Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin

16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977

An English actor, comedian, director, writer, editor, producer and composer who rose to fame in the silent era. Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19 he was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company, which took him to America. Chaplin was scouted for the film industry, and made his first appearance in Keystone Studios's Making a Living (1914). He soon developed the Tramp persona and formed a large fan base. Chaplin directed his films from an early stage, and continued to hone his craft as he moved to the Essanay, Mutual, and First National corporations. By 1918, he was one of the best known figures in the world. 

Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona "the Tramp" and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death at age 88, and encompassed both adulation and controversy. 

Chaplin received many awards and honours, especially later in life. In the New Year Honours 1975, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He was also awarded honorary Doctor of Letters degrees by the University of Oxford and the University of Durham in 1962. In 1965 he and Ingmar Bergman were joint winners of the Erasmus Prize and in 1971 he was appointed a Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour by the French government. From the film industry, Chaplin received a special Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1972, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lincoln Center Film Society the same year. The latter has since been presented annually to filmmakers as The Chaplin Award. Chaplin received three Academy Awards: an Honorary Award for "versatility and genius in acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus" in 1929, a second Honorary Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century" in 1972, and a Best Score award in 1973 for Limelight (shared with Ray Rasch and Larry Russell). Chaplin was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1970, having been previously excluded because of his political beliefs.

As composer, producer, writer, director, actor

• Making a Living (1914)
• Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)
• Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914)
• A Thief Catcher (1914)
• Between Showers (1914)
• A Film Johnnie (1914)
• Tango Tangles (1914)
• His Favourite Pastime (1914)
• Cruel, Cruel Love (1914)
• The Star Boarder (1914)
• Mabel at the Wheel (1914)
• Twenty Minutes of Love (1914)
• Caught in a Cabaret (1914)
• Caught in the Rain (1914)
• A Busy Day (1914)
• The Fatal Mallet (1914)
• Her Friend the Bandit (1914)
• The Knockout (1914)
• Mabel's Busy Day (1914)
• Mabel's Married Life (1914)
• Laughing Gas (1914)
• The Property Man (1914)
• The Face on the Bar Room Floor (1914)
• Recreation (1914)
• The Masquerader (1914)
• His New Profession (1914)
• The Rounders (1914)
• The New Janitor (1914)
• Those Love Pangs (1914)
• Dough and Dynamite (1914)
• Gentlemen of Nerve (1914)
• Musical Tramp (AKA His Musical Career) (1914)
• His Trysting Place (1914)
• Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914)
• Getting Acquainted (1914)
• His Prehistoric Past (1914)
• His New Job (1915)
• A Night Out (1915)
• The Champion (1915)
• In the Park (1915)
• A Jitney Elopement (1915)
• The Tramp (1915)
• By the Sea (1915)
• Work (1915)
• A Woman (1915)
• The Bank (1915)
• Shanghaied (1915)
• A Night in the Show (1915)
• Burlesque on 'Carmen' (1915)
• The Floorwalker (1916)
• Police (1916)
• The Fireman (1916)
• The Vagabond (1916)
• One A.M. (1916)
• The Count (1916)
• The Pawnshop (1916)
• Behind the Screen (1916)
• The Rink (1916)
• Easy Street (1917)
• The Cure (1917)
• The Immigrant (1917)
• The Adventurer (1917)
• A Dog's Life (1918)
• Triple Trouble (1918)
• The Bond (1918)
• Shoulder Arms (1918)
• Sunnyside (1919)
• A Day's Pleasure (1919)
• The Kid (1921)
• The Idle Class (1921)
• Pay Day (1922)
• A Woman of Paris (1923)
• The Pilgrim (1923)
• The Gold Rush (1925)
• The Circus (1928)
• City Lights (1931)
• Modern Times (1936)
• The Great Dictator (1940)
• Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
• Limelight (1952)
• A King in New York (1957)
• A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)

Quotations

* * *

A day without laughter is a day wasted.

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Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.

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We think too much and feel too little.

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Nothing is permanent in this wicked world - not even our troubles.

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A man's true character comes out when he's drunk.

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Life could be wonderful if people would leave you alone.

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Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain.

* * *

Man as an individual is a genius. But men in the mass form the headless monster, a great, brutish idiot that goes where prodded.

* * *

Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.

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What do you want a meaning for? Life is a desire, not a meaning.

* * *

The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

* * *

Words are cheap. The biggest thing you can say is 'elephant'.

* * *

We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery.

* * *

To help a friend in need is easy, but to give him your time is not always opportune.

* * *

I am at peace with God. My conflict is with Man.

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Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference.

* * *

In the end, everything is a gag.

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I went into the business for the money, and the art grew out of it. If people are disillusioned by that remark, I can't help it. It's the truth.

* * *

This is a ruthless world and one must be ruthless to cope with it.

* * *

I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born.

* * *

Actors search for rejection. If they don't get it they reject themselves.

* * *

The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.

* * *

Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people.

* * *

I suppose that's one of the ironies of life doing the wrong thing at the right moment.

* * *

I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.

* * *

Why should poetry have to make sense?

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Remember, you can always stoop and pick up nothing.

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Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural.

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I am for people. I can't help it.

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Movies are a fad. Audiences really want to see live actors on a stage.

* * *

All my pictures are built around the idea of getting in trouble and so giving me the chance to be desperately serious in my attempt to appear as a normal little gentleman.

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