Hello & welcome to this fortnight’s GK Nugget. Last Sunday was the 128th birth anniversary of one of the world’s most famous and recognizable comedians, Charlie Chaplin. So this edition of the GK Nugget is about the actor who has made generations of people across the globe laugh out loud.
Born on 16th April 1889, Charles Spencer Chaplin was born just 4 days before infamous German Dictator Adolf Hitler.
One of Chaplin’s most famous movies was ‘The Great Dictator’ which saw him satirise Hitler. Released in 1940, it was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and went on to become one of Chaplin’s most commercially successful films. Interestingly, this was Chaplin’s first true sound film.
An expert of the silent films, he was the only Hollywood film maker to continue making silent films well into the period of sound films.
Chaplin wrote, produced, and acted in two movies in the 1930s, well after conversations were prevalent in the “talkies” (motion pictures in which sound was added). Surprisingly, the actors did not talk in these two movies, relying instead on the musical score to set the tone for the movies, and the few spoken words coming from objects such as a radio.
A large number of his films were written, produced, directed, and acted in by Chaplin himself, including him giving the music score.
An English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame during the era of silent film, Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona “the Tramp” and is considered one of the most important figures in the history 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.
Chaplin appeared on the cover of the July 6, 1925 issue of Time magazine. He was the first actor ever to appear on the magazine known for its influential cover photo.
Chaplin won an honorary Academy Award (Oscar) in 1929, during the first presentation of awards. Originally nominated in a couple of categories, his name was withdrawn and he was presented instead with a special award. He also received an honorary award in 1972 for “the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century”.
The next year, however, he won a Best Music Oscar for Limelight, a film he had made 21 years earlier, yet had not been shown in Los Angeles until 1972, thus enabling his nomination and subsequent award.
Three months after Chaplin died on Christmas, 1977; his body was stolen in an effort to extort money from his family. Chaplin’s body was recovered 11 weeks later after the grave-robbers were captured. He is now buried under 6 feet of concrete to prevent further theft attempts.
Four years after his death, Ukrainian astronomer, Lyudmila Karachkina, named an asteroid after him. Ms. Karachkina, discoverer of 131 asteroids, named one of them 3623 Chaplin. It resides in the asteroid “belt” between Mars and Jupiter and appears as a magnitude 12.1 object, making it visible in a moderately strong telescope.
He was married 4 times and had 11 children. The accomplished actress, Geraldine Chaplin, is Charlie’s daughter with his last wife Oona. In the 1992 Hollywood movie adaptation of Charlie Chaplin’s life, “Chaplin”, she portrayed Hannah Chaplin, Charlie’s mother.
Now we’ve all heard about how Chaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contest and lost. There are 2 versions to this story. Sometime in 1920, he was one day at a fair in the United States, where a principal attraction was a competition as to who could best imitate the Charlie Chaplin walk. The real Charlie Chaplin entered for the performance, minus his celebrated moustache and his boots. He was a frightful failure and came in twentieth.
Another version states that in 1975, Chaplin entered a look-alike contest of himself in France. He came in third. A theory: Chaplin’s eyes probably threw off the judges. (It is a lesser known fact that Charlie Chaplin had blue eyes. Having mostly acted in black and white movies it was presumed that he had brown eyes).
He continues to be held in high regard, with The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked on industry lists of the greatest films of all time.
Even today the image of a man wearing baggy pants and over-sized shoes with a bamboo cane and a bowler hat bring back fond memories of a childhood spent watching reruns of this talented actor’s movies that always left you with a smile on your face.
That’s all on this edition of the GK Nugget. See you next time.
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