Sir Charles Spencer Charlie Chaplin (King of Originality) (16 April 1889 to 25 December 1977) A British comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the silent era. Chaplin became a worldwide 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, and encompassed both adulation and controversy. Raised in London, Chaplins childhood was defined by poverty and hardship. He was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine; his father was absent, and his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19 he was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company, which took him to America. Chaplin was scouted for the film industry, and made his first appearances in 1914 with Keystone Studios. He soon developed the Tramp persona and formed a large fan base. Chaplin directed his films from an early stage, and continued to hone his craft as he moved to the Essanay, Mutual, andFirst National corporations. By 1918, he was one of the best known figures in the world. In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists, which gave him complete control over his films. His first feature-length picture was The Kid (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 was 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. He abandoned the Tramp in his later films, which includeMonsieur Verdoux (1947), Limelight (1952), A King in New York (1957), and A Countess From Hong Kong (1967). Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, wrote the music, and starred in 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. His films are characterised by slapstickcombined with pathos, typified in the Tramps struggles against adversity. Many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements. In 1972, as part of a renewed appreciation for his work, Chaplin received an Honorary Academy Award for his outstanding contribution to the film industry. He continues to be held in high regard, withThe Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked among industry lists of the greatest films of all time. In 1998, the film critic Andrew Sarris called Chaplin arguably the single most important artist produced by the cinema, certainly its most extraordinary performer and probably still its most universal icon. He is described by the British Film Institute as a towering figure in world culture, and was included in TIME magazines list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century for the laughter [he brought] to millions and because he more or less invented global recognizability and helped turn an industry into an art. As a filmmaker, Chaplin is considered a pioneer and one of the most influential figures of the early twentieth century. He is often credited as one of the mediums first artists. Film historian Mark Cousins has written that Chaplin changed not only the imagery of cinema, but also its sociology and grammar and claims that Chaplin was as important to the development of comedy as a genre asD.W. Griffith was to drama. He was the first to popularise feature-length comedy and to slow down the pace of action, adding pathos and subtlety to it. Although his work is mostly classified as slapstick, Chaplins drama A Woman of Paris (1923) was a major influence on Ernst Lubitschs film The Marriage Circle (1924) and thus played a part in the development of sophisticated comedy. According to David Robinson, Chaplins innovations were rapidly assimilated to become part of the common practice of film craft. Filmmakers who cited Chaplin as an influence include Federico Fellini (who called Chaplin a sort of Adam, from whom we are all descended),Jacques Tati (Without him I would never have made a film), René Clair (He inspired practically every filmmaker), Michael Powell, Billy Wilder, and Richard Attenborough. Chaplin also strongly influenced the work of later comedians. Marcel Marceau said he was inspired to become a mime artist after watching Chaplin, while the actor Raj Kapoor based his screen persona on the Tramp. Mark Cousins has also detected Chaplins comedic style in the French character Monsieur Hulot and the Italian character Totò. In other fields, Chaplin helped inspire the cartoon characters Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse, and was an influence on the Dada art movement. As one of the founding members of United Artists, Chaplin also had a role in the development of the film industry. Gerald Mast has written that although UA never became a major company like MGM or Paramount Pictures, the idea that directors could produce their own films was years ahead of its time. In the 21st century, several of Chaplins films are still regarded as classics and among the greatest ever made. The 2012 Sight & Soundpoll, which compiles top ten ballots from film critics and directors to determine each groups most acclaimed films, saw City Lightsrank among the top 50 with critics; Modern Times was inside the top 100, and The Great Dictator and The Gold Rush placed in the top 250. The top 100 films as voted on by directors included Modern Times at number 22, City Lights at number 30, and The Gold Rushat number 91. Every one of Chaplins features received a vote. In 2007, the American Film Institute named City Lights the 11thgreatest American film of all time, while The Gold Rush and Modern Times again ranked in the top 100. Books about Chaplin continue to be published regularly, and he is a popular subject for media scholars and film archivists. Several memorials have been dedicated to Chaplin. In his home city, the London Film Museum hosts a permanent exhibition on his life and career called Charlie Chaplin – The Great Londoner, which opened in 2010. A statue of Chaplin as the Tramp is located in Leicester Square, sculpted byJohn Doubleday and unveiled in 1981. The city also includes a road named after him, Charlie Chaplin Walk in central London, which is the location of the BFI IMAX. Chaplins final home, Manoir de Ban in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, is in the process of being converted into a museum, to be opened in 2015, exploring his life and career. The nearby town ofVevey named a park in his honour in 1980 and erected a statue there in 1982. In 2011, two large murals depicting Chaplin on two 14-storey buildings were also unveiled in Vevey. Chaplin has also been honoured by the Irish town of Waterville, where he spent several summers with his family in the 1960s. A statue was erected in 1998, and since 2011 the town has been host to the annual Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival, which was founded to celebrate Chaplins legacy and to showcase new comic talent. Chaplin has also been remembered in several other ways. A minor planet, 3623 Chaplin, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina in 1981, is named after him. Throughout the 1980s, the Tramp image was used by IBM to advertise their personal computers. Chaplins 100th birthday anniversary in 1989 was marked with several events around the world, and on 15 April 2011, a day before his 122nd birthday, Google celebrated him with a special Google Doodle video on its global and other country-wide homepages. Many countries, spanning six continents, have honoured Chaplin with a postal stamp, . Chaplins legacy is managed by Association Chaplin, a company founded by some of his children, which owns the copyrights to his image, name, and most of his films made after 1918. Their central archive is held at the Cineteca di Bologna and includes 83630 images, 118 scripts, 976 manuscripts, 7756 letters and thousands of documents. The photographic archive, which includes approximately 10,000 photographs from Chaplins life and career, is kept at the Musée de lElysée in Lausanne, Switzerland. The British Film Institute has also established the Charles Chaplin Research Foundation, and the first international Charles Chaplin Conference was held in London in July 2005.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 10:05:42 +0000
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