Sir Charles Spencer " Charlie " Chaplin, KBE ( 16 April 188925 December 1977 ) was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era.

Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era.

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

In 2008, Martin Sieff, in a review of the book Chaplin: A Life, wrote: " Chaplin was not just ' big ', he was gigantic.

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on 16 April 1889 to Hannah Chaplin ( née Hill, 1865 – 1928 ) and Charles Chaplin Sr. ( 1863 – 1901 ).

There is no official record of his birth, although Chaplin believed he was born at East Street, Walworth, in South London.

Because of this poverty, Chaplin was sent to a workhouse at seven years old.

In September 1898, Hannah Chaplin was committed to Cane Hill mental asylum — she had developed a psychosis seemingly brought on by malnutrition and an infection of syphilis.

" 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.

" There was nothing we could do but accept poor mother's fate ", Chaplin later wrote, and she remained in care until her death in 1928.

Hannah had been booed off stage, and the manager chose Chaplin, who was standing in the wings, to go on as her replacement.

It was an isolated performance, but at nine years old Chaplin became interested in the theatre.

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.

The manager sensed potential in Chaplin and he was soon on the stage.

" It was like tidings from heaven ", Chaplin recalled.

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.

`` 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 ''.

" 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.

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

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.

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.

Modern Times ( 1936 ), which depicted factory workers in dismal conditions, was the first of his films that was seen by critics to contain an anti-capitalist message, although Chaplin denied the film being in any way political.

According to film historian Jeffrey Vance, " although he relied upon associates to arrange varied and complex instrumentation, the musical imperative is his, and not a note in a Chaplin musical score was placed there without his assent.

Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo were guests there, and Kaiser Wilhelm II himself held regular " gentlemens ' evenings " and other functions there in a room that came to be named after him-the Kaisersaal.

Actor Gene Wilder compared him to Charlie Chaplin in saying " no matter how farcical performance was ... there was always an element of reality to what he did.

Among the properties he bought was land he later sold at a considerable profit to Charlie Chaplin so the filmmaker could construct his studio there.

" In Hollywood's golden age, all the studios had offices there ," said Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler, including Charlie Chaplin and Will Rogers.

“ What makes Modern Times decidedly different from Chaplin's previous three films are the political references and social realism that keep intruding into Charlie's world .” “ No comedian before or after him has spent more energy depicting people in their working lives .” “ Though there had been films depicting the lives of immigrants and urban workers, no filmmaker before Chaplin had created their experience so humanly and lovingly .”

Many famous people have been associated with the Military Town, including Charlie Chaplin who made his first stage appearance in The Canteen theatre aged 5 in 1894, and Winston Churchill, who was based there in the 19th century.

Henry Chaplin, there were 90 members of staff and the first annual estimate was for £ 55, 000.

Even though there was often no set release schedule, these series could be considered somewhat like a modern TV sitcom – lower in status than feature films but nevertheless very popular ( comedians such as Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton all ' graduated ' from shorts to features ).

Late in his life, after he had become a voice opposing ( State ) Communists in the labor movement, Chaplin wrote an article, “ Why I wrote Solidarity Forever ,” in which he denounced the “ not-so-needy, not-so-worthy, so-called ‘ industrial unions ’ spawned by an era of compulsory unionism .” He wrote that among Wobblies “ there is no one who does not look with a rather jaundiced eye upon the ‘ success ’ of ‘ Solidarity Forever .’" " I didn't write ' Solidarity Forever ' for ambitious politicians or for job-hungry labor fakirs seeking a ride on the gravy train.

Negri had met Chaplin while in Germany, and what began as a platonic relationship there became a well-publicized affair and marriage speculation which received the headline, " The Queen of Tragedy To Wed The King of Comedy ".

After their criticism of Charlie Chaplin at the 1952 press conference in Paris for Chaplin's Limelight, there was a split within the movement.

Max and his Taxi had been shot in Hollywood and while there Linder had developed a close friendship with Charlie Chaplin.

In fact Clark did not wish to record the song in English as she disliked the deliberately old fashioned lyrics which Chaplin refused to modify ; however after the translated versions of the song had been recorded there happened to be some time remaining on the session which Burke coaxed Clark to use to record Chaplin's lyrics.

Chaplin and his associates smuggled the raw negative to Salt Lake City, Utah ( reportedly packed in coffee cans ) and edited the film in a hotel room there.

Syd and Minnie Chaplin arrived in California, then, in October 1914 and he made a few comedies there, including the " Gussle " comedies and the feature-length A Submarine Pirate in 1915, which, second to Tillie's Punctured Romance, was the most financially successful comedy Keystone ever made.

'" As theorized by David Bellos, Hulot may even represent an inversion of The Tramp: “ Hulot tilts forwards whereas Chaplin tilts back ; Chaplin ’ s puppet-like waddle is very different from Hulot ’ s ‘ springy glide ’; and there is a difference in costume too: the bowler, tails, huge pants, cane and cigarette are replaced by a pipe, various accessories, pants that are too short, a sports blazer and a Homburg, although the striped socks are borrowed from Keaton .”

Adolf Hitler was a fan of Chaplin, but " there is no evidence ( though some speculation ) that Hitler modeled his ' stache on Chaplin.

He was coached there by John Chaplin.