FREE ESSAY ON CHARLIE CHAPLIN

CHARLIE CHAPLIN

Charlie Chaplin
Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in Walworth, London on April 16, 1889. His parents,
Charles and Hannah Chaplin were music hall performers in England, his father was quite
well know in the profession. Charlie had one sibling, a brother named Sydney. At a very
early age Charlie was told that someday he would be the most famous person in the world.
Charlie first appeared onstage at the age of six as an unscheduled substitute for his
mother. When his performance was over the audience was throwing money up onto the stage,
they loved him, and he was on his way to being the most famous person in he world. 
Charlie had a very difficult childhood, by the time he had performed onstage for the
first time his father had already left home permently. In June of 1896 Charlie, Sydney
and their mother were forced to enter the Lambeth Workhouse for the poor. Soon after the
two boys were sent to Hanwell School for Orphans and Destitute Children. Two years later
after Charlies mother had a breakdown he and Sydney went to live with their father and
his mistress. In the same year Charlie joined the dancing troupe, the Eight Lancashire
Lads. Which eventually led to his parts in Sherlock Holmes and a few other parts. At the
same time his brother Sydney had joined the famous Fred Karno Company and there he
quickly became a leading player and writer. 
Late in the year 1900 Charlie is cast as a cat in a production of Cinderella at the
London Hippodrome. Less than a month later his father died from Alcoholism. Soon
afterwards his mother Hannah is committed to the Cane Hill Asylum, and never completely
recovers her sanity. For almost the next ten years Charlie performs in various rolls
throughout Europe. In September of 1910 Charlie leaves Europe with the Karno Troupe for a
tour in the United States and Canada. 
Over the next fifty-six years Chaplin stars in, directs, produces, and composes music for
countless films in America and throughout the world. The most notable of these films
would be, The Tramp (1915) and The Kid (1921). On October 23, 1918 Chaplin married
Mildred Harris. In the same year as The Kid Charlie gives his mother a home in California
where she dies on April 28, 1928. From 1952 to 1972 Charlie did not visit the United
States for a multitude of reasons, one reason being, Charlie was accused of being a
Communist by a McCarthyite. Throughout his time Charlie's life was filled with scandals,
he was married four times and one of which, to Paulette Goddard is still filled with
mystery.
Charlie was awarded quite a few honors, including; The Actors Guild Award, an honorary
Oscar, the Golden Lion Statuette, and an Oscar. The New York Film Critics vote Chaplin
the best actor of the year award in 1940, but he turned it down. And to top everything
off was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth 11, of England. Charlie died on Christmas day 1977 at
4:00 A.M. at his estate in Switzerland at the age of eighty-eight.