Perhaps the film world will never see a person so talented and with such longevity as it did with Charlie Chaplin, and ironically, he hardly ever had to open his mouth to achieve such status, as most of his masterpieces were the black and white silent movies of the early days of motion pictures. The actor/director was born Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (he was made KBE in 1975), known familiarly as "the Tramp" was born into a show business family on April 16, 1889 in London, England. He first took the stage by chance at the age of five after standing in for his mother, who was thrown off stage after losing her voice.

At a young age he started touring America with a circus group, where he, as a clown, was the star of the show. In 1914 he acted in his very first film, and out of sheer improvisation he created the character with which he would be associated with forever. A true pioneer in the newborn film industry, in 1919 he co- founded United Artists. It was for UA that he made such great silent films as City Lights and Modern Times. His other notable works include The Jazz Singer and A Countess From Hong Kong. Keenly aware of politics, perhaps his greatest political statement came with his 1940 film The Great Dictator, in which he mocks Hitler and Nazism. He was often considered a Communist for his leftist views, but eventually stopped expressing political views altogether, saying that clowns and comedians should be "above politics"

Chaplin had a turbulent love life and married 5 times, mostly to starlets much younger than he. His final wife was Oona O'Neill, the daughter of the playwright Eugene, whom he married when he was 54 and she 17. Though the marriage caused a stir, it was a long and happy one which produced 8 children.