The child was taken by Dryden at six months old, and did not re-enter Chaplin's life for 30 years.

Chaplin's childhood was fraught with poverty and hardship, prompting biographer David Robinson to describe his eventual trajectory as " the most dramatic of all the rags to riches stories ever told.

Chaplin's comic performance, however, was singled out for praise in many of the reviews.

Chaplin's speciality with the company was a burlesque of Dick Turpin and the music hall star " Dr. Bodie ".

Chaplin's most successful role with the Karno company was a drunk called the Inebriate Swell, a character recognised by Robinson as " very Chaplinesque ".

Chaplin's second American tour with the Karno company was not particularly successful, as cast members fell sick and audiences failed to grasp the troupe's burlesque humour.

Caught in the Rain ( issued 4 May 1914 ), Chaplin's first directed picture, was among Keystone's most successful releases to date.

The film was re-cut and expanded by the studio without Chaplin's consent, leading the star to seek an injunction in May 1916.

Chaplin's next release was war-based, placing the Tramp in the trenches for Shoulder Arms.

Chaplin's unhappiness with the union was matched by his dissatisfaction with First National.

The Kid ( 1921 film ) | The Kid ( 1921 ), with Jackie Coogan, combined comedy with drama and was Chaplin's first film to exceed an hour.

Dealing with issues of poverty and parent – child separation, The Kid is thought to be influenced by Chaplin's own childhood and was the first film to combine comedy and drama.

It contains some of Chaplin's most famous gags, such as the Tramp eating his shoe and the " Dance of the Rolls ", and he later said it was the film he would most like to be remembered for.

The document, which ran to an exceptional 52 pages, not only sought heavy material gains but was designed to ruin Chaplin's public image.

Chaplin's loneliness was relieved when he met Paulette Goddard, a 21-year-old actress, in July 1932.

It was widely noted that Hitler wore the same toothbrush moustache as the Tramp, and it was this physical resemblance that formed the basis of Chaplin's story.

Making a comedy about Hitler was seen as highly controversial, but Chaplin's financial independence allowed him to take the risk.

Chaplin's public image in America was gravely damaged by these sensational trials.

This was never done, probably from fear of Chaplin's ability to lampoon the investigators.

During the 1960s the political atmosphere began to gradually change, and attention was once again directed to Chaplin's films instead of his political views.

On his father's final years and death, Chaplin's son Eugene stated in a 2002 interview that " Up to the age of 85 he was in really good health.

The funeral, held two days later on 27 December, was a small and private Anglican ceremony, according to Chaplin's wish.

Two months later, on 1 March 1978, Chaplin's coffin was dug up and stolen from its grave by two unemployed mechanics, Polish Roman Wardas and Bulgarian Gantcho Ganev, in an attempt to extort money from Chaplin's widow, Oona Chaplin.

But her prettiness was what he had noticed first, and all the other things had come afterward: cruelty, meanness, self-will.

There was an artificial lake just out of sight in the first stand of trees, fed by a half dozen springs that popped out of the ground above the hillside orchard.

The first part of the road was steep, but it leveled off after the second bend and curled gradually into the valley.

No one was behind it, but in the rear wall of the office I noticed, for the first time, a door which had been left partially open.

The herd was watered and then thrown onto a broad grass flat which was to be the first night's bedground.

Once again, Tom Horn was the first and most likely suspect, and he was brought in for questioning immediately.

For Matilda, it was the first she had known in many a night.

Even the knowledge that she was losing another boy, as a mother always does when a marriage is made, did not prevent her from having the first carefree, dreamless sleep that she had known since they dropped down the canyon and into Bear Valley, way, way back there when they were crossing those other mountains.

Stevens was grunting over the last empty pocket when Russ abruptly rose and lunged toward Carmer's hat, which had tumbled half-a-dozen feet away when he first fell.

The Indian's arm whipped sidewise -- there was a flash of amber and froth, the crash of the bottle shattering against the side of the first car.

It was her first smile.

At first, I thought he was out of his head, talking wildly like this.

Hell, I gave him the first decent job he ever had, six, seven -- how many years ago was it, Rob ''??

Miss Langford ( her first name was Evelyn ) was an attractive girl.

School began in August, the hottest part of the year, and for the first few days Miss Langford was very lenient with the children, letting them play a lot and the new ones sort of get acquainted with one another.

It was just as well that the ignorant Dandy enjoyed himself to the hilt that first evening, for the room was to become his prison cell.

`` Bastards '', he would say, `` all I did was put a beat to that Vivaldi stuff, and the first chair clobbered me ''!!

In 1961 the first important legislative victory of the Kennedy Administration came when the principle of national responsibility for local economic distress won out over a `` state's-responsibility '' proposal -- provision was made for payment for unemployment relief by nation-wide taxation rather than by a levy only on those states afflicted with manpower surplus.

The first systematic thinking about this Pandora's box within Pandora's boxes was done four years ago by Fred Ikle, a frail, meek-mannered Swiss-born sociologist.

The smell at first was more surprising than unpleasant.

His collaboration with Washington, begun when he was the general's aide during the Revolution, was resumed when he entered the first Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury.