Charlie Chaplin was by far the best actor of his time. He was born in 1889 and died in 1977. He was in many great movies such as “The Great Dictator,” a spoof film about adolf hitler, made during WWII. And “The Kid” which he also directed, wrote, and produced. However life wasn’t always this grand for Charlie. His father was absent and his mother was entered in a mental institution when he was 9 years old. He was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of 10. It wasn’t until he got a little older that he got into acting and playwrights. At age nineteen he signed to the Fred Karno Company which took him over to America. It was here that he started his career in screenplays. His first full length movie was “The Kid” which featured him as the adoptive father of a boy abandoned by his mother. Until making “The Great Dictator” in 1940 Chaplin refused to change from the silent film era into the sound film era. Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, scored, and starred in most of his films. He was a perfectionist, and his financial independence meant he often spent years on the development and production of a picture. Many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements. He continues to be held in high regard, with “The Gold Rush”,”City Lights”,”Modern Times”, and “The Great Dictator,” and often are ranked among the greatest films of all time.
The reason I chose Charles Chaplin for my paper is because he was the first person to pop up in my head when the topic was brought up. I haven’t even seen any of his films but from what I’ve heard, they are fantastic. I thought it would be better to write about a good man than a criminal as well. Mr. Chaplin was surely a good man.