David Robinson says it shows the filmmaker at "his unrivalled peak as a creator of visual comedy".{{sfn|Schneider|p=125}}

Following the release of ''Modern Times'', Chaplin left with Goddard for a trip to the Far East.{{sfn|Robinson|p=479}} Chaplin, Goddard and a Japanese servant named Yonnemori arrived in [[Saigon]] in April 1936, and visited multiple locations in [[French Indochina]].<ref name="Vua-hề-Charlie-Chaplin-thăm-Đông-Dương-năm-1936">{{cite web|url= https://archives.org.vn/gioi-thieu-tai-lieu-nghiep-vu/vua-he-charlie-chaplin-tham-dong-duong-nam-1936.htm|title= Vua hề Charlie Chaplin thăm Đông Dương năm 1936.|date=26 May 2023|accessdate=31 May 2023|author= Bùi Hệ|publisher= National Archives of Vietnam|language=vi}}</ref> They then visited [[Phnom Penh]] to view [[Angkor Wat]], and [[Da Lat]], followed by [[Huế]], arriving in [[Đà Nẵng]] where he visited the [[Marble Mountains (Vietnam)|Marble Mountains]] and the [[Museum of Cham Sculpture|Henri Parmentier Museum]].<ref name="Vua-hề-Charlie-Chaplin-thăm-Đông-Dương-năm-1936"/> In [[Hanoi]] (the capital city of French Indochina)<ref name="Vua-hề-Charlie-Chaplin-thăm-Đông-Dương-năm-1936"/> they visited the popular tourist destination [[Hạ Long Bay]], and the couple then left from [[Hải Phòng]] to [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] on board of a ship the ''Canton''.<ref name="Vua-hề-Charlie-Chaplin-thăm-Đông-Dương-năm-1936"/> The couple had refused to comment on the nature of their relationship, and it was not known whether they were married or not.{{sfn|Robinson|p=469}} Sometime later, Chaplin revealed that they married in [[Guangzhou|Canton]] during this trip.{{sfn|Robinson|p=483}} By 1938, the couple had drifted apart, as both focused heavily on their work, although Goddard was again his leading lady in his next feature film, ''The Great Dictator''. She eventually divorced Chaplin in Mexico in 1942, citing incompatibility and separation for more than a year.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=509–510}}

===1939–1952: controversies and fading popularity===

====''The Great Dictator''====
[[File:The Great Dictator still cropped (high quality version).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Chaplin satirised [[Adolf Hitler]] in ''[[The Great Dictator]]'' (1940).]]
The 1940s saw Chaplin face a series of controversies, both in his work and in his personal life, which changed his fortunes and severely affected his popularity in the United States. The first of these was his growing boldness in expressing his political beliefs. Deeply disturbed by the [[Para-fascism|surge of militaristic nationalism]] in 1930s world politics,{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1p=485|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2p=159}} Chaplin found that he could not keep these issues out of his work.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=386}} Parallels between himself and [[Adolf Hitler]] had been widely noted: the pair were born four days apart, both had risen from poverty to world prominence, and Hitler wore [[Toothbrush moustache|the same moustache style]] as Chaplin. It was this physical resemblance that supplied the plot for Chaplin's next film, ''[[The Great Dictator]]'', which directly satirised Hitler and attacked fascism.{{sfnm|1a1=Schickel|1p=28|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2pp=165, 170|3a1=Louvish|3p=271|4a1=Robinson|4p=490|5a1=Larcher|5p=67|6a1=Kemp|6p=158}}

Chaplin spent two years developing the script{{sfn|Chaplin|p=388}} and began filming in September 1939, six days after Britain declared war on Germany.{{sfn|Robinson|p=496}} He had submitted to using spoken dialogue, partly out of acceptance that he had no other choice, but also because he recognised it as a better method for delivering a political message.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=165}} Making a comedy about Hitler was seen as highly controversial, but Chaplin's financial independence allowed him to take the risk.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=164}} "I was determined to go ahead", he later wrote, "for Hitler must be laughed at."{{sfn|Chaplin|p=387}}{{efn|Chaplin later said that if he had known the extent of the Nazi Party's actions he would not have made the film; "Had I known the actual horrors of the German concentration camps, I could not have made ''The Great Dictator''; I could not have made fun of the homicidal insanity of the Nazis."{{sfn|Chaplin|p=388}}}} Chaplin replaced the Tramp (while wearing similar attire) with "A Jewish Barber", a reference to the [[Nazi Party]]'s belief that he was Jewish.<ref>{{cite news |last=Tunzelmann |first=Alex von |title=Chaplin: a little tramp through Charlie's love affairs |newspaper=The Guardian |date=22 November 2012 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/nov/22/chaplin-charlie-little-tramp-reel-history |access-date=19 February 2018}}</ref>{{efn|Speculation about Chaplin's racial origin existed from the earliest days of his fame, and it was often reported that he was a Jew. Research has uncovered no evidence of this, and when a reporter asked in 1915 if it was true, Chaplin responded, "I have not that good fortune." The Nazi Party believed that he was Jewish and banned ''The Gold Rush'' on this basis. Chaplin responded by playing a Jew in ''The Great Dictator'' and announced, "I did this film for the Jews of the world."{{sfn|Robinson|pp=154–155}}}} In a dual performance, he also played the dictator "Adenoid Hynkel", a parody of Hitler.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=172–173}}

