Charles Chaplin

Born in 1899 in London, died 1977 in Switzerland. Actor, director, screenwriter, composer, cinematic pioneer. He began acting in music halls as a child and worked in a vaudeville troupe by 1907. Mack Sennett, a burlesque filmmaker, noticed Chaplin during the troupe’s US tour. Sennett’s Keystone films produced slapstick comedies, and began to feature Chaplin. There, Chaplin created the tramp, with his emblematic bowler hat, oversized shoes, toothbrush mustache, and bamboo cane. In 1919, with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and David W. Griffith, Chaplin founded United Artists. In 1921, Chaplin produced his first feature-length film The Kid. He was not a fan of ‘talkies’, and directed the silent Modern Times in 1936. His first sound film came four years later, The Dictator. After WWII, suspected of being a communist sympathizer and denied re-entry into the USA, Chaplin made his final films in Europe.

Selected filmography

1914 Aby zarobić na życie / Making a Living

1916 Charlie włóczęga / The Vagabond

1921 Brzdąc / The Kid

1925 Gorączka złota / The Gold Rush

1931 Światła wielkiego miasta / City Lights

1940 Dyktator / The Great Dictator

1942 Pan Verdoux / Monsieur Verdoux

1952 Światła rampy / Limelight