Author: Charles Chaplin
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 1966
Language: English
Pages: 494
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0140158286
Description
The enthralling story of the greatest comedian of all time.
CHALIE CHAPLIN was born in London in 1889. Both his father and mother were on the stage. Part of his childhood were spent in extreme poverty and for a period his mother lived with him and his elder brother, Sydney (later his manager), in the Lambeth workhouse.
Eventually he obtained work as a comedian with Fred Karno's company and toured the United States, where he was asked to join the Keystone Comedy film Company in Los Angeles. Chaplin made a string of single-reelers for Keystone in 1914 and was soon in a position to dictate his own terms, so immediate and overwhelming was the success of his tramp.
He made films for Essanay, Mutual, and First National between 1915 and 1923, when United Artists (the company formed principally by himself and the Fairbanks) started to claim all his time. His outstanding full-length successes were The Kid, The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, and Limelight, but his immense reputation was created by the off-the-cuff fooling of his short early films. He was married to Oona.
He was awarded the K B E in January 1975, and died on Christmas Day 1977.
Saved from a life of hardship by his unsurpassed comic genius, Charlie Chaplin went on to win the hearts of nations with his unforgettable films.
Born into a theatrical family, Chaplin's father died of drink while his mother, unable to bear the poverty, suffered bouts of insanity. Despite his tragic childhood, his gift for making people laugh was soon recognized and he embarked on a film-making career that would bring him immeasurable success, as well as controversy, particularly in the United States.
Chaplin's immortal creation, the tramp, blended humour with pathos and in classic films such as City Lights, The Great Dictator and Limelight left audiences laughing through their tears. Yet Chaplin had to survive the coming of sound and fight political and sexual censorship and state persecution on his way to becoming the best-loved screen legend in the history of the cinema.