it's 1952 and Charlie Chaplain is on the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner heading from New York to London to Premiere his new film Limelight when he receives a telegram from the Attorney General of the United States it says that he is no longer allowed back into America the country's most famous and recognizable man was exiled Charlie chaplain's life is better than a movie raised in an orphanage he became the most famous man in the world yeah yet there's also a much darker demon to Charlie Chaplan a
man who chased younger girls and who was investigated by J Edgar Hoover for communist leanings forced to live out his final days in solitude in Lake Geneva the Shocking True Story of Charlie Chaplin will Amaze you Charlie's childhood was a life filled with such poverty and hardship that it makes his eventual trajectory the most dramatic of all rag to richest stories ever told born in 1889 in the dirty Streets of London his father Charles senior was gone from his life before he could talk and his
mother Hannah chaplain who had a brief and unsuccessful stage career was left with no money she raised Charlie and his older brother Sydney in extreme poverty completely unable to care for them by the age of only seven Charlie had been sent to live in a workhouse an orphanage style home for children though he would occas usually see his mother he would bounce from workhouse to workhouse when Charlie was nine his mother Hannah was committed to the cane Hill mental institution between his time in
the workhouses and caring for his mother succumbing to mental illness Charlie began to perform on stage but Charlie's interests were not in singing Vaudeville was a growing form of live entertainment at the time and he dreamed that one day he could have a life on stage doing comedy to Charlie comedy offered an escape from what was the miserable reality of his everyday life he and his brother Sydney supported themselves with a range of jobs while also pursuing his ambition to perform at 14 short
ly after his mother's relapse he registered with a theatrical agency in London's West End the manager sensed potential in Charlie and he was given his first role on stage as a news boy the show opened in July 1903 but was unsuccessful and closed after only 2 weeks Charlie's comic performance however was praised in many of the reviews Charlie's brother Sydney managed to find decent work as an actor and when Sydney joined Fred Caro's Comedy Company in 1906 he quickly became one of their key perfor
mers and Sydney suggested Fred consider his younger brother Charlie for a twoe trial on the very first night Charlie won over the room at the London Coliseum and he was signed to a full contract Charlie began by playing a series of minor Parts eventually progressing to starring roles and in 1909 would take their routine to America in America Charlie was one of the best performers in Fred carno's comedy troop his sketch is a drunk called the anbri at Swell Drew huge laughs from the crowds every n
ight by now Charlie was 19 and had moved well past his poverty-stricken days in the Streets of London finding himself hobnobbing with people of power in the rising world of Silent pictures he was scouted for the film industry and began appearing for Keystone Studios the makers of the Keystone Cops Charlie thought the Keystone comedies were crude but he liked the idea of working in Motion Pictures in 1913 he signed a contract with Keystone for $150 a week a first class salary back then when the a
verage working immigrant earned less than $25 a week Charlie's boss was the legendary producer director ctor of the silent era Max senet who initially expressed concern that the 24-year-old looked too young so Charlie wasn't used in a film for several months but Charlie took his time on the sidelines as an opportunity to learn the process of filmmaking his first film a one realer called making a living marked his film acting debut and was released in February 1914 Charlie hated the film but the
reviews singled him out as a fresh comedian and it was his second appearance on camera that would thrust him into the world the way we know him today going through the costume room to find a fresh character for his next movie he looked for a way to bring who he was into the comedy that is a poor Street down on his luck he said he wanted everything to be a contradiction so he chose baggy pants but a tight fitting coat a small hat but large shoes he added a small mustache to make himself look olde
r and as he looked at him himself in the mirror working out quirky mannerisms he had no idea that he was giving birth to a character that would change his life the moment he began walking with a cane and signature waddle he knew who this character was a happy lovable innocent down on his luck but with the hope of a better life the film was Mabel's strange predicament and over the next several movies he continued to improve the nuances of the character ironically film directors were not a fan of
Charlie and after many onset clashes with directors Max Senate considered releasing Charlie from his contract however the public loved him when Ma Senate received orders from movie theaters for more films not only did Mac keep him on he also allowed chaplain to direct his next film himself earning $1,500 for the film caught in the rain in May 1914 was chaplain's directoral debut and it was a success thereafter Charlie directed almost every short film in which he appeared for Keystone Charlie Cha
plan films were different from the normal slapstick farces from the Keystone Cops his films were a slower form of comedy and it was something about the character that was different than most comedies at the time which were very joke heavy Charlie's felt like a lost dog or child and his actions seemed both hilarious and deeply familiar to an audience who was just trying to make their own ends meet and the public couldn't get enough of him when Charlie's contract came up for renewal at the end of
the year he asked for $11,000 a week an amount ma Senate refused as he thought it was too large but when the sna film company of Chicago sent Charlie an offer of 1,250 a week and a signing bonus of 10,000 he left Max senet to join their Studio by now Charlie was a success and had the power to exert a high level of control over his pictures and he started to put more time and Care into each film he also began to alter his screen Persona the character became more gentle and romantic but it was the
se turns away from the two-dimensional characters in slapstick comedy that made the critics begin to truly appreciate his work and by 1915 Charlie Chaplain became a cultural phenomenon shops were stocked with merchandise he was featured in cartoons and comic strips a journalist for motion picture magazine wrote that Chaplin itis had spread across America as his Fame grew worldwide he became the film industry's First International Star and capitalizing on his Fame when his sna contract ended in D
ecember 1915 Charlie fully aware of his popularity requested a $150,000 signing bonus from his next Studio he received several offers including Universal Fox and vitagraph the best of which came from the mutual film Corporation he negotiated a contract with Mutual that amounted to $670,000 a year making Charlie Chaplain at 26 one of the highest paid people in the world the high salary shocked the public but the head of mutual film Corporation said we can afford to pay Mr chaplain this sum annual
ly because the public wants Mr chaplain and will pay for him it was true Charlie Chaplain was a bankable star the first time that the world got to know the concept of a rich and famous alist movie star to understand just how popular Charlie chaplain's character was consider this he was loved by everyone in the world and the name Charlie Chaplain was part of the common language of almost every country and his image was universally recognizable in 1917 it was reported that nine out of 10 people wh
o attended costume parties went as the he was a global Obsession and mind you this was 10 years before Mickey Mouse or any other character that would one day be in the public Consciousness the mutual contract stipulated that he release a short two real film every 4 weeks which he easily managed to achieve But as time went on and the public continued to see picture after picture with the Charlie began to demand more time to make his movies in 1917 he only made four movies with mutual over the cou
rse of 10 months but they were all successful when Charlie's contract was up with Mutual Charlie turned to his brother Sydney to become his business manager the two brothers who were once living in child workhouses in London were now the toast of Hollywood and Sydney was an excellent manager for his brother Charlie telling all the studios clamoring to get in business with him that Charlie must be allowed all the time he needs and all the money he needs for producing the films the way he wants a
few months later June 1917 Charlie signed with First National exhibitor circuit to make eight films in return for $1 million he built his own Studio situated on 5 acres of land off Sunset Boulevard near LaBrea incidentally now owned by Jim Henson as the home of the Muppets and Charlie was given total freedom over the making of his pictures and so he decided to get into fulllength movies First National was getting frustrated with Charlie Chaplain yes they had essenti given him a blank check to ma
ke movies but Charlie could feel their hesitation as he asked for more and more money and Charlie was too big a star to be told no by now there were a few other actors starting to make their names in Hollywood Douglas Fairbanks a good-looking swashbuckler in pirate movies was gaining stardom as was America's sweetheart the first Leading Lady of movies Mary Pickford together the three of them along with the movie director DW Griffith the man credited with making the first featurelength film Birth