''The Great Dictator'' spent a year in production and was released in October 1940.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=505, 507}} The film generated a vast amount of publicity, with a critic for ''[[The New York Times]]'' calling it "the most eagerly awaited picture of the year", and it was one of the biggest money-makers of the era.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=169, 178–179}} The ending was unpopular, however, and generated controversy.{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=1989|1p=176|2a1=Schickel|2pp=30–31}} Chaplin concluded the film with a five-minute speech in which he abandoned his barber character, looked directly into the camera, and pleaded against war and fascism.{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=1989|1p=179–181|2a1=Louvish|2p=282|3a1=Robinson|3p=504}} Charles J. Maland has identified this overt preaching as triggering a decline in Chaplin's popularity, and writes: "Henceforth, no movie fan would ever be able to separate the dimension of politics from [his] star image".{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=178–179}} Nevertheless, both [[Winston Churchill]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] liked the film, which they saw at private screenings before its release. Roosevelt subsequently invited Chaplin to read the film's final speech over the radio during his January 1941 inauguration, with the speech becoming a "hit" of the celebration. Chaplin was often invited to other patriotic functions to read the speech to audiences during the years of the war.{{sfn|Gehring|p=133}} ''The Great Dictator'' received five Academy Award nominations, including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]], [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]] and [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Pfeiffer |first=Lee |title=The Great Dictator |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Great-Dictator |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=16 March 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706071821/https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Great-Dictator |archive-date= 6 July 2015}}</ref>

====Legal troubles and Oona O'Neill====
In the mid-1940s, Chaplin was involved in a series of trials that occupied most of his time and significantly affected his public image.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=197–198}} The troubles stemmed from his affair with an aspiring actress named [[Joan Barry (American actress)|Joan Barry]], with whom he was involved intermittently between June 1941 and the autumn of 1942.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=200}} Barry, who displayed obsessive behaviour and was twice arrested after they separated,{{efn|In December 1942, Barry broke into Chaplin's home with a handgun and threatened suicide while holding him at gunpoint. This lasted until the next morning, when Chaplin was able to get the gun from her. Barry broke into Chaplin's home a second time later that month, and he had her arrested. She was then prosecuted for [[wikt:vagrant|vagrancy]] in January 1943{{snd}}Barry had been unable to pay her hotel bills, and was found wandering the streets of Beverly Hills after taking an overdose of [[barbiturate]]s.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=198–201}}}} reappeared the following year and announced that she was pregnant with Chaplin's child. As Chaplin denied the claim, Barry filed a [[paternity suit]] against him.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=198–201}}

The director of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI), [[J. Edgar Hoover]], who had long been suspicious of Chaplin's political leanings, used the opportunity to generate negative publicity about him. As part of a [[smear campaign]] to damage Chaplin's image,{{sfn|Nowell-Smith|p=85}} the FBI named him in four indictments related to the Barry case. Most serious of these was an alleged violation of the [[Mann Act]], which prohibits the transportation of women across state boundaries for sexual purposes.{{efn|According to the prosecutor, Chaplin had violated the act when he paid for Barry's trip to New York in October 1942, when he was also visiting the city. Both Chaplin and Barry agreed that they had met there briefly, and according to Barry, they had sexual intercourse.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=204–205}} Chaplin claimed that the last time he was intimate with Barry was May 1942.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=523–524}}}} Historian [[Otto Friedrich]] called this an "absurd prosecution" of an "ancient statute",{{sfn|Friedrich|pp=190, 393}} yet if Chaplin was found guilty, he faced 23 years in prison.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=215}} Three charges lacked sufficient evidence to proceed to court, but the Mann Act trial began on 21 March 1944.<ref>Associated Press, "Tentative Jury in Chaplin Case{{snd}}British Nationality Of Actor Made Issue", ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, 22 March 1944, Vol. 50, p. 1.</ref> Chaplin was acquitted two weeks later, on{{spaces}}4 April.<ref>Associated Press, "Chaplin Acquitted Amid Cheers, Applause{{snd}}Actor Chokes With Emotion as Court Fight Won", ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Wednesday 5{{spaces}}April 1944, Volume 50, p. 1.</ref>{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=204–205}} The case was frequently headline news, with ''[[Newsweek]]'' calling it the "biggest public relations scandal since the [[Roscoe Arbuckle|Fatty Arbuckle]] murder trial in 1921".{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=214–215}}

