Biography of Charlie Chaplin

Charlie’s Mother: Hannah Chaplin

(1865-1928)

Charlie Chaplin always cited his own mother as a great inspiration on both his performance techniques and his outlook on life. Hannah was a singer and character comedienne in the British music halls with the stage name of Lily Harley, and she did enjoy some success.

Hannah Chaplin, circa 1885

Sadly her career was plagued on and off by ill health, and it was when her voice failed during one particular performance that the young Charlie Chaplin, at the age of five, got his first taste of performing - he went on as an impromptu replacement. Her health continued to decline and she found herself making a poor living as a seamstress and was eventually put into a mental hospital. She would suffer from mental illness for the rest of her life.

Even during her poverty-stricken days, Hannah Chaplin was remembered to have brought endless gaiety and pleasures to her children. She would bring them small treats, sing and dance her old music hall numbers and act out plays to them. Charlie Chaplin attributed his own success as a pantomimist to his mother’s gifts for mimicry and observation.

Hannah Chaplin in Hollywood

In 1921, Charlie Chaplin and his brother Sydney brought their mother over to live with them in the United States. Charlie bought Hannah a seaside house in Santa Monica and hired trained caregivers to look after her for the last seven years of her life. It was also during her days in Hollywood that she was at last reunited with her other son, Wheeler Dryden, who was separated from her at the age of six months. She died on August 28, 1928.

Paulette Goddard and Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator

Charlie’s Father: Charles Chaplin Sr.

(1863-1901)

The senior Charles Chaplin married Hannah in 1885 and took to the stage professionally a year later. He was well known as a comic singer, and had a number of songs made famous by him, such as “Oui! Tray Bong!”, “Eh! Boys?” and - written by himself – “The Girl Was Young and Pretty”.

             

Charles Chaplin Sr.

His marriage to Hannah did not last long, and they separated when Charlie was only about one year old. Charlie Chaplin had little contact with his father, except for a short period when he and Sydney stayed with Charles Chaplin Sr. during their mother’s stay at hospital.

Drinking was a professional problem amongst many music hall stars of the period, and it was alcoholism that eventually killed Charles Chaplin Sr. at the young age of 38, when Charlie Chaplin was 12 years old.

Did you know that Charles Chaplin Sr. toured the U.S. and performed in New York in 1890?

Did you know that Charles Chaplin Sr. was arrested for his failure to provide for his children, Charlie and Sydney Chaplin?

Did you know that it was Charles Chaplin Sr. who got Charlie Chaplin into “The Eight Lancashire Lads,” his debut as a professional actor?

The Younger Brother: W. Dryden

The son of Hannah Chaplin and Leo Dryden, Wheeler Dryden was taken away from his mother as a baby by his father. He was touring India and the Far East as a vaudeville comedian when he first learned from his father that Charlie Chaplin was his half brother. After trying for years to contact Charlie, Wheeler finally joined the Chaplin brothers and their mother in the 1920s.

   Wheeler Dryden

Though not as gifted as Chaplin, Wheeler was a competent actor who made his career both on stage and on screen. He became a permanent member of the Chaplin Studios in 1939 when he was appointed assistant director of The Great Dictator. He was later promoted to associate director for Monsieur Verdoux. Wheeler also appeared briefly in Limelight, Charlie Chaplin’s last film made in the U.S. He remained in California after Charlie’s departure and died on September 30, 1957, shortly after A King in New York was released in Europe.

Robert Florey (front left), Wheeler Dryden (back, left of center), Henry Bergman (front center), Rollie Totheroh (back right), and Chaplin (front right) with crew members on the set of Monsieur Verdoux

Did you know that Wheeler Dryden wrote a letter in 1917 to Edna Purviance, Charlie Chaplin’s leading lady, after failing to get in touch with Chaplin directly? It was this letter that eventually brought him to the U.S. and united him with the Chaplin brothers.

Did you know that Wheeler Dryden was an actor of Jerry Epstein’s Circle Theater?

Did you know that Wheeler Dryden directed Sydney Chaplin in A Little Bit of Fluff, filmed in England in 1928?

Did you know that Wheeler Dryden’s son, Spencer (1938 –2005), was the drummer in the band Jefferson Airplane?

The Older Brother: Sydney

Charlie Chaplin and his brother Sydney were very close and looked out for each other from their childhood days. Four years Charlie’s senior, Sydney played a paternally protective role to his little brother throughout his life. In fact, Charlie Chaplin always credited Sydney for most of his professional and financial success.

Charlie and Sydney Chaplin on the set of The Immigrant (1917)

When poverty and deprivation struck the tightly knit family, both Sydney and Charlie Chaplin spent some of their darkest days in workhouses. Young as they were, both boys did whatever they could to help their mother. At the age of twelve, Sydney was sent to a training ship called Exmouth and subsequently started to work as a steward on various shipping expeditions. Returning from one of his voyages in 1903, during which he became very ill, he found his mother committed to the mental hospital and his brother Charlie Chaplin living on the streets. Determined to change their lives for the better, with every penny saved from his shipping job, Sydney decided to enter the theaters as did Charlie.

Sydney and Charlie Chaplin in Pay Day (1922)

Though younger, it was Charlie Chaplin that got onto the stage first. With the sporadic schooling Charlie had, however, Sydney had to jump in to help him memorize his lines. Thanks to his hard work and talents, Charlie soon secured the role of “Billy the page boy” in Sherlock Holmes and started to tour the country with the troupe. But it wasn’t long before Sydney joined the tour too.

Sydney Chaplin in costume for "The Better 'Ole" (1926)

What gave Sydney Chaplin a real break was his contract with Fred Karno’s Speechless Comedians in July 1906, one of the most famous and successful entertainment troupes in England. Sydney was so successful with Karno that he became the leading comedian. Two years later, he recommended Charlie Chaplin and helped him land a job with Karno, which eventually led Charlie to the United States.

                             

                                                  Sydney Chaplin

Later, when Charlie Chaplin was to leave Keystone in 1913, he suggested Sydney as his replacement. Sydney Chaplin made a dozen comedies there and found success with a character he called “Gussle.” With Charlie Chaplin’s rise to stardom, Sydney was soon handling the majority of Charlie’s business affairs, negotiating most of his big contracts and appearing in a few films during the First National era, including A Dog’s Life, Pay Day, The Pilgrim and the famous ‘Shoulder Arms’. In his later films, Sydney Chaplin enjoyed wide popularity for his comedy performances in Charley’s Aunt (1925) and The Better ‘Ole (1927).

Sydney & Charlie Chaplin during the construction of Chaplin Studios in Los Angeles

Sydney Chaplin retired from screen in 1928, after finishing A Little Bit of Fluff in Britain, though he continued to worry about his brother Charlie. He resided in the south of France and often visited Charlie Chaplin’s family in Switzerland. Sydney Chaplin died on April 16, 1965, Charlie Chaplin’s 76th birthday.

Charlie Chaplin and Sydney Chaplin, dressed as the main character of "Charley's Aunt"

Did you know that Sydney Chaplin toured the United States with the Karno troupe in 1906?

Did you know that it was Sydney Chaplin that got Charlie Chaplin his record-setting million dollar deal with First National in 1917?

Did you know that Sydney’s most successful screen characters are female impersonations?

Did you know that Sydney Chaplin helped with the foundation of United Artists?

Did you know that Sydney Chaplin filmed Charlie Chaplin during the making of The Great Dictator?

Did you know that Sydney Chaplin was known as Julot in France and Charlie as Charlot?

Charlie Chaplin's Wives

Mildred Harris

Charlie Chaplin’s first wife was Mildred Harris (1901-1944). They married in 1918 after Mildred believed she was pregnant - it was a false alarm, though she did later give birth to Charlie’s first child, who sadly only lived for three days. Their divorce, in 1920, was acrimonious. Mildred was an actress who appeared in a few films such as The Inferior Sex and For Husbands Only.

Mildred Harris Chaplin, 1918

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Lita Grey

His second wife was Lita Grey (1908-1995). She played the flirtatious angel in The Kid and one of Edna’s maids in The Idle Class, and started out as the leading lady for The Gold Rush before falling for Charlie and then falling pregnant. She had two children with Chaplin, Charles Jr. and Sydney Earl. This marriage (1924-1927) also came to a bitter end in court. Lita carried on in Vaudeville quite successfully, but eventually had problems with alcohol. Her later years were spent working as a sales assistant in Beverly Hills.

         Lita Grey on location during the shooting of The Gold Rush

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Paulette Goddard

Charlie Chaplin’s third marriage lasted from 1936 to 1942 and was to Paulette Goddard (1911-1990), the actress who appeared in Modern Times and The Great Dictator. Though Charlie and Paulette divorced, it was by all accounts, on amicable terms.

Paulette Goddard & Chaplin at his Beverly Hills home, 1936

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Oona O’Neill

When Charlie Chaplin married Oona O’Neill in June 1943, he at last found true happiness, and it seems they had both found their soul mates, despite the fact that Oona was only 18, and Charlie was 53. They met when Charlie Chaplin considered her for a part in an unmade film, Shadow and Substance (during 1942) and were inseparable from then on. She supported Charlie totally throughout a particularly harrowing court case in the 1940’s and when he was exiled from the U.S. in 1952. They eventually made their home in Switzerland. Together Oona and Charlie Chaplin had eight children (Geraldine, Michael, Josephine, Victoria, Eugene, Jane, Annette and Christopher).

Charles and Oona Chaplin……………….!

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