大象传媒

Charlie Chaplin was the silent film star who commanded the world’s attention.

1. He was a survivor

Born into poverty in London, Chaplin’s early forays into showbiz were not a bid for stardom, just survival. It was a tough start in life – his father had abandoned the family and though Charlie’s mother was a singer she suffered from mental health issues. The future superstar was left to scratch out a living working on London’s Music Hall circuit. It was either that or the brutal workhouse – which young Charlie did end up in at one point.

2. He was an originator

Chaplin appeared as The Little Tramp in his films between 1914 to 1936. The character would become the most famous clown of the silent cinema era. Not bad for a creation he quickly rustled up in the Keystone studio wardrobe department for a short he was cast in. It was no fluke – such was Chaplin’s genius, he increasingly took control of his films and eventually ran his own studio.

3. The silent star had a lot to say

Having resisted the ‘talkies’ for as long as he could, Charlie Chaplin’s first film with speech was The Great Dictator in 1940. With the whole world watching, and now listening, Chaplin’s satire devastatingly sent up dictators. One of the first Hollywood pictures to address anti-Semitism, The Great Dictator lampooned Hitler, while the film’s final speech proved to be a brilliant, forward-thinking championing of democracy. Hitler, along with Italian dictator Mussolini and Spain’s military leader General Franco all banned the film, so it certainly hit its mark.