Chaplin maintained that they were married in China in 1936, but to private associates and family, he claimed they were never legally married, except in common law.

Unlike some of his contemporaries, and along with other British actors such as Basil Rathbone and Charlie Chaplin, Bruce maintained his British citizenship, despite long residence in the United States.

Chaplin maintained that he had never seen the film, as did everyone else at the studio.

René Clair himself was never a part of the case and was actually quite embarrassed by it, since he had great admiration for Chaplin and had always maintained that they were all in debt to him, and any inspiration Chaplin might have gotten from his film would be an honor for him.

Although Chaplin was known for limiting visitors to his film sets, due to Universal's involvement, he allowed several journalists to follow the shooting at Pinewood Studios.

`` Behind that Charlie Chaplin moustache and that truant lock of hair that always covered his forehead, behind the tirades and the sulky silences, the passionate orations and the occasional dull evasive stare, behind the prejudices, the cynicism, the total amorality of behavior, behind even the tendency to great strategic mistakes, there lay a statesman of no mean qualities: Shrewd, calculating, in many ways realistic, endowed -- like Stalin -- with considerable powers of dissimulation, capable of playing his cards very close to his chest when he so desired, yet bold and resolute in his decisions, and possessing one gift Stalin did not possess: The ability to rouse men to fever pitch of personal devotion and enthusiasm by the power of the spoken word ''.

Chaplin was identified with left-wing politics during the McCarthy era and he was ultimately forced to resettle in Europe from 1952.

" His early years were spent with his mother and brother in the London district of Kennington ; Hannah had no means of income, other than occasional nursing and dressmaking, and Chaplin Sr. provided no support for his sons.

" For the two months she was there, Chaplin and his brother were sent to live with their father, whom the young boy scarcely knew.

Charles Chaplin Sr. was by then a severe alcoholic, and life with the man was bad enough to provoke a visit from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Chaplin worked hard and the act was popular with audiences, but dancing did not satisfy the child and he dreamt of forming a comedy act.

From October 1903 to June 1904, Chaplin toured with Saintsbury in Charles Frohman's production of Sherlock Holmes.

Chaplin quickly began work in another role, touring with his brother — who was also pursuing an acting career — in a comedy sketch called Repairs.

It was popular with audiences and Chaplin became the star of the show.

Several months of unemployment followed, however, and Chaplin lived a solitary existence while lodging with a family in Kennington.

After some adjustments, Chaplin signed with Keystone on 25 September.

" For his second appearance in front of cameras, Chaplin selected the costume with which he became identified.

In June, Keystone issued adverts in Britain with the words: " Are you prepared for the Chaplin boom?

The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company sent Chaplin an offer of $ 1, 250 a week with a signing bonus of $ 10, 000.

Chaplin was unimpressed with the conditions there, and after making one film ( His New Job, released 1 February 1915 ), moved to the company's small studio in Niles, California.

She went on to appear in 35 films with Chaplin over eight years.

The use of pathos was developed further with The Bank, released four films and four months later, as Chaplin chose to have a sad ending.

Shops were stocked with Chaplin merchandise, he was featured in cartoons and comic strips, and several songs were written about the star.

A contract was negotiated with Mutual that amounted to $ 670, 000 a year, making Chaplin — at 26 years old — one of the highest paid people in the world.

For The Pawnshop he recruited the actor Henry Bergman, who was to work with Chaplin for 30 years.

Despite this campaign Chaplin was a favourite with the troops, and his popularity continued to grow worldwide.

Frustrated with their lack of concern for quality, Chaplin joined forces with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D. W. Griffith to form a new distribution company — United Artists, established in January 1919.

Chaplin was eager to start with the new company, and offered to buy out his contract with First National.

Chaplin, 71, who met K. when the Soviet boss visited England in 1956, confided that he hopes to visit Russia some time this summer because `` I have marveled at your grandiose experiment and I believe in your future ''.

* 1918 – World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district.

He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I. Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies, though his films decreased in frequency from the end of the 1920s.

Chaplin recalled: " I had a disquieting feeling of sinking back into a depressing commonplaceness ", and was therefore " elated " when a new tour began in October.

Chaplin reassured him, " I can make up as old as you like.

Deeply disturbed by the surge of militaristic nationalism in 1930s world politics, Chaplin found that he could not keep these issues out of his work: " How could I throw myself into feminine whimsy or think of romance or the problems of love when madness was being stirred up by a hideous grotesque, Adolf Hitler?

Chaplin decided not to re-enter the United States, writing: " Since the end of the last world war, I have been the object of lies and propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's yellow press, have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted.

Chaplin is also one of the central characters in Glen David Gold's novel Sunnyside, which is set in the World War I period.

Its sponsors included John Arlott, Peggy Ashcroft, the Bishop of Birmingham Dr J. L. Wilson, Benjamin Britten, Viscount Chaplin, Michael de la Bédoyère, Bob Edwards, MP, Dame Edith Evans, A. S. Frere, Gerald Gardiner, QC, Victor Gollancz, Dr I. Grunfeld, E. M. Forster, Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron, Rev.

At the BBC, in the 1940s, " everybody would pull his leg ," and Spender described him as having real entertainment value " like, as I say, watching a Charlie Chaplin movie.

Decades later, he told the American writer on Japanese film Donald Richie, " I'm still a cartoonist and I think that the greatest influence on my films ( besides Chaplin, particularly The Gold Rush ) is probably Disney.

During World War I, she promoted the sale of Liberty Bonds, through an exhausting series of fund-raising speeches that kicked off in Washington, D. C., where she sold bonds alongside Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Theda Bara, and Marie Dressler.

Berle recalled, " There were even trips out to Hollywood — the studios paid — where I got parts in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, with Mary Pickford ; The Mark of Zorro, with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., and Tillie's Punctured Romance, with Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand and Marie Dressler.

During a battle in the last months of World War I, the protagonist, an unnamed Jewish private and a barber by profession ( Charlie Chaplin ), is fighting for the Central Powers in the army of the fictional nation of Tomainia, comically blundering through the trenches in combat scenes.

The iconic depiction of Chaplin working frantically to keep up with an assembly line inspired later comedy routines including Disney's Der Fuehrer's Face ( Donald Duck alternately assembling artillery shells and saluting portraits of Adolf Hitler ) and an episode of I Love Lucy titled " Job Switching " ( Lucy and Ethel trying to keep up with an ever-increasing volume of chocolate candies, eventually stuffing them in their mouths, hats, and blouses ).

However, Bow, like Charlie Chaplin, Louise Brooks and most other silent film-stars didn't embrace the novelty: " I hate talkies ", she said, " they're stiff and limiting.

Chaplin then became active in the Industrial Workers of the World ( the I. W. W., or " Wobblies ") and became editor of its eastern U. S. publication Solidarity.

* Ralph Chaplin, " Why I Wrote Solidarity Forever ," American West, vol.

The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford, and cowboy star William S. Hart a year earlier as they were traveling around the U. S. selling Liberty bonds to help the World War I effort.

" Downtown " was the first of fifteen consecutive Top 40 hits Clark achieved in the United States, including I Know a Place, My Love, A Sign of the Times, I Couldn't Live Without Your Love, This Is My Song ( from the Charles Chaplin film A Countess from Hong Kong ), and Don't Sleep in the Subway.

In 1959, having been editing The Chaplin Revue, Chaplin commented to a reporter ( regarding the Tramp character ) " I was wrong to kill him.