Charlie Chaplin - The Biggest Little Tramp

A tribute to Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin. With the song "Smile" written by Chaplin for the movie 'Modern Times'.

Charles Chaplin was born April 16 1889 in London. Both of his parents were actors and singers. He learned entertainment from his parents. In 1910 he toured America with the Fred Karno Troupe. In late 1913 his act was seen by film producer Mack Sennett, who hired Chaplin to work in his studio, the Keystone Film Company. Here he developed his character, The Tramp, and quickly learned the art and craft of film making. The public first saw The Tramp in Chaplin's second film, "Kid Auto Races at Venice".

Chaplin's career in entertainment spanned over 65 years. In 1919 he co-founded "United Artists" with Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D.W. Griffith. On March 4 1975 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and became Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin.

Chaplin's robust health began to slowly fail in the late 1960s, after the completion of his final film A Countess from Hong Kong, and more rapidly after he received his Academy Award in 1972. By 1977 he could no longer communicate and was confined to a wheelchair. He died in his sleep in Vevey, Switzerland. He was interred in Corsier-Sur-Vevey Cemetery, Vaud, Switzerland. On 1 March 1978, his corpse was stolen by a small group of Swiss mechanics in an attempt to extort money from his family. The plot failed, the robbers were captured, and the corpse was recovered eleven weeks later near Lake Geneva. His body was reburied under two meters of concrete to prevent further attempts.

Quotes about Chaplin:

"Chaplin was not just 'big', he was gigantic. In 1915, he burst onto a war-torn world bringing it the gift of comedy, laughter and relief while it was tearing itself apart through World War I. Over the next 25 years, through the Great Depression and the rise of Hitler, he stayed on the job. He was bigger than anybody. It is doubtful any individual has ever given more entertainment, pleasure and relief to so many human beings when they needed it the most." - Martin Sieff

"We felt that the public, and especially the children, like animals that are cute and little. I think we are rather indebted to Charlie Chaplin for the idea. We wanted something appealing, and we thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin — a little fellow trying to do the best he could." - Walt Disney, explaining on how Mickey Mouse was based on Chaplin

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• sir
• charles
• spencer
• chaplin
• tribute
• smile
• city
• light
• modern
• times
• the
• kid

[beeje]

Chaplin was a genius!! I love City Lights (got to watch that in an actual movie theatre- so exciting)! I love when his neck gets stuck on the rope that dings the bell when he's boxing.

[StepsInTime]

Haha, that whole scene is qenius!! That whole film is qenius! I LOVE it!

[pagliaccinodlemantra]

whats the name of the film when he are boxing?

[lorax121323]

qenius or Genius

[BSTO88]

GREAT tribute! Thanks so much!

[eveningsinbloom]

Wonderful! I loved the way you started with that quote, so very true. Chaplin was such a great comedian, but also very tender-the scenes from The Kid just kill me. Your work on this tribute was great!