Born on April 16, 1889 in London England, Charlie Chaplin worked with a
children's dance troupe before making a huge mark on the big screen. His
character Charlie the Tramp relied on pantomime and quirky movements to
became an iconic figure of the silent film era. Chaplin went on to
become a director and co-founded United Artists Corporation, making
films like City Lights and Modern Times.
British comedian, producer, writer, director, and composer. Born
Charles Spencer Chaplin on April 16, 1889, in London, England, to
parents Charles and Hannah Chaplin. Famous for his Little Tramp
character, the sweet little man with a bowler hat, mustache, and cane,
Chaplin was one of film's first superstars, elevating the industry in a
way few could have ever imagined.
Chaplin's rise was a true rags-to-riches story. His father, a
notorious drinker, abandoned Chaplin, his mother, and his older
half-brother, Sydney, not long after his Charlie's birth. That left
Chaplin and his brother in the hands of their mother, a vaudevillian and
music hall singer who went by the stage name of Lily Harley.
For a few years, anyway, Chaplin's mother, who would later suffer
severe mental issues and have to be committed to an asylum, was able to
support her family. But in a performance that would introduce her
youngest boy to the world of performance, Hannah inexplicably lost her
voice in the middle of a show, prompting the stage manager to push the
five-year-old Chaplin, whom he'd heard sing, onto the stage to replace
her.
Chaplin lit up the audience, wowing them with his natural presence
and comedic angle (at one point he imitated his mother's cracking
voice). But the episode meant the end for Hannah. Her singing voice
never returned and she eventually ran out of money. For a time Charlie
and Sydney had to make a new temporary home for themselves in London's
tough workhouses.
Armed with his mother's love of the stage, Chaplin was determined to
make it in show business himself and in 1897 using his mother's contacts
landed with a clog dancing troupe named the Eight Lancashire Lads. It
was a short stint, and not a terribly profitable one, forcing the
go-getter Chaplin to make ends meet anyway he could.
Continues: http://www.biography.com/people/charlie-chaplin-9244327
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