Page "Charlie Chaplin" Paragraph 60

Avedon is credited with the last portrait of the entertainer to be taken before his departure to Europe and therefore the last photograph of him as a singularly " American icon ".

According to Avedon, Chaplin telephoned him at his studio in New York while on a layover before the final leg of his travel to England.

The photographer considered the impromptu self-introduction a prank and angrily answered his caller with the riposte, " If you're Charlie Chaplin, I'm Franklin Roosevelt!

" To mollify Avedon, Chaplin assured the photographer of his authenticity and added the comment, " If you want to take my picture, you'd better do it now.

They are coming after me and I won't be back.

I leave ...

( imminently ).

" Avedon interrupted his production commitments to take Chaplin's portrait the next day, and never saw him again.