[[File:Oona O'Neill - 1943.jpg|upright|thumb|Chaplin's fourth wife and widow, [[Oona O'Neill|Oona]]]]

Barry's child, Carol Ann, was born in October 1943, and the paternity suit went to court in December 1944. After two arduous trials, in which the prosecuting lawyer accused him of "[[moral turpitude]]",{{sfn|Louvish|p=xiii}} Chaplin was declared to be the father. Evidence from blood tests that indicated otherwise were not admissible,{{efn|Carol Ann's [[blood group]] was B, Barry's was A, and Chaplin's was O. In California at this time, blood tests were not accepted as evidence in legal trials.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=205–206}}}} and the judge ordered Chaplin to pay child support until Carol Ann turned 21. Media coverage of the suit was influenced by the FBI, which fed information to gossip columnist [[Hedda Hopper]], and Chaplin was portrayed in an overwhelmingly critical light.{{sfnm|1a1=Frost|1pp=74–88|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2pp=207–213|3a1=Sbardellati and Shaw|3p=508|4a1=Friedrich|4p=393}}

The controversy surrounding Chaplin increased when{{snd}}two weeks after the paternity suit was filed{{snd}}it was announced that he had married his newest [[protégée]], 18-year-old [[Oona O'Neill]], the daughter of American playwright [[Eugene O'Neill]].{{sfn|Louvish|p=135}} Chaplin, then 54, had been introduced to her by a film agent seven months earlier.{{efn|Chaplin and O'Neill met on 30 October 1942 and married on 16 June 1943 in [[Carpinteria, California]].{{sfnm|1a1=Chaplin|1pp=423–444|2a1=Robinson|2p=670}} Eugene O'Neill disowned his daughter as a result.{{sfn|Sheaffer|pp=623, 658}}}} In his autobiography, Chaplin described meeting O'Neill as "the happiest event of my life", and claimed to have found "perfect love".{{sfn|Chaplin|pp=423, 477}} Chaplin's son, Charles III, reported that Oona "worshipped" his father.{{sfn|Robinson|p=519}} The couple remained married until Chaplin's death, and had eight children over 18 years: [[Geraldine Chaplin|Geraldine Leigh]] (b. July 1944), [[Michael Chaplin (actor)|Michael John]] (b. March 1946), [[Josephine Chaplin|Josephine Hannah]] (b. March 1949), [[Victoria Chaplin|Victoria Agnes]] (b. May 1951), [[Eugene Chaplin|Eugene Anthony]] (b. August 1953), Jane Cecil (b. May 1957), Annette Emily (b. December 1959), and [[Christopher Chaplin|Christopher James]] (b. July 1962).{{sfn|Robinson|pp=671–675}}

====''Monsieur Verdoux'' and communist accusations====
[[File:Monsieur Verdoux poster.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''[[Monsieur Verdoux]]'' (1947), a dark comedy about a serial killer, marked a significant departure for Chaplin.]]

Chaplin claimed that the Barry trials had "crippled [his] creativeness", and it was some time before he began working again.{{sfn|Chaplin|p=426}} In April 1946, he finally began filming a project that had been in development since 1942.{{sfn|Robinson|p=520}} ''[[Monsieur Verdoux]]'' was a [[black comedy]], the story of a French bank clerk, Verdoux (Chaplin), who loses his job and begins marrying and murdering wealthy widows to support his family. Chaplin's inspiration for the project came from [[Orson Welles]], who wanted him to star in a film about the French serial killer [[Henri Désiré Landru]]. Chaplin decided that the concept would "make a wonderful comedy",{{sfn|Chaplin|p=412}} and paid Welles $5,000{{efn|{{Inflation|US|5000|1942|fmt=eq|r=-3}}}} for the idea.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=519–520}}

