A member of NYMPC had seen Chaplin perform ( accounts of whom and where vary ) and felt that he would make a good replacement for Fred Mace, outgoing star of their Keystone Studios.

Chaplin thought the Keystone comedies " a crude mélange of rough and rumble ", but liked the idea of working in films and justified, " Besides, it would mean a new life ".

Chaplin became fearful that Harris would claim The Kid as part of the divorce proceedings, so packed the 400, 000 feet negative into crates and travelled to Salt Lake City to cut the film in a hotel room.

Chaplin was nonetheless anxious about this decision, and would remain so throughout its production.

Maland has identified it as triggering Chaplin's decline in popularity, and writes, " Henceforth, no movie fan would ever be able to separate the dimension of politics from the star image of Charles Spencer Chaplin.

In February 2012 an MI5 file on Chaplin was opened to the public which revealed that the FBI had contacted the British secret service to provide them with information which would enable them to ban Chaplin from the US.

Shortly after the publication of his memoirs, Chaplin began work on what would be his final completed film, A Countess from Hong Kong ( 1967 ), based on a script he had written for Paulette Goddard in the 1930s.

Although the film would have comic moments, Chaplin described it as first and foremost a romantic film.

Chaplin believed his first influence to be his mother, who would entertain him as a child by sitting at the window and mimicking passers-by.

The impresario also taught his comedians to vary the pace of their comedy, that a hectic speed was not necessary, and used elements of absurdity that would become familiar in Chaplin gags.

Chaplin never spoke more than cursorily about his filmmaking methods, claiming such a thing would be tantamount to a magician spoiling his own illusion.

As ideas were accepted and discarded, a narrative structure would emerge, frequently requiring Chaplin to reshoot an already-completed scene that might have otherwise contradicted the story.

This combination of story improvisation and relentless perfectionism — which resulted in days of effort and thousands of feet of film being wasted, all at enormous expense — often proved very taxing for Chaplin, who in frustration would often lash out at his actors and crew, keep them waiting idly for hours or, in extreme cases, shutting down production altogether.

This process, which could take months, would start with Chaplin describing to the composer ( s ) exactly what he wanted and singing or playing a tune he had come up with on the piano.

Segar's ' Chaplin ' comics would later be collected in 1917 into five books, precursors of the later comic book format.

Red Skelton, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin would all fit the definition of a character clown.

where he would meet Florence Eleanor Chaplin who would become his first wife.

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.

It was in these early years that Remi developed a love of cinema, particularly favouring Windsor McCay's pioneering animated film Gertie the Dinosaur and the films featuring Charlie Chaplin, Harry Langdon and Buster Keaton ; his later work in the comic strip medium would display an obvious influence from these early films in style and content.

More favourable critics praised Benigni's artistic daring and skill to create a sensitive comedy involving the tragedy, a challenge that Charles Chaplin confessed he would not have done with The Great Dictator had he been aware of the horrors of the Holocaust.

However, Chaplin later stated that he would not have made the film if he had known of the true extent of the Nazis ' crimes.

Famed French film director François Truffaut noted that early in the production, Chaplin said he would not play The Tramp in a sound film, and he considers the barber an entirely different character.

Chaplin made 14 films for Essanay, the last of which was a parody of Carmen named Burlesque on Carmen ( 1916 ).

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.

In the last two decades of his career, Chaplin concentrated increasingly on re-editing and scoring his old films for re-release.

The comedian Charlie Chaplin was one of the last silent film hold-outs, and his films during the 1930s were devoid of dialogue, although they did employ sound effects.

** Charlie Chaplin launches his last film, A Countess From Hong Kong, in the UK.

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.

In the late spring of 1930 Chaplin shot the last major comedy sequence in the film: the boxing match.

It is notable as being the last Chaplin film which he did not write nor direct himself.

Welles sought to direct the film with Chaplin as star, but Chaplin backed out at the last minute, on the grounds that he'd never been directed by somebody else in a full length feature film before and wasn't willing to start ( which was not technically correct since he was directed in one feature film during his Keystone days.

Chaplin told his older sons he expected Limelight to be his last film.

In the early years of " talkie " films ( beginning in 1927, see The Jazz Singer ) a few actors continued to act silently for comedic effect, most famously Charlie Chaplin, whose last great " silent " comedies City Lights ( 1931 ) and Modern Times ( 1936 ) were both made in the sound age.

N6676D is shown taking off from the Downtown Manhattan / Wall St. Heliport in the last of the Secret Agent 077 trilogy of films, 1966's Special Mission Lady Chaplin.

Chaplin and co-star Coogan met for the last time in 1972, during Chaplin's brief return to America for an Honorary Academy Award.

Josephine ( Josie ) Hannah Chaplin ( born March 28, 1949 in Santa Monica, California ) is an actress and the daughter of actor / comedian / director Charlie Chaplin and his last wife, Oona O ' Neill.

A King in New York is a 1957 British comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin in his last leading role, which presents a satirical view of certain aspects of United States politics and society.

Following the team's last film, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery ( 1992 ), Ilya and his then wife, Jane Chaplin ( daughter of Charlie Chaplin ) settled in Orlando, Florida, where much of the Superboy series had been filmed.

It was the third and last time Chaplin played the role of a woman on film.

The film marks the last time Edna Purviance would co-star with Chaplin and the last film he made for First National.

Directed by Chaplin, it was the fifth and last film made at Essanay's Niles, California studio.

His last appearance in a Chaplin film was a small role in The Great Dictator, released in 1940.