of a Nation formed a new Distribution Company in 1919 called United Artists the arrangement was revolutionary in the film industry as it enabled the four Partners all creative artists to personally fundraise for their own pictures and have complete control ownership and share in the profits up until this moment actors were just paid to act and had no control and ownership of their work or likeness but Charlie Chaplain had the power to change the Hollywood business model Charlie loved the idea o
f having his own company but there was another thing that Charlie loved just as much women and specifically much younger women as United Artists was forming a 30-year-old Charlie met his first of four wives the 16-year-old actress Mildred Harris who had revealed that she was pregnant with his child they married quietly so as to avoid controversy that he impregnated an underage girl however soon after the marriage the pregnancy was found to be false Charlie was outraged and he also felt that the
controversy and the marriage trap stunted his creativity but soon after Mildred was pregnant again and their son Norman chaplain was born however Norman was not born normal and died after only living 3 days soon after the marriage between Charlie and Mildred ended losing the child plus Charlie's own childhood experiences as a Lost Child in the streets are what influenced him as he made his first featurelength film The Classic silent picture the kid if you haven't seen the movie The Kid you must
a mix of comedy and drama the becomes a father figure to a lost 4-year-old boy living in the streets the film deals with issues of parent child separation and it's incredible four-year-old actor Jackie kugan delivers one of the best child performances I have ever seen in its release in 1921 it was an instant success and it elevated Charlie Chaplain and the into not just a famous comic face but the aour master Storyteller of his day seriously go see the kid after the nuanced Brilliance of the kid
Charlie knew that his next film had to be epic inspired by a photograph of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush and the tragic story of the Donner Party Charlie made the Gold Rush an epic comedy about tragedy the is a lonely prospector fighting adversity and looking for love with extensive locations state-of-the-art filming techniques and over 600 extras it took 15 months to film and cost over $1 million the Gold Rush became one of the highest grossing films of the silent era earning $5 million in the u
s alone the film contains the now iconic comedy bits of Charlie's most famous sequences including the eating his shoe and the classic Dance of the rolls and during production of the Gold Rush Charlie married for the second time another teenage actress Lita gray she was 16 he was 35 and like the first time her surprise announcement of pregnancy forced Charlie into marrying her to avoid charges of statutory rape under California law their first son Charlie Chaplan III was born in 1925 the same yea
r Charlie became the first movie star to be featured on a Time Magazine cover their second son Sydney chaplain was born a year later but it was an unhappy marriage and Charlie spent long hours at the studio to avoid seeing his wife after only 2 years she took the children and left a bitter divorce followed in which Lita accused Charlie of infidelity abuse and perverted sexual fetishes when the story was leaked to the Press Charlie had a meltdown as the story became headline news and groups forme
d across America calling for Charlie Chaplain films to be banned to avoid further Scandal Charlie's lawyers agreed to a cash settlement of $600,000 the largest awarded by an American court at the time and fortunately his fan base was strong enough to survive the incident and it was soon forgotten by now the invention of sound in movies was becoming more and more popular and for many actors of The Silent screen their careers would end as a result of talking pictures Charlie was cynical about this
new medium believing that talkis lack the Artistry of silent films he was also hesitant to change the formula that had brought him such success and feared that giving the a voice would limit his International appeal and make him less likable he therefore rejected the new Hollywood craze and began working on a new silent film hoping that his Fame was powerful enough to overcome the need for a talkie and he was right his next film City Lights released in 1931 is regarded as one of his best Works
citylights followed the as he falls in love with a blind flower girl and his efforts to raise money for her eye operation Charlie poured through money taking nearly 2 years to finish filming working himself into a neurotic state of perfection though there was no talking Charlie still took advantage of sound technology and recorded a musical score for the film which he composed himself by the time Charlie finished editing City Lights silent films were basically gone a preview for an audience was
a failure but the Press gave it positive reviews released in 1931 City Lights proved to be a popular and financial success eventually grossing over $3 million the British Film Institute called it Charlie's finest accomplishment and hailed the final scene as the greatest piece of acting and the highest moment in movies but the world was changing in the 1930s and Charlie was about to change with it in more ways than one though City Lights had been a success Charlie wasn't sure if he could make ano