Chaplin again vocalised his political views in ''Monsieur Verdoux'', criticising [[capitalism]] and arguing that the world encourages mass killing through wars and [[Weapon of mass destruction|weapons of mass destruction]].{{sfnm|1a1=Louvish|1p=304|2a1=Sbardellati and Shaw|2p=501}} Because of this, the film met with controversy when it was released in April 1947;{{sfnm|1a1=Louvish|1pp=296–297|2a1=Robinson|2pp=538–543|3a1=Larcher|3p=77}} Chaplin was booed at the premiere, and there were calls for a boycott.{{sfnm|1a1=Louvish|1pp=296–297|2a1=Sbardellati and Shaw|2p=503}} ''Monsieur Verdoux'' was the first Chaplin release that failed both critically and commercially in the United States.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=235–245, 250}} It was more successful abroad,{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=250}} and Chaplin's screenplay was nominated at the [[20th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]].{{sfn|Louvish|p=297}} He was proud of the film, writing in his autobiography, "''Monsieur Verdoux'' is the cleverest and most brilliant film I have yet made."{{sfn|Chaplin|p=444}}

The negative reaction to ''Monsieur Verdoux'' was largely the result of changes in Chaplin's public image.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=251}} Along with the damage of the Joan Barry scandal, he was publicly accused of being a [[communist]].{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1pp=538–539|2a1=Friedrich|2p=287}} His political activity had heightened during World War II, when he campaigned for the opening of a Second Front to help the [[Soviet Union]] and supported various Soviet–American friendship groups.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=253}} He was also friendly with several suspected communists, and attended functions given by Soviet diplomats in Los Angeles.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=221–226, 253–254}} In the political climate of 1940s America, such activities meant Chaplin was considered, as Larcher writes, "dangerously [[progressivism|progressive]] and amoral".{{sfnm|1a1=Larcher|1p=75|2a1=Sbardellati and Shaw|2p=506|3a1=Louvish|3p=xiii}} The FBI wanted him out of the country,{{sfn|Sbardellati|p=152}} and launched an official investigation in early 1947.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=265–266}}{{efn|Chaplin had already attracted the attention of the FBI long before the 1940s, the first mention of him in their files being from 1922. J. Edgar Hoover first requested that a Security Index Card be filed for Chaplin in September 1946, but the Los Angeles office was slow to react and only began active investigation the next spring.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=265–266}} The FBI also requested and received help from [[MI5]], particularly on investigating the false claims that Chaplin had not been born in England but in France or Eastern Europe, and that his real name was Israel Thornstein. MI5 found no evidence of Chaplin being involved in the Communist Party.<ref>{{cite news|last=Norton-Taylor |first=Richard |date=17 February 2012 |title=MI5 Spied on Charlie Chaplin after the FBI Asked for Help to Banish Him from US |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/feb/17/mi5-spied-on-charlie-chaplin |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=17 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702232703/http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/nov/05/charlie-chaplin-ebay-reel-tin |archive-date=2 July 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?532431-1/qa-scott-eyman ''Q&A'' interview with Scott Eyman on ''Charlie Chaplin vs. America'', May 10, 2024], [[C-SPAN]]}} 
Chaplin denied being a communist, instead calling himself a "peacemonger",{{sfnm|1a1=Louvish|1pp=xiv, 310|2a1=Chaplin|2p=458|3a1=Maland|3y=1989|3p=238}} but felt the government's effort to suppress the ideology was an unacceptable infringement of [[civil liberties]].{{sfn|Robinson|p=544}} Unwilling to be quiet about the issue, he openly protested against the trials of [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]] members and the activities of the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]].{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=255–256}} Chaplin received a [[subpoena]] to appear before HUAC but was not called to testify.{{sfnm|1a1=Friedrich|1p=286|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2p=261}} As his activities were widely reported in the press, and [[Cold War]] fears grew, questions were raised over his failure to take American citizenship.{{sfnm|1a1=Larcher|1p=80|2a1=Sbardellati and Shaw|2p=510|3a1=Louvish|3p=xiii|4a1=Robinson|4p=545}} Calls were made for him to be deported; in one extreme and widely published example, Representative [[John E. Rankin]], who helped establish HUAC, told [[United States Congress|Congress]] in June 1947: "[Chaplin's] very life in Hollywood is detrimental to the moral fabric of America. [If he is deported]{{spaces}}... his loathsome pictures can be kept from before the eyes of the American youth. He should be deported and gotten rid of at once."{{sfn|Robinson|p=545}}

