(Sir) Charlie Chaplin (KBE) (1889–1977) was an English internationally renowned Academy Award-winning actor, comedian, filmmaker and composer who was best known for his career in Hollywood motion pictures from his debut in 1914 until 1952, he however subsequently appeared in two films in his native England. During his early years in the era of silent film, he rose to prominence as a worldwide cinematic idol renowned for his tramp persona. In the 1910s and 1920s, he was considered the most famous person on the planet.
Chaplin was born in London and began acting on stage at the age of nine. In 1913, while on tour in the United States with Fred Karno's comedy group, he accepted a contract to work for Keystone Film Company. During his time at Keystone, he began writing and directing some of the films in which he starred. Chaplin signed with the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company in 1915, and the year after with the Mutual Film Corporation.
Chaplin by 1918, began producing his own films, initially releasing them through First National Pictures and then through United Artists, a corporation he co-founded with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Chaplin was accused of being a Communist sympathiser, which he denied. He remained a British subject and, while travelling to England in 1952 to attend the premiere of his film Limelight, his American re-entry permit was rescinded. Chaplin eventually settled in Switzerland, where he remained for the rest of his life. He made his last two films in England.
During his lifetime, Chaplin received three awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the first Academy Awards ceremony, held on 16 May 1929, he was originally nominated for Best Actor and Best Director for The Circus (1928). The Academy dropped his two nominations, and he won an honorary award for writing, directing, producing, and acting.[1] [2] In 1972, he returned to the United States after nearly two decades to receive another honorary award, this time for his overall achievements in cinema. The following year, Chaplin's score for Limelight received the Academy Award for Best Music. Although 20 years old by this time, Limelight had not been released in the Los Angeles area until 1972, and had not been eligible for Academy Award consideration before then.[2] Chaplin also received Academy Award nominations in 1940 for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay for The Great Dictator. In 1942, Chaplin released a new version of The Gold Rush, taking the original silent 1925 film and composing and recording a musical score. The Gold Rush was nominated for Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture). Notwithstanding the belated nomination for Limelight, his final contemporary nomination was in 1947 for his screenplay of Monsieur Verdoux.[2]
For his work in motion pictures, Chaplin has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the American Film Institute has listed him among the best actors of the Classical Hollywood cinema era[3]
Seven of the film's in which Chaplin starred have been added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry: Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), The Immigrant (1917), The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940). Also selected was Show People (1928), which Chaplin featured in a cameo[4]
In 1964, Chaplin established his official filmography with the publication of his book, My Autobiography. The filmography consisted of 80 motion pictures released since 1914. Further detail was added to it in David Robinson's 1985 biography, , which included Chaplin's last film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), as the 81st entry. In 2010 the 82nd film was added with the discovery of A Thief Catcher, an early Keystone film hitherto thought lost, with Chaplin's involvement previously unconfirmed.[5]
All of Chaplin's films up to and including The Circus (1928) were silent, although many were re-issued with soundtracks. City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936) were essentially silent films, although they were made with soundtracks consisting of music and sound effects, with talking sequences in the latter film. Chaplin's last five films were all talking pictures. Aside from A Countess From Hong Kong, all of Chaplin's films were photographed in 35mm black-and-white.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Chaplin's film canon substantially survives, with only a handful of his films considered lost (one, A Woman of the Sea, due to Chaplin's own actions).
Except where otherwise referenced, the release dates, character names, and annotations presented here are derived from Chaplin's autobiography, Robinson's book, and The Films of Charlie Chaplin (1965) by Gerald D. McDonald, Michael Conway, and Mark Ricci.
