Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on 16 April 1889, in East Street, Walworth, London, England. His parents were both entertainers in the music hall tradition.
His father was a vocalist and an actor and his mother was a singer and an actress who went by the stage name Lilly Harley.They separated before Charlie was three. He learned singing from his parents. Chaplin"s father was an alcoholic and had little contact with his son.
First years in the United States (1910–1916)
Chaplin first toured the United States with the Fred Karno troupe(卡爾諾啞劇劇團) from 1910 to 1912. After five months back in England, he returned to the U.S. for a second tour.
In late 1913, Chaplin‘s act with the Karno Troupe was seen by Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand, Minta Durfee, and Fatty Arbuckle. Sennett hired him for his studio, the Keystone Film Company .
Chaplin had considerable initial difficulty adjusting to the demands of film acting and his performance suffered for it. After Chaplin"s first film appearance, Making a Living was filmed, Sennett felt he had made a costly mistake.
Chaplin believed Sennett intended to fire him. However, Chaplin"s pictures were soon a success, and he became one of the biggest stars at Keystone.
Pioneering film artist and global celebrity (1916–1918)
In 1916, the Mutual Film Corporation paid Chaplin US$670,000 to produce a dozen comedies. He was given near complete artistic control, and produced twelve films over an eighteen-month period that rank among the most influential comedy films in all cinema.
Practically every Mutual comedy is a classic: Easy Street, One AM, The Pawnshop, and The Adventurer are perhaps the best known.
In 1916, the Mutual Film Corporation paid Chaplin US$670,000 to produce a dozen comedies. He was given near complete artistic control, and produced twelve films over an eighteen-month period that rank among the most influential comedy films in all cinema.
Practically every Mutual comedy is a classic: Easy Street, One AM, The Pawnshop, and The Adventurer are perhaps the best known.
Although First National expected Chaplin to deliver short comedies like the celebrated Mutuals, Chaplin ambitiously expanded most of his personal projects
into longer, feature-length films.
United Artists (1919–1939)
In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the United Artists film distribution company .
All Chaplin‘s United Artists pictures were of feature length, beginning with the atypical(非典型的) drama in which Chaplin had only a brief cameo role(小配角), A Woman of Paris (1923). This was followed by the classic comedies The Gold Rush (1925) and The Circus (1928).
After the arrival of sound films, Chaplin continued to focus on silent films; The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), and Modern Times (1936) were essentially silent films scored with his own music and sound effects.
Chaplin‘s first talking picture, The Great Dictator (1940 ) was an act of defiance(反抗，蔑視) against Nazism.
He was nominated for Academy awards for Best Picture (producer), Best Original Screenplay (writer) and Best Actor in The Great Dictator.
Final works (1957–1976)
Chaplin"s final two films were made in London: A King in New York (1957) in which he starred, wrote, directed and produced; and A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), which he directed, produced, and wrote.
As well as directing these final films, Chaplin also wrote My Autobiography, between 1959 and 1963, which was published in 1964.
From 1969 until 1976, Chaplin wrote original music compositions and scores(電影配樂) for his silent pictures and re-released them. Chaplin‘s last completed work was the score for his 1923 film A Woman of Paris, which was completed in 1976, by which time Chaplin was extremely frail(虛弱的), even finding communication difficult.
Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on 16 April 1889, in East Street, Walworth, London, England. His parents were both entertainers in the music hall tradition.
His father was a vocalist and an actor and his mother was a singer and an actress who went by the stage name Lilly Harley.They separated before Charlie was three. He learned singing from his parents. Chaplin"s father was an alcoholic and had little contact with his son.
First years in the United States (1910–1916)
Chaplin first toured the United States with the Fred Karno troupe(卡爾諾啞劇劇團) from 1910 to 1912. After five months back in England, he returned to the U.S. for a second tour.
In late 1913, Chaplin‘s act with the Karno Troupe was seen by Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand, Minta Durfee, and Fatty Arbuckle. Sennett hired him for his studio, the Keystone Film Company .
Chaplin had considerable initial difficulty adjusting to the demands of film acting and his performance suffered for it. After Chaplin"s first film appearance, Making a Living was filmed, Sennett felt he had made a costly mistake.
Chaplin believed Sennett intended to fire him. However, Chaplin"s pictures were soon a success, and he became one of the biggest stars at Keystone.
Pioneering film artist and global celebrity (1916–1918)
In 1916, the Mutual Film Corporation paid Chaplin US$670,000 to produce a dozen comedies. He was given near complete artistic control, and produced twelve films over an eighteen-month period that rank among the most influential comedy films in all cinema.
Practically every Mutual comedy is a classic: Easy Street, One AM, The Pawnshop, and The Adventurer are perhaps the best known.
In 1916, the Mutual Film Corporation paid Chaplin US$670,000 to produce a dozen comedies. He was given near complete artistic control, and produced twelve films over an eighteen-month period that rank among the most influential comedy films in all cinema.
Practically every Mutual comedy is a classic: Easy Street, One AM, The Pawnshop, and The Adventurer are perhaps the best known.
Although First National expected Chaplin to deliver short comedies like the celebrated Mutuals, Chaplin ambitiously expanded most of his personal projects
into longer, feature-length films.
United Artists (1919–1939)
In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the United Artists film distribution company .
All Chaplin‘s United Artists pictures were of feature length, beginning with the atypical(非典型的) drama in which Chaplin had only a brief cameo role(小配角), A Woman of Paris (1923). This was followed by the classic comedies The Gold Rush (1925) and The Circus (1928).
After the arrival of sound films, Chaplin continued to focus on silent films; The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), and Modern Times (1936) were essentially silent films scored with his own music and sound effects.
Chaplin‘s first talking picture, The Great Dictator (1940 ) was an act of defiance(反抗，蔑視) against Nazism.
He was nominated for Academy awards for Best Picture (producer), Best Original Screenplay (writer) and Best Actor in The Great Dictator.
Final works (1957–1976)
Chaplin"s final two films were made in London: A King in New York (1957) in which he starred, wrote, directed and produced; and A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), which he directed, produced, and wrote.
As well as directing these final films, Chaplin also wrote My Autobiography, between 1959 and 1963, which was published in 1964.
From 1969 until 1976, Chaplin wrote original music compositions and scores(電影配樂) for his silent pictures and re-released them. Chaplin‘s last completed work was the score for his 1923 film A Woman of Paris, which was completed in 1976, by which time Chaplin was extremely frail(虛弱的), even finding communication difficult.