On 127th birth anniversary of Charles Spencer Chaplin, famously known as Charlie Chaplin, we take a look at a few interesting facts about his life.
- Out of the three Oscars that Chaplin received, two were honorary awards. He was given an honorary award for writing, directing, acting and producing "The Circus" in 1929. He received his second honorary award in 1972. In 1973 he received an Oscar for Best Score for the movie "Limelight" which was made in 1952 but was released in U.S. only in 1972.
- Chaplin married four times, and all his wives were remarkably younger to him.
Twenty-nine-year-old Chaplin met his first wife Mildred Harris, 16, in 1918 and soon got married. His second wife Lita Grey was also 16 when Chaplin, 35, married her. Chaplin, 47, is rumoured to have married Paulette Goddard, 26. They never publicly acknowledged their relationship. And Chaplin married his last wife Oona O’Neill when she was 18 and he was 53.
- In 1992 biopic “Chaplin” starring Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role, Chaplin’s daughter Hannah Chaplin played the role of his mother.
- Charlie Chaplin once took part in Charlie Chaplin imitation contest and came twentieth.
- In 1925, he became the first actor to be featured on the Time magazine cover.
- Charlie Chaplin met Mahatma Gandhi at the home of Dr. Katial in Canning Town, London in 1931. Chaplin had then asked Gandhiji the reason for his opposing the industrial revolution in India. "Your dharma is to eat with spoons and forks," said Gandhiji. "We Indians eat with our fingers. You need industry to produce them for you. We don't. Industry means different things to different cultures. Let us be." Charlie Chaplin wrote about this incident in his autobiography with the remark that Gandhiji had made one of the most intelligent remarks he had ever heard.
- Chaplin had to settle in Switzerland in 1952. Following his visit to Europe for a movie premier he wasn’t allowed to re-enter U.S. Born in England, Chaplin never got a U.S. citizenship and even his repeated request for citizenship in Switzerland was rejected.
- Chaplin died in 1977 in Switzerland. Soon after his funeral, his corpse was stolen. After his body was recovered from thieves, he was cremated.