Chaplin appeared in 36 films for Keystone Studios, all produced by Mack Sennett. Except where noted, all films were one reel in length.
| Release date | Title | Credited as | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Writer | Director | Role | ||||
| Making a Living | Slicker | ||||||
| Kid Auto Races at Venice | Released on a split-reel (i.e. two films on one reel) with an education film, Olives and Trees. First released appearance of the Tramp, but see below. Added to the National Film Registry in 2020. | ||||||
| Mabel's Strange Predicament | Filmed before but released after Kid Auto Races at Venice, hence it was in this film that the Tramp costume was first used. | ||||||
| A Policeman | Print discovered in 2010. | ||||||
| Between Showers | Masher (The Tramp) | ||||||
| The Film Johnnie (The Tramp) | |||||||
| Tango Tangles | Tipsy Dancer | ||||||
| His Favourite Pastime | Drinker (The Tramp) | ||||||
| Cruel, Cruel Love | Lord Helpus | ||||||
| The Star boarder (The Tramp) | |||||||
| Mabel at the Wheel | Villain | Two reels | |||||
| Twenty Minutes of Love | Pickpocket (The Tramp) | ||||||
| Caught in a Cabaret | Waiter (The Tramp) | Two reels. Co-writer: Mabel Normand | |||||
| Caught in the Rain | Tipsy Hotel Guest (The Tramp) | ||||||
| Wife | Released on a split-reel with an educational short, The Morning Papers. | ||||||
| Suitor (The Tramp) | |||||||
| Her Friend the Bandit | Bandit | Lost film. Co-director: Mabel Normand. | |||||
| Referee (Considered by some to be The Tramp) | Two reels | ||||||
| Mabel's Busy Day | Tipsy Nuisance | ||||||
| Mabel's Married Life | Mabel's Husband (The Tramp) | Co-writer: Mabel Normand | |||||
| Laughing Gas | Dentist's Assistant (The Tramp) | ||||||
| The Property Man (The Tramp) | Two reels | ||||||
| Artist (The Tramp) | Based on the poem by Hugh Antoine d'Arcy. | ||||||
| Recreation | Released as a split-reel with a travel short, The Yosemite. | ||||||
| Film Actor (The Tramp) | |||||||
| His New Profession | Charlie (The Tramp) | ||||||
| Reveller | Co-starring Roscoe Arbuckle | ||||||
| Janitor (The Tramp) | |||||||
| Those Love Pangs | Masher (The Tramp) | ||||||
| Dough and Dynamite | Waiter (The Tramp) | Two reels. Co-writer: Mack Sennett | |||||
| Gentlemen of Nerve | Impecunious Track Enthusiast (The Tramp) | ||||||
| His Musical Career | Piano Mover (The Tramp) | ||||||
| His Trysting Place | Husband (The Tramp) | Two reels | |||||
| Getting Acquainted | Spouse (The Tramp) | ||||||
| His Prehistoric Past | Weakchin (The Tramp) | Two reels | |||||
| Tillie's Punctured Romance | Charlie, a City Slicker | Six reels. From the play, Tillie's Nightmare, by A. Baldwin Sloane and Edgar Smith. | |||||
Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in 15 films for the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, all produced by Jesse T. Robbins. Except where noted all films are two-reelers.
| Release date | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Writer | Director | Role | |||||
| His New Job | Film Extra (The Tramp) | |||||||
| Reveller (The Tramp) | Debut of Edna Purviance | |||||||
| Aspiring Pugilist (The Tramp) | ||||||||
| In the Park | Charlie (The Tramp) | One reel | ||||||
| Suitor, the Fake Count (The Tramp) | ||||||||
| By the Sea | Stroller (The Tramp) | One reel | ||||||
| Work | Decorator's Apprentice (The Tramp) | |||||||
| Charlie / "The Woman" (The Tramp) | ||||||||
| Janitor (The Tramp) | ||||||||
| Shanghaied | Charlie (The Tramp) | |||||||
| Mr. Pest and Mr. Rowdy | ||||||||
| A Burlesque on Carmen | Darn Hosiery | Re-issued on 22 April 1916, as an unauthorised four-reeler with new footage shot and assembled by Leo White. | ||||||
| Police | Ex-Convict (The Tramp) | |||||||
| Triple Trouble | Janitor (The Tramp) | Compilation assembled by Leo White with scenes from Police and an unfinished short, Life, along with new material shot by White. Chaplin includes this production in the filmography of his autobiography. | ||||||
Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, and starred in 12 films for the Mutual Film Corporation, which formed Lone Star Studios solely for Chaplin's films. All of the Mutual releases are two reels in length. In 1932, Amadee J. Van Beuren of Van Beuren Studios purchased Chaplin's Mutual comedies for $10,000 each, added music by Gene Rodemich and Winston Sharples and sound effects, and re-released them through RKO Radio Pictures.[6]
| Release date | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Writer | Director | Role | |||||
| Impecunious Customer (The Tramp) | Co-writer: Vincent Bryan | |||||||
| Fireman (The Tramp) | Co-writer: Vincent Bryan | |||||||
| Street Musician (The Tramp) | Co-writer: Vincent Bryan | |||||||
| One A.M. | Drunk | |||||||
| Tailor's Apprentice (The Tramp) | ||||||||
| Pawnbroker's Assistant (The Tramp) | ||||||||
| Behind the Screen | Property Man's Assistant (The Tramp) | |||||||
| Waiter and Skating Enthusiast (The Tramp) | ||||||||
| Easy Street | Vagabond recruited to Police Force (The Tramp) | |||||||
| Alcoholic Gentleman at Spa (Considered by some to be The Tramp) | ||||||||
| Immigrant (The Tramp) | Added to the National Film Registry in 1998.[7] | |||||||
| Escaped Convict (The Tramp) | ||||||||
Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, and starred in 9 films for his own production company between 1918 and 1923. These films were distributed by First National.
| Release date | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Writer | Director | Role | |||||
| Three reels. Score composed for compilation, The Chaplin Revue | ||||||||
| Half-reel. Co stars brother Sydney Chaplin | ||||||||
| Shoulder Arms | Recruit (The Tramp) | Three reels. Score composed for compilation, The Chaplin Revue. | ||||||
| Sunnyside | Farm Handyman (The Tramp) | Three reels. Score composed for 1974 re-release. | ||||||
| Father (The Tramp) | Two reels. First film with Jackie Coogan, future star of The Kid. Score composed for 1973 re-release. | |||||||
| Six reels. Score composed for 1971 re-release. Added to the National Film Registry in 2011.[8] | ||||||||
| Tramp / Husband | Two reels. Score composed for 1971 re-release. | |||||||
| Pay Day | Laborer (The Tramp) | Two reels. Score composed for 1972 re-release. Chaplin's final short (of less than 30 minutes running time). | ||||||
| Escaped Convict (Considered by some to be The Tramp) | Four reels. Score composed for compilation, The Chaplin Revue. | |||||||
Chaplin began releasing his films through United Artists in 1923. From this point on all of his films were of feature length. He produced, directed, and wrote these eight films and starred in all but the first. Beginning with City Lights Chaplin wrote the musical scores for his films as well.
| Release date | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Writer | Director | Role | |||||
| Porter | Chaplin has a small cameo role. Score composed for 1976 re-issue. | |||||||
| Lone Prospector (The Tramp) | Score composed for 1942 re-issue. Added to the National Film Registry in 1992.[9] | |||||||
| Score composed for 1970 re-issue. The Academy Film Archive preserved The Circus in 2002.[10] | ||||||||
| City Lights | Added to the National Film Registry in 1991.[11] | |||||||
| Modern Times | A factory worker (The Tramp) | Added to the National Film Registry in 1989.[12] | ||||||
| Adenoid Hynkel / The Barber (Considered by some to be The Tramp) | Added to the National Film Registry in 1997.[13] Nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor, Best Picture and Best Writing. | |||||||
| Monsieur Verdoux | Monsieur Henri Verdoux | Based on an idea by Orson Welles. Nominated for Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay). | ||||||
| Limelight | Calvero | Pulled from American screens shortly after its release when Chaplin became a political exile from the United States. Academy Award for Best Music (Scoring). (Awarded in 1973 when the film became first eligible for Academy Award consideration via Los Angeles screenings.) | ||||||
In 1952, while travelling to England to attend the première of his film, Limelight, Chaplin learned that his American re-entry permit was rescinded. As a result, his last two films were made in England.