ther movie without dialogue and making the movie had been a lonely process however in 1932 the 43-year-old Charlie met 21 year-old actress Paulette Godard and the pair began a relationship that would last for 10 years not ready to commit to a new film yet Charlie and Paulette traveled the world meeting with the great thinkers and politicians of the day and Charlie was becoming increasingly interested in world affairs many people in the United States were troubled by the state of Labor in America
before labor unions protected workers when powerful capitalists such as Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie began to control the unemployment levels of thousands of men in factories though Charlie was born in England after 30 years now in America he felt American even though he never ever became officially an American citizen and he felt that his character needed to address the growing economic inequality in his next film modern times modern times was a satire on Industrial life he intended to use s
poken dialogue but changed his mind during rehearsals using only sound effects and almost no speaking Charlie's performance of a gibberish song however did give the a voice for the first time ever on film though the film didn't hit the same box office numbers as previous hits and many found it polarizing modern times is still seen as one of Charlie chaplain's classic films however in his next film there was no escaping the politics he was seeing in Europe a rise in socialism Fascism and even com
munism and in 1940 noticing the physical resemblance between the tramp's mustache and Hitler Charlie felt it made sense that the should satiz Adolf Hitler in The Great Dictator the film would be a turning point for Charlie and one that he would never turn back by boldly expressing his political beliefs in a film Charlie was no longer a slapstick comic he was becoming a political figure Charlie spent 2 years developing the script and began filming in September 1939 6 days after Britain declared w
ar on Germany This Time Charlie used spoken dialogue mainly because now he had no choice for audiences but also because he recognized it as a better method for delivering a political m message making a comedy about Hitler was controversial but Charlie's Financial Independence allowed him to do what he wanted the film was a comedy about Hitler and Jews and it generated a lot of Buzz with one critic calling it the most eagerly awaited picture of the Year Charlie ended the film with a 5minute speec
h in which he looks directly into the camera and pleads against war and fascism while many people look back at this film as the decline of Charlie chaplain's popularity it was one of the biggest money makers of the era and The Great Dictator received five Oscar nominations including best picture and best actor Charlie Chaplain however it would also open the door for all the unfortunate things that followed in the mid 1940s Charley was yet again in trouble as a result of an affair with a much you
nger actress the troubles came from an affair with an actress named Joan Barry Joan didn't like Charlie's on again off again ways of dating actresses and she became obsessive Charlie twice had her arrested after they separated for stalking him but she didn't stop her Obsession announcing that she was pregnant with Charlie's child Charlie denied the claim but she filed a paternity suit against him and this was just the beginning of his troubles as by now Jay Edgar Hoover the director of the FBI w
ho had been been part of a movement to eradicate communism from America had long been suspicious of Charlie chaplain's political leanings and Hoover used the opportunity of the paternity suit to generate negative publicity about Charlie the FBI named Charlie in four indictments related to the paternity case the most serious of which was an alleged violation of the man act which prohibits the transportation of women across state lines for sex if found guilty Charlie faced 23 years in prison thoug
h Charlie was acquitted of all charges the damage to His Image was done and making movies was about to become increasingly more difficult after Joan Barry's child Carol Anne was born in 1943 the paternity suit went to court and Charlie was declared to be the father even though evidence from blood tests indicated that he wasn't the father it was considered inadmissible and the judge ordered Charlie to pay child support until Caroline turned 21 but things just kept getting worse for Charlie 2 week
s after the paternity suit was filed it was announced that 54-year-old Charlie had married his newest actress 18-year-old unaa O'Neal the daughter of American playwright Eugene O'Neal Charlie said that una was the love of his life and they would stay married until his death and they would have eight children together but the Optics of all of this from the paternity suit to the FBI to 18-year-old unaa resulted in changes to Charlie chaplain's Public Image Charlie was also publicly accused of bein
g a communist his political activities heightened during World War II when he campaigned for an opening of a second front to help the Soviet Union and supported various Soviet American friendship groups Hoover and his FBI wanted Charlie Chaplain out of the country launching an official investigation in early 1947 their main suspicion was why after all these years the British Charlie Chaplain had come to America lived the American dream and yet never became or ever applied to be an American citiz
en Charlie denied being a communist but he was unwilling to be quiet about the issue he openly protested against the trials of the Communist party members and the activities of the house unamerican Activities Committee Charlie even received a subpoena to appear before the huak committee but was never called to testify all his activities were widely reported in the Press and as Cold War fears grew questions were raised over his failure to take American citizenship and calls were made for the grea
t Charlie Chaplain to be deported Charlie's next film Limelight was heavily autobiographical alluding not only to Charlie's childhood and the lives of his parents but also to his loss of popularity in the United States and Charlie decided to hold the world premiere of Limelight in London since that was the setting of the film but only one day after he left aboard the queen of Elizabeth Cru liner with his family he was told that the United States revoked his re-entry permit and he would not be al
lowed to return to America Charlie didn't attempt to return to the United States after his re-entry permit was revoked and instead sent his wife unaa to settle his Affairs the couple decided to settle in Switzerland and eventually moved to their permanent home a 35 acre estate overlooking Lake Geneva Charlie put his Beverly Hills house and Studio up for sale and the next year his wife renounced her US citizenship and became a British citizen he then sold off all his remaining United Artist stock
and severed his professional ties with the United States Charlie lived a quiet life through the 1950s in Lake Geneva writing his Memoirs but in the 1960s in America the political atmosphere began to change and attention was once again directed to Charlie chaplain's films instead of his person personal views Cinema was going through a Resurgence and critics began touting Charlie Chaplain not for his political views but for his contribution to the world of Cinema in 1962 the New York Times publis
hed an editorial stating we do not believe that America would be in danger if yesterday's unforgotten little were allowed to come back to America that same month Charlie received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University the world was changing their feelings about the great Charlie Chaplain his work stood on its own and he was getting honored however his health started to decline following a series of Strokes in 1971 he received a high honor at the can film festival and the following year at
the Venice Film Festival but perhaps the biggest and most important honor of the great Charlie Chaplain came in 1972 when the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences offered Charlie an honorary Oscar inviting him to come to America to receive the award award he was initially hesitant about accepting but decided to return to the US for the first time in 20 years the visit attracted massive press coverage and at the Academy Awards he was given a 12-minute standing ovation the longest in the A
cademy's history visually emotional he accepted his award for the incalculable effort he has made in making Motion Pictures the art form of this Century soon after he was kned by Queen Elizabeth II though he would be too weak to kneel and receive the honor in his wheelchair by October 1977 Charlie's Health had declined to the point he was no longer able to get out of bed in the early morning of Christmas Day 1977 Charlie died at home after having a stroke in his sleep he was buried in Switzerlan
d he was 88 years old but one more thing a year later Charlie's coffin was dug up and stolen from its grave his body was held for ransom in an attempt to extort money from his widow una luckily the thieves were caught in a large police operation and Charlie's coffin was found buried in a field in a nearby Village Charlie chaplain's life is by far the greatest rags to Rich's success story the world has ever seen he created the idea of a Hollywood movie star and he became the first actor to take c
ontrol of the business side of his art he inspired countless other people who pursue their dreams and if you're interested in other biographies about A-list celebrities check out these documentaries that you can watch right here right now thank you so much for watching and if you like what you saw be sure to subscribe and hit the Bell icon so you don't miss my future videos I'll see you in the next one
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