Charlie Chaplin

He married four times and three of his marriages with Mildred Harris, Lita Grey and Paulette Goddard ended in divorce.

In 1943, he married his fourth wife Oona O'Neill and the couple had eight children together. They remained together until his death.

He died at the age of 88 in his sleep, after he suffered from a stroke. He was laid to rest at the Vevey cemetery, Switzerland.

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born into a family of entertainers to Hannah Chaplin and Charles Chaplin Sr.- both of whom were music hall entertainers.

His childhood was marked with poverty and struggle. His parents did not earn much and hence he started to work at a workhouse at the age of seven.

In 1898, his mother was admitted to a mental asylum, after she was diagnosed with psychosis. This deeply affected him and soon his father too became a severe alcoholic and he was left to fend for himself.

He became a member of the male dance troupe, ‘The Eight Lancashire Lads’ and toured across the music halls in Great Britain, all through 1899 and 1900.

In 1903, he was cast in his first show titled ‘Jim, a Romance of Cockayne’, in which he played the role of a newsboy. The show opened in July that year, in the ‘Kingston upon Thames’ in Southwest London and was not very successful.

From October 1903 to June 1904, he travelled with Saintsbury, and his plays were immensely successful, which lead him to travel to London to act with William Gillette, an actor.

In 1906, he became part of the amateur comedy troupe ‘Casey's Circus’. He performed comedy acts with them and soon rose to prominence. When the troupe finished touring in July 1907, Charlie was left without a job for a few months and lived with a family in Kennington.

In 1910, he played the lead role in the sketch ‘Jimmy the Fearless’, which was an immediate success and soon after he started getting a lot of media attention, which catapulted his fame and popularity.

‘Modern Times’ was selected to be preserved at the Library of Congress, United States and it was ranked 33rd on the American Film Institute’s list of ‘100 Years…100 Laughs’, as one of the 100 funniest movies in America.

‘The Gold Rush’ was rated as the ‘second greatest film in history’ by the critics of The Brussels World’s Fair, a worldwide organisation of filmmakers. It was also selected to be preserved at the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.