In 2003, declassified British archives belonging to the [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office|British Foreign Office]] revealed that author and social critic [[George Orwell]] secretly accused Chaplin of being a secret communist and a friend of the USSR<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last=Ash |first=Timothy Garton |author-link=Timothy Garton Ash |title=Orwell's List |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2003/09/25/orwells-list/ |work=The New York Review |date=25 September 2003 |access-date=20 January 2021}}</ref> in the 1949 [[Orwell's list]] document. Chaplin's name was one of 35 that Orwell gave to the [[Information Research Department|Information Research Department (IRD)]], a secret British Cold War propaganda department which worked closely with the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]].<ref name=":0" /> Chaplin was not the only actor in America whom Orwell accused of being a secret communist.<ref name=":0" />

====''Limelight'' and banning from the United States====
[[File:Limelight promo crop.jpg|thumb|''[[Limelight (1952 film)|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.]]
Although Chaplin remained politically active in the years following the failure of ''Monsieur Verdoux'',{{efn|In November 1947, Chaplin asked [[Pablo Picasso]] to hold a demonstration outside the US embassy in Paris to protest the deportation proceedings of Hanns Eisler, and in December, he took part in a petition asking for the deportation process to be dropped. In 1948, Chaplin supported the unsuccessful presidential campaign of [[Henry A. Wallace|Henry Wallace]]; and in 1949 he supported two peace conferences and signed a petition protesting the [[Peekskill Riots|Peekskill incident]].{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=256–257}}}} his next film, about a forgotten music hall comedian and a young ballerina in [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] London, was devoid of political themes. ''[[Limelight (1952 film)|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.{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=1989|1pp=288–290|2a1=Robinson|2pp=551–552|3a1=Louvish|3p=312}} The cast included various members of his family, including his five oldest children and his half-brother, Wheeler Dryden.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=293}}

Filming began in November 1951, by which time Chaplin had spent three years working on the story.{{sfn|Louvish|p=317}}{{efn|''Limelight'' was conceived as a novel, which Chaplin wrote but never intended for publication.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=549–570}}}} He aimed for a more serious tone than any of his previous films, regularly using the word "melancholy" when explaining his plans to his co-star [[Claire Bloom]].{{sfn|Robinson|p=562}} ''Limelight'' featured a cameo appearance from [[Buster Keaton]], whom Chaplin cast as his stage partner in a [[pantomime]] scene. This marked the only time the comedians worked together in a feature film.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=567–568}}

Chaplin decided to hold the world premiere of ''Limelight'' in London, since it was the setting of the film.{{sfn|Louvish|p=326}} As he left Los Angeles, he expressed a premonition that he would not be returning.{{sfn|Robinson|p=570}} At New York, he boarded the {{RMS|Queen Elizabeth}} with his family on 18 September 1952.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=280}} The next day, United States Attorney General [[James P. McGranery]] revoked Chaplin's [[re-entry permit]] and stated that he would have to submit to an interview concerning his political views and moral behaviour to re-enter the US.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=280}} Although McGranery told the press that he had "a pretty good case against Chaplin", Maland has concluded, on the basis of the FBI files that were released in the 1980s, that the US government had no real evidence to prevent Chaplin's re-entry. It is likely that he would have gained entry if he had applied for it.{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=1989|1pp=280–287|2a1=Sbardellati and Shaw|2pp=520–521}} However, when Chaplin received a cablegram informing him of the news, he privately decided to cut his ties with the United States:
{{blockquote|Whether I re-entered that unhappy country or not was of little consequence to me. I would like to have told them that the sooner I was rid of that hate-beleaguered atmosphere the better, that I was fed up of America's insults and moral pomposity{{spaces}}...{{sfn|Chaplin|p=455}}}}

Because all of his property remained in America, Chaplin refrained from saying anything negative about the incident to the press.{{sfn|Robinson|p=573}} The scandal attracted vast attention,{{sfn|Louvish|p=330}} but Chaplin and his film were warmly received in Europe.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=280}} In America, the hostility towards him continued, and, although it received some positive reviews, ''Limelight'' was subjected to a wide-scale boycott.{{sfn|Maland|1989|pp=295–298, 307–311}} Reflecting on this, Maland writes that Chaplin's fall, from an "unprecedented" level of popularity, "may be the most dramatic in the history of stardom in America".{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=189}}

