Charlie Chaplin

Charles Chaplin was born on Tuesday, 16th April, 1889 in Walworth, London. His parents were successful music hall artists. When Charles was three, his father left home and his mother Hannah was left alone to bring-up Charles and his elder brother, Sydney. When Charles was five he made his first appearance on stage and when he was 9 years old, he made his first professional appearance. This was with William Jackson's 'Eight Lancashire Lads', at the Theatre Royal, Manchester. The show, which was about a troupe of clog dancers toured the country for two years, appearing in all of the major cities. The tour introduced Charlie to the variety theatre and during the tour he met many of the famous entertainers of the day.

From 1903 to 1907 Charlie appeared in a touring production of Sherlock Homes and in 1908 he joined the Fred Karno Company. Karno was one of the biggest names in the business at the time and in 1910 Charlie was sent on a tour of America. He became one of the leading comedians in the company and the tour ended at Salt Lake City in May 1912. On his return to the UK, Karno decided to send the company on a British tour but Charlie wanted to return to America and so he joined another of Karno's companies for a second American tour.

In the spring of 1913 Charlie was asked to call in at the New York offices of Kessel and Bauman who were the owners of the Keystone Film Company, whose studio was run by the legendary Mack Sennett. They offered Charlie a part in a film and when the tour ended he went to Los Angeles in December 1913 in readiness. In January the following year Sennett gave Charlie his first role, as a newspaper reporter in 'Making a Living'. It was during this film that Charlie first invented the little tramp character with baggy trousers, a pair of over-sized shoes, a bowler hat, and a cane. Over the next few months Charlie appeared in another six films and he became well-known.

Charlie fell-out with Sennett when he was ordered to work for Sennett's girlfriend, Mabel Normand who had little experience. She was making a film called 'Mabel at the Wheel' and after an argument Charlie thought that his career with Keystone was at an end. This was not to be because a wire arrived from New York, ordering Sennett to make more Chaplin Films. The public could not do without their little hero.

Charlie went on to have an extremely successful film career making a large number of films. Two of his most famous were 'The Gold Rush', made in 1925 and 'Modern Times' made in 1936. Charlie died in 1977.