My Autobiography (Chaplin book)

Last updated

My Autobiography is a book by Charlie Chaplin, first published by Simon & Schuster in 1964. Along with Chaplin: His Life and Art (1985), it provided the source material for the 1992 feature film Chaplin . It provides a revealing look into the life of a 20th-century filmmaker and celebrity. The Chicago Tribune said the book was “The best autobiography ever written by an actor. An astonishing work.” [1] In 2020 The Guardian ranked the book at No. 11 in its list of "The top 25 most compelling Hollywood autobiographies". [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Chaplin</span> English comic actor and filmmaker (1889–1977)

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the film industry's most important figures. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

<i>The Great Dictator</i> 1940 American film by Charlie Chaplin

The Great Dictator is a 1940 American anti-war political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the only Hollywood filmmaker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, Chaplin made this his first true sound film.

<i>City Lights</i> 1931 film

City Lights is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl and develops a turbulent friendship with an alcoholic millionaire.

<i>Chaplin</i> (film) 1992 British-American biographical film by Richard Attenborough

Chaplin is a 1992 biographical comedy-drama film about the life of English comic actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin. It was produced and directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Dan Aykroyd, Penelope Ann Miller and Kevin Kline. It also features Charlie Chaplin's own daughter, Geraldine Chaplin, in the role of his mother, Hannah Chaplin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Tramp</span> Character played by Charlie Chaplin

The Tramp, also known as the Little Tramp, was English actor Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character and an icon in world cinema during the era of silent film. The Tramp is also the title of a silent film starring Chaplin, which Chaplin wrote and directed in 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mabel Normand</span> American actress (1893–1930)

Amabel Ethelreid Normand, better known as Mabel Normand, was an American silent film actress, director and screenwriter. She was a popular star and collaborator of Mack Sennett in their Keystone Studios films, and at the height of her career in the late 1910s and early 1920s had her own film studio and production company, the Mabel Normand Feature Film Company. On screen, she appeared in twelve successful films with Charlie Chaplin and seventeen with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, sometimes writing and directing films featuring Chaplin as her leading man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Bloom</span> British actress (born 1931)

Patricia Claire Bloom is an English actress. She is known for leading roles in plays such as A Streetcar Named Desire,A Doll's House, and Long Day's Journey into Night, and has starred in nearly sixty films.

<i>Making a Living</i> 1914 film by Henry Lehrman

Making a Living is the first film starring Charlie Chaplin. A one-reel comedy short, it was completed in three days at Keystone Studios in Los Angeles, California and was released for distribution on February 2, 1914. In it Chaplin portrays a charming swindler who runs afoul of a news reporter and a Keystone Cop. In addition to co-writing the "scenario" and directing the production, Henry Lehrman performs as the principal supporting character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Chaplin</span> English actor (1885–1965)

Sydney John Chaplin was an English actor. Chaplin was the elder half-brother of actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin and served as his business manager in later life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Chaplin Jr.</span> American actor (1925–1968)

Charles Spencer Chaplin III, known professionally as Charles Chaplin Jr., was an American actor. He was the eldest son of Charlie Chaplin and Lita Grey, and is known for appearing in 1950s films such as The Beat Generation and Fangs of the Wild.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Chaplin (American actor)</span> American film and theater actor (1926– 2009)

Sydney Earl Chaplin was an American actor. He was the second son of Charlie Chaplin and Lita Grey. One of his major roles was in his father's film Limelight (1952). In theater, Chaplin won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his 1957 performance in Bells Are Ringing.

<i>A Countess from Hong Kong</i> 1967 Charlie Chaplin directed film

A Countess from Hong Kong is a 1967 British romantic comedy film scored, written, and directed by Charlie Chaplin, and the final film directed, written, produced and scored by him. Based on the life of a former Russian aristocrat, as he calls her in his 1922 book My Trip Abroad. She was a Russian singer and dancer who "was a stateless person marooned in France without a passport." The film starred Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren, and revolved around an American diplomat who falls in love with a stowaway on a cruise. Sydney Chaplin, Tippi Hedren, Patrick Cargill and Margaret Rutherford co-star in major supporting roles; Chaplin also made a cameo, marking his final screen appearance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Cherrill</span> American actor