===1953–1977: European years===

====Move to Switzerland and ''A King in New York''====
{{Rquote|right|text=I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press, have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted. Under these conditions I find it virtually impossible to continue my motion-picture work, and I have therefore given up my residence in the United States.|author=Charlie Chaplin's press release regarding his decision not to seek re{{nbh}}entry to the US{{sfn|Larcher|p=89}}}}

Chaplin did not attempt to return to the United States after his re-entry permit was revoked, and instead sent his wife to settle his affairs.{{efn|Before leaving America, Chaplin had ensured that Oona had access to his assets.{{sfn|Robinson|p=580}}}} The couple decided to settle in Switzerland and, in January 1953, the family moved into their permanent home: [[Manoir de Ban]], a {{convert|14|ha|acre|adj=on}} estate<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/film-legend-found-peace-on-lake-geneva/12814 |title=Film Legend Found Peace on Lake Geneva |author=Dale Bechtel |year=2002 |website=swissinfo.ch/eng |publisher=Vevey |access-date=5 December 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209213503/http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/film-legend-found-peace-on-lake-geneva/12814 |archive-date=9 December 2014}}</ref> overlooking [[Lake Geneva]] in [[Corsier-sur-Vevey]].{{sfn|Robinson|pp=580–581}}{{efn|Robinson speculates that Switzerland was probably chosen because it "was likely to be the most advantageous from a financial point of view".{{sfn|Robinson|p=581}}}} Chaplin put his Beverly Hills house and studio up for sale in March, and surrendered his re-entry permit in April. The next year, his wife renounced her US citizenship and became a British citizen.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=584, 674}} Chaplin severed the last of his professional ties with the United States in 1955, when he sold the remainder of his stock in United Artists, which had been in financial difficulty since the early 1940s.{{sfnm|1a1=Lynn|1pp=466–467|2a1=Robinson|2p=584|3a1=Balio|3pp=17–21}}

Chaplin remained a controversial figure throughout the 1950s, especially after he was awarded the [[World Peace Council prizes|International Peace Prize]] by the communist-led [[World Peace Council]], and after his meetings with [[Zhou Enlai]] and [[Nikita Khrushchev]].{{sfnm|1a1=Maland|1y=1989|1p=318|2a1=Robinson|2p=584}} He began developing his first European film, ''[[A King in New York]]'', in 1954.{{sfn|Robinson|p=585}} Casting himself as an exiled king who seeks asylum in the United States, Chaplin included several of his recent experiences in the screenplay. His son, Michael, was cast as a boy whose parents are targeted by the FBI, while Chaplin's character faces accusations of communism.{{sfn|Louvish|pp=xiv–xv}} The political satire parodied HUAC and attacked elements of 1950s culture{{snd}}including consumerism, plastic surgery, and wide-screen cinema.{{sfnm|1a1=Louvish|1p=341|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2pp=320–321|3a1=Robinson|3pp=588–589|4a1=Larcher|4pp=89–90}} In a review, the playwright [[John Osborne]] called it Chaplin's "most bitter" and "most openly personal" film.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=587–589}} In a 1957 interview, when asked to clarify his political views, Chaplin stated "As for politics, I am an anarchist. I hate government and rules{{snd}}and fetters{{spaces}}... People must be free."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chaplin |first1=Charlie |last2=Hayes |first2=Kevin |title=Charlie Chaplin: Interviews |date=2005 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |page=121}}{{ISBN?}}</ref>

Chaplin founded a new production company, Attica, and used [[Shepperton Studios]] for the shooting.{{sfn|Robinson|p=585}} Filming in England proved a difficult experience, as he was used to his own Hollywood studio and familiar crew, and no longer had limitless production time. According to Robinson, this had an effect on the quality of the film.{{sfnm|1a1=Epstein|1p=137|2a1=Robinson|2p=587}} ''A King in New York'' was released in September 1957, and received mixed reviews.{{sfnm|1a1=Lynn|1p=506|2a1=Louvish|2p=342|3a1=Maland|3y=1989|3p=322}} Chaplin banned American journalists from its Paris première and decided not to release the film in the United States. This severely limited its revenue, although it achieved moderate commercial success in Europe.{{sfn|Robinson|p=591}} ''A King in New York'' was not shown in America until 1973.{{sfn|Louvish|p=347}}{{sfn|Vance|2003|p=329}}

====Final works and renewed appreciation====
[[File:Chaplin family 1961.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Chaplin with his wife Oona and six of their eight children (Jane and [[Christopher Chaplin|Christopher]] are absent) in 1961]]

