Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin,
KBE (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English
comic actor and film director of the
silent film era, and became one of the best known film stars in the world before the end of the
First World War.
Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the
talkies, though his films decreased in frequency from the end of the 1920s.
Chaplin first toured the United States with the
Fred Karno troupe from 1910 to 1912. After five months back in England, he returned to the U.S. for a second tour, arriving with the Karno Troupe on 2 October 1912. In the Karno Company was Arthur Stanley Jefferson, who later became known as
Stan Laurel. Chaplin and Laurel shared a room in a boarding house. Stan Laurel returned to England but Chaplin remained in the United States. In late 1913, Chaplin's act with the Karno Troupe was seen by
Mack Sennett,
Mabel Normand,
Minta Durfee, and
Fatty Arbuckle. Sennett hired him for his studio, the
Keystone Film Company as a replacement for
Ford Sterling.
[10] Chaplin had considerable initial difficulty adjusting to the demands of film acting and his performance suffered for it. After Chaplin's first film appearance,
Making a Living was filmed, Sennett felt he had made a costly mistake.
[11] Most historians agree it was Normand who persuaded him to give Chaplin another chance.
[12]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin
