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• British comedian and actor Charlie Chaplin performed in and directed dozens of short and feature-length silent comedies. His films sit alongside Buster Keaton's and Harold Lloyd's as the most influential comedies of the silent era.

• Fast Facts

  1. Born: April 16, 1889
  2. Birthplace: East Street, Walworth, London, England
  3. First performance: 1894 at "The Canteen" Theatre
  4. First film: Making a Living (1914)
  5. Created the "Tramp" character (1914)
  6. Co-founded United Artists (1919)
  7. Last film: A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)
  8. Received Honorary Oscar (1972)
  9. Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II (1975)
  10. Died: December 25, 1977
  11. Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for an Oscar for portraying Chaplin in the 1992 film Chaplin

• Landmark Films

  Chaplin made his first feature-length films for First National, a studio that would merge with Warner Bros. in 1928. The Kid was his most successful film at the time and became one of the most popular movies of 1921.

  In 1923, he co-created United Artists with fellow Hollywood icons Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith. He was now allowed complete creative control and made some of his most famous films: The Gold Rush, The Circus, City Lights, Modern Times and The Great Dictator.

• The Beginning of Sound

  Sound was first incorporated into films in the late 1920s and by the early 1930s nearly all films incorporated sound and spoken dialogue. Chaplin made both 1931's City Lights and 1936's Modern Times without sound, which Chaplin resisted based on the nature and style of his routines.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  The Little Tramp | Oona O'Neill | United Artists | Stan Laurel | Geraldine Chaplin | The Great Dictator | The Kid | City Lights | Modern Times Movie | The Gold Rush | The Immigrant | Easy Street | One AM | The Vagabond | The Tramp | Kid Auto Races at Venice | Making a Living | A Countess from Hong Kong | Limelight | A King in New York | Charlot | Fatty Arbuckle | Keystone | Douglas Fairbanks | Mary Pickford | D.W. Griffith | Fred Karno | The Champion | Greta Garbo | 1920s Costumes | Clown Costumes

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