Charles Chaplin, Jr.

Charles Spencer Chaplin, III. (May 5, 1925 – March 20, 1968) was an American actor.

Life and career

Chaplin was born in Beverly Hills, California. He was the elder son of actors Charlie Chaplin and Lita Grey. His half-siblings from his father's last marriage to Oona O'Neill are Geraldine, Michael, Josephine, Victoria, Eugene, Jane, Annette, and Christopher. His elder half-brother Norman died as an infant.

As young children, he and his younger brother Sydney were used as pawns in their mother's bitter divorce from Charlie Chaplin, during which a lot of the couple's "dirty linen" was aired in public, sensational divorce hearings. Following the divorce, the brothers were raised by their mother and maternal grandmother until the mid-1930s, when they began to make frequent visits to their father.

Chaplin attended the Black-Foxe Military Institute in Hollywood and the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He served in the US Army in Europe during World War II.

Charles married actress Susan Magness (born c. 1936) on August 6, 1958. They lived in Los Angeles, California. Their daughter Susan Maree Chaplin was born in May 1959. They separated in October 1959 and divorced on November 23, 1959. His ex-wife and daughter still live in Los Angeles.

Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the silent era. 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 in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

Chaplin's childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship. As his father was absent and his mother struggled financially, he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine. When he was 14, his mother was committed to a mental asylum. 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 began appearing in 1914 for Keystone Studios. He soon developed the Tramp persona and formed a large fan base. Chaplin directed his own 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.

Charles Chaplin (disambiguation)

Charlie Chaplin was an English comedy actor.

Charles or Charlie Chaplin is also the name of:

Other use

Charles Chaplin (artist)

Charles Chaplin (1907–1987) was an English artist, engraver and printmaker.

"You teach me a little about engraving and I will teach you a little about art" was the remarkable offer made by Robert Austin to his new student, Charles Chaplin. Austin, an eminent engraver himself, had become Chaplin's tutor at the Royal College of Art in September 1947. Chaplin, a mature student, was a printer's commercial engraver; he was also an amateur artist whose prints had already received some recognition and had been hung at the Royal Academy summer exhibitions. He had, however, had little formal education or art training. Austin's encouragement was a major influence on Chaplin's subsequent career as an artist.

The years before World War II cover Chaplin's birth into a large working-class family, his early love of drawing, the accident which left him with only one eye, and his apprenticeship in a large printing works. After the war, he enrolled as a Saturday student at the Royal College of Art and, thereafter, his style developed significantly. Following his retirement from the printing industry, his prolific output continued unabated, encouraged by new contacts in Sweden and Canada. A shy man who loved the countryside and recorded its trees, lakes, weather, wildlife, and the fascinating rural clutter of its farmyard, his family life is revealed in the detail of his work.