Charles Chaplin

April 16th, 1889 - December 25th, 1977

English actor, director, producer and composer

World-known for the tramp character he created in 1914, Charles Chaplin was one of Hollywood's most popular actors. Thanks to his genius, his cinema reputation is universal.

At the age of 5, Charles Chaplin went on stage for the first time. When he was 10 years old, he began his professional career with a troupe of children tap-dancers. Finally, when he was 24, producer Mack Sennett noticed him and hired him for Hollywood. It was not long before he became the world-famous ‘Charlie’. Ducklike waddle, walking stick, black bowler, moustache, tight frock coat, worn-out old boots, Charlie is a tramp with refined gentlemanly manners. Funny and at the same time with a sense of drama, Charlie is a universal character. Over a 63-year career, Chaplin has produced more than 70 films, including The Kid, The Gold Rush, and City Lights. It was his sense of slapstick that won over his huge audience, but once the talkies arrived he had trouble adapting his style. He did so, finally, with The Great Dictator, a movie in which his dialogues and his celebrated speech on liberty took the front of the stage. Accused of communism and denied a re-entry visa to the USA in 1952 while sojourning in Great Britain, he decided to settle down in Switzerland. He was invited back to the USA in 1972, where he was awarded an honorary Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Vidéo : Extract from The Golden Rush, Bread dance