In the last two decades of his career, Chaplin concentrated on re-editing and scoring his old films for re-release, along with securing their ownership and distribution rights.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=326}} In an interview he gave in 1959, the year of his 70th birthday, Chaplin stated that there was still "room for the Little Man in the atomic age".{{sfn|Robinson|pp=594–595}} The first of these re-releases was ''[[The Chaplin Revue]]'' (1959), which included new versions of ''A Dog's Life'', ''Shoulder Arms'', and ''The Pilgrim''.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=594–595}}

In America, the political atmosphere began to change and attention was once again directed to Chaplin's films instead of his views.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=326}} In July 1962, the ''New York Times'' published an editorial stating, "We do not believe the Republic would be in danger if yesterday's unforgotten little tramp were allowed to amble down the gangplank of a steamer or plane in an American port".{{sfn|Lynn|pp=507–508}} The same month, Chaplin was invested with the honorary degree of [[Doctor of Letters]] by the universities of [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[Durham University|Durham]].{{sfn|Robinson|pp=598–599}} In November 1963, the Plaza Theater in New York started a year-long series of Chaplin's films, including ''Monsieur Verdoux'' and ''Limelight'', which gained excellent reviews from American critics.{{sfnm|1a1=Lynn|1p=509|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2p=330}} September 1964 saw the release of Chaplin's memoir, ''[[My Autobiography (Chaplin book)|My Autobiography]]'', which he had been working on since 1957.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=602–605}} The 500-page book became a worldwide best-seller. It focused on his early years and personal life, and was criticised for lacking information on his film career.{{sfnm|1a1=Robinson|1pp=605–607|2a1=Lynn|2pp=510–512}}

Shortly after the publication of his memoir, Chaplin began work on ''[[A Countess from Hong Kong]]'' (1967), a romantic comedy based on a script he had written for Paulette Goddard in the 1930s.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=608–609}} Set on an ocean liner, it starred [[Marlon Brando]] as an American ambassador and [[Sophia Loren]] as a stowaway found in his cabin.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=608–609}} The film differed from Chaplin's earlier productions in several aspects. It was his first to use [[Technicolor]] and the [[widescreen]] format, while he concentrated on directing and appeared on-screen only in a cameo role as a seasick steward.{{sfn|Robinson|p=612}} He also signed a deal with [[Universal Pictures]] and appointed his assistant, [[Jerome Epstein (director)|Jerome Epstein]], as the producer.{{sfn|Robinson|p=607}} Chaplin was paid $600,000 director's fee as well as a percentage of the gross receipts.{{sfn|Vance|2003|p=330}} ''A Countess from Hong Kong'' premiered in January 1967, to unfavourable reviews, and was a box-office failure.{{sfn|Epstein|pp=192–196}}{{sfnm|1a1=Lynn|1p=518|2a1=Maland|2y=1989|2p=335}} Chaplin was deeply hurt by the negative reaction to the film, which turned out to be his last.{{sfn|Epstein|pp=192–196}}

Chaplin had a series of minor strokes in the late 1960s, which marked the beginning of a slow decline in his health.{{sfn|Robinson|p=619}} Despite the setbacks, he was soon writing a new film script, ''The Freak'', a story of a winged girl found in South America, which he intended as a starring vehicle for his daughter, Victoria.{{sfn|Robinson|p=619}} His fragile health prevented the project from being realised.{{sfn|Epstein|p=203}} In the early 1970s, Chaplin concentrated on re-releasing his old films, including ''The Kid'' and ''The Circus''.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=620–621}} In 1971, he was made a [[Legion of Honour|Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour]] at the [[Cannes Film Festival]].{{sfn|Robinson|p=621}} The following year, he was honoured with a special award by the [[Venice Film Festival]].{{sfn|Robinson|p=625}}
[[File:Chaplin oscar.JPG|thumb|left|Chaplin (right) receiving his [[Honorary Academy Award]] from [[Jack Lemmon]] in 1972. It was the first time he had been to the United States in twenty years.]]

In 1972, the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] offered Chaplin an Honorary Award, which Robinson sees as a sign that America "wanted to make amends". Chaplin was initially hesitant about accepting but decided to return to the US for the first time in 20 years.{{sfn|Robinson|p=621}} The visit attracted a large amount of press coverage and, at the Academy Awards gala, he was given a 12-minute standing ovation, the longest in the academy's history.{{sfn|Maland|1989|p=347}} Visibly emotional, Chaplin accepted his award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century".{{sfn|Robinson|pp=623–625}}

Although Chaplin still had plans for future film projects, by the mid-1970s he was very frail.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=627–628}} He experienced several further strokes, which made it difficult for him to communicate, and he had to use a wheelchair.{{sfn|Robinson|p=626}}<ref name="EugeneChaplin">{{cite news|last=Thomas |first=David |title=When Chaplin Played Father |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3587749/When-Chaplin-played-father.html |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=26 December 2002 |access-date=26 June 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715051303/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3587749/When-Chaplin-played-father.html |archive-date=15 July 2012}}</ref> His final projects were compiling a pictorial autobiography, ''My Life in Pictures'' (1974) and scoring ''A Woman of Paris'' for re-release in 1976.{{sfn|Robinson|pp=626–628}} He also appeared in a documentary about his life, ''The Gentleman Tramp'' (1975), directed by Richard Patterson.{{sfn|Lynn|pp=534–536}} In the [[1975 New Year Honours]], Chaplin was awarded a knighthood by Queen [[Elizabeth II]],{{sfn|Robinson|pp=626–628}}<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=46444 |date=31 December 1975 |supp=1 |page=8 |title=To be Ordinary Knights Commanders{{spaces}}... }}</ref>{{efn|The honour had already been proposed in 1931 and 1956, but was vetoed after a [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]] report raised concerns over Chaplin's political views and private life. They feared the act would damage the reputation of the [[British honours system]] and relations with the United States.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2141391.stm |title=Chaplin Knighthood Blocked |publisher=BBC |access-date=15 February 2010 |date=21 July 2002 |first=Paul |last=Reynolds |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060205195220/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2141391.stm |archive-date=5 February 2006 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} though he was too weak to kneel and received the honour in his wheelchair.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Little Tramp Becomes Sir Charles|date=5 March 1975 |newspaper=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]]|location=New York |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/charlie-chaplin-knighted-queens-elizabeth-1975-article-1.2548959 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192525/http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/charlie-chaplin-knighted-queens-elizabeth-1975-article-1.2548959 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

====Death====
[[File:Charles Chaplin Grave in Corsier-sur-Vevey.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Chaplin's grave in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland]]

By October 1977, Chaplin's health had declined to the point that he needed constant care.{{sfn|Robinson|p=629}} In the early morning of [[Christmas|Christmas Day]] 1977, Chaplin died at home after having a stroke in his sleep.<ref name="EugeneChaplin"/> He was 88 years old. The funeral, on 27 December, was a small and private [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] ceremony, according to his wishes.{{sfn|Vance|2003|p=359}}{{efn|Despite asking for an Anglican funeral, Chaplin appeared to be agnostic. In his autobiography he wrote, "I am not religious in the dogmatic sense{{spaces}}... I neither believe nor disbelieve in anything{{spaces}}... My faith is in the unknown, in all that we do not understand by reason; I believe that{{spaces}}... in the realm of the unknown there is an infinite power for good."{{sfn|Chaplin|p=287}}}} Chaplin was interred in the Corsier-sur-Vevey cemetery.{{sfn|Robinson|p=629}} Among the film industry's tributes, director [[René Clair]] wrote, "He was a monument of the cinema, of all countries and all times{{spaces}}... the most beautiful gift the cinema made to us."{{sfn|Robinson|p=631}} Actor [[Bob Hope]] declared, "We were lucky to have lived in his time."{{sfn|Robinson|p=632}} Chaplin left more than $100 million to his widow.<ref name="hattenstone20210621">{{Cite news |last=Hattenstone |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Hattenstone |date=21 June 2021|title='I am very shy. It's amazing I became a movie star': Leslie Caron at 90 on love, art and addiction |newspaper=The Guardian |url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jun/21/i-am-very-shy-its-amazing-i-became-a-movie-star-leslie-caron-at-90-on-love-art-and-addiction |access-date=22 June 2021}}</ref>

On 1 March 1978, Chaplin's coffin was dug up and stolen from its grave by Roman Wardas and Gantcho Ganev. The body was held for [[ransom]] in an attempt to extort money from his widow, Oona Chaplin. The pair were caught in a large police operation in May, and Chaplin's coffin was found buried in a field in the nearby village of [[Noville, Switzerland|Noville]]. It was re-interred in the Corsier cemetery in a reinforced concrete vault.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20507503 |title=Yasser Arafat: 10 Other People Who Have Been Exhumed |date=27 November 2012 |access-date=27 November 2012 |publisher=BBC |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127151521/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20507503 |archive-date=27 November 2012}}</ref>{{sfn|Robinson|pp=629–631}}