Charlie Chaplin: The life story You may not know

Arguably the most recognizable actor for generations, Charlie Chaplin entertained the world with his antics and the calamities of his little tramp characters.

His impact on the world of comedy, the entertainment industry and the business of Hollywood was unparalleled. But at the same time, his life was filled with scandal.

Charlie Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889, in south London, the son of music hall entertainers. Later, his parents separated, and Chaplin and his half-brother Sydney spent their childhood in workhouses and charity homes.

When Chaplin was ten, he joined a puppet dance company that toured England. Chaplin landed roles in several stage plays and joined a burlesque company called Cassie's Circus. Along with his brother Sydney, also a performer, he joined the Kano Company, a well-known comedy theatre and vaudeville touring group.

[Photo: Chaplin is the center, wearing a bowler hat.]

As a member of the Kano troupe, Chaplin toured the United States, where he caught the attention of New York film companies. In 1913, he signed a contract with Keystone Films for $150 a week.

Chaplin's Little tramp character first appeared in the 1914 film Venice Kid Racer. Chaplin's character is a spectator who disrupts a go-kart race. The film was filmed in a real competition, with the actors improvising with a real competition audience.

During his year at Keystone Films, Chaplin developed his Little tramp character and made 35 short comedy films. Chaplin later described how he chose his trademark costumes, saying: "I wanted everything to be contradictory: trousers baggy, coats tight, hats small, shoes big.

Twenty Minutes of Love was Chaplin's first directorial work in a 1914 comedy short film. In The Tramp, produced for Essanay Studios in 1915 and directed by Chaplin, his signature creation began to transform into more familiar characters known to audiences. The little tramp became less funny, more poignant and loving.

In October 1918, at the age of 29, Chaplin married 16-year-old Mildred Harris, a popular child actress. In 1919, they had a son who survived three days, and they separated later that year. When they divorced in 1920, Harris received some property and a $100,000 settlement.

Chaplin produced Bond at his own expense in 1918 to promote the sale of American Freedom Bonds to help finance the country's military efforts during World War I. The film features a number of comic sketches depicting types of bonds such as friendship and marriage.

Chaplin married actress Rita Gray in 1924. He was 35 and she was 16, ready to star in the movie "The Gold Rush." She got pregnant and lost the role. The couple had two sons -- Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sidney Earl Chaplin -- who both became actors.

Chaplin divorced Rita Gray in 1927, paying her a record settlement of $825,000 in bitter litigation, and the legal costs of the divorce approached $1 million.

When Chaplin last appeared in The Little Tramp, he made the 1936 film Modern Times. The film was conceived as a commentary on the unemployment and poverty faced by millions during the Great Depression.

In 1936, Chaplin married Paulette Goddard, the actress he played as a street urchin in Modern Times. She was 22 when they first met. Their marriage was largely kept secret, and it was not until 1940 that he publicly introduced her as his wife. They separated in 1942. The actor later said they married in secret, but also said it was a common-law marriage.

Chaplin's fourth wife was Ona O 'Neill whom he married in 1943. He was 54 and she was not yet 18. Her father, playwright Eugene O 'Neill, condemned the union and cut off all contact with his daughter for the rest of his life. The couple had eight children, including actress Geraldine Chaplin.

The same year Chaplin married his fourth wife, Ona O 'Neill, he was sued by actress Joan Barry for a paternity test. The scandal cost him his popularity and public image. Blood tests showed he was not the father, but at a 1944 trial the results were not allowed into evidence and Chaplin was ordered to pay $75 a week until Barry's child turned 21.

In 1952, while traveling in London, Chaplin learned that U.S. immigration officials would not allow him to return to the United States after he publicly criticized hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee and was suspected by government officials of Communist sympathies. He moved to the Swiss town of Cosier.

Chaplin returned to the United States in 1972 and won an Oscar. The audience gave him a standing ovation that lasted 12 minutes.

Queen Elizabeth knighted Chaplin at the age of 85. The honour had been offered and rejected in 1931 because Chaplin did not serve in World War I, and again in 1956 when Britain's Conservative government did not want to harm relations with the US during the Cold War.

Chaplin died on Christmas Day 1977 in Switzerland after several years of failing health. He is buried in Corsier-Sur-Vevey Cemetery in Switzerland, where a gang of robbers stole his body in 1978 in extortion. The grave robbers were captured and the body was found 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva. It was reburied in a vault under several feet of concrete.