Charlie Chaplin.

Charlie Chaplin.

 (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002)

 

Sir Charles Spencer or more commonly known as Charlie Chaplin was an English comic actor, comedian and a film maker who rose to fame in the silent film era. Chaplin become a famous world wide icon through his screen persona The Tramp and is considered one of the most important figures of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977.

 

In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists, which gave him complete control over his films like His first feature-length The Kid in 1921 followed by A Woman of Paris (1923), The Gold Rush (1925), and The Circus (1928).He refused to move to sound films in the 1930s, instead producing City lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936) without dialogue. Chaplin became increasingly political and his next film, The Great Dictator (1940), satirised Adolf Hitler. The 1940s were a decade marked with controversy for Chaplin and his popularity declined rapidly. He was accused of communist sympathies, while his involvement in a paternity suit and marriages to much younger women caused scandal. An FBI investigation was opened, and Chaplin was forced to leave the United States and settle in Switzerland.

 For the music that went along with his films he was the one who wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in, and composed the music for most of his films. He was a perfectionist, and his financial independence enabled him to spend years on the development and production of a picture. In 1972, as part of a renewed appreciation for his work, Chaplin received an Honorary Academy Award for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century".