| Release date | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Writer | Director | Role | |||||
| A King in New York | King Shahdov | Last starring role. An Attica-Archway production Not released in the United States until 1972. | ||||||
| A Countess from Hong Kong | An Old Steward | A Universal Production in Panavision and Technicolor. Produced by Jerome Epstein. Chaplin has a small cameo role. | ||||||
In addition to his official 82 films, Chaplin has several unfinished productions in his body of work. He made several cameo appearances as himself and was featured in several compilation films.
| Year(s) | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Writer | Director | Role | |||||
| 1915–1916 | Life | Uncompleted, although parts were used in The Essanay-Chaplin Revue (see below). | ||||||
| 1918 | How to Make Movies | Himself | Never assembled, although parts were used in The Chaplin Revue (see below). Reconstructed in 1981 by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill.[14] | |||||
| (untitled film) | Himself | A charity film co-starring Harry Lauder. | ||||||
| 1919 | The Professor | Professor Bosco | Slated as a two-reeler, but never issued. | |||||
| c.1922 | Nice and Friendly | Tramp | Improvised sketch. | |||||
| 1926 | A Woman of the Sea | Completed but never released. Chaplin had the negative burned on 24 June 1933, making it lost. | ||||||
| 1933 | All at Sea | Himself | An 11-minute home film shot by Alistair Cooke onboard Chaplin's boat, Panacea, and featuring Cooke with Chaplin and Paulette Goddard.[15] | |||||
| 1966–1975 | The Freak | A production planned for Chaplin's daughter, Victoria. | ||||||
Many Chaplin-unauthorized compilations of his Keystone, Essanay and Mutual films were released in the years following his departure from those companies. This is not an exhaustive list but does contain the most notable and widely released examples. Eventually Chaplin re-edited and scored his First National shorts for reissue in 1959 and 1975.
| Release date | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Writer | Director | Role | |||||
| 31 March 1915 | Introducing Charlie Chaplin | Promo film intended for exhibitors to show as a prologue to Chaplin films. | ||||||
| 23 September 1916 | The Essanay-Chaplin Revue | Ex-convict | Compiled by Leo White from portions of Police and Life with new material directed by White. | |||||
| 1916 | Zepped | A 7-minute reel of this WWI propaganda short, was discovered in 2009,[16] with a second in 2011.[17] The first copy was bought on eBay and later put up for auction, but the only bid failed to reach the reserve price.[18] | ||||||
| May 1918 | Chase Me Charlie | A seven-reel montage of Essanay films, edited by Langford Reed. Released in England. | ||||||
| Circa 1920 | Charlie Butts In | Essentially a one-reel version of the second Essanay short, A Night Out, incorporating alternate takes and footage of Chaplin conducting a band at Mer Island. | ||||||
| 1938 | The Charlie Chaplin Carnival | Property Man's Assistant / Tailor's Apprentice / Fireman / Street Musician | Compiled from Behind the Screen, The Count, The Fireman, and The Vagabond, with additional music and added sound effects. | |||||
| 1938 | The Charlie Chaplin Calvacade | Drunk / Waiter and Skating Enthusiast / Pawnbroker's Assistant / Impecunious Customer | Compiled from One A.M., The Rink, The Pawnshop, and The Floorwalker, with additional music and added sound effects. | |||||
| 1938 | The Charlie Chaplin Festival | Immigrant / The Derelict / The Inebriate / The Convict | Compiled from The Adventurer, The Cure, Easy Street and The Immigrant, with additional music and added sound effects. | |||||
| 25 September 1959 | The Chaplin Revue | Tramp / Recruit / Escaped Convict / Himself | Compiled from A Dog's Life, Shoulder Arms, The Pilgrim, and How to Make Movies. | |||||
| 1975 | The Gentleman Tramp | A compilation documentary featuring new scenes of Chaplin at his home in Switzerland. | ||||||
In addition to his own productions of A Woman of Paris (1923) and A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), Chaplin made cameo appearances as himself in the following films:
| Year | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1915 | His Regeneration | Charles Chaplin – Customer (uncredited) | |
| 1923 | Souls for Sale | Shown on the set of A Woman of Paris. | |
| Hollywood | Lost film.[19] | ||
| 1928 | Show People | Added to the National Film Registry in 2003.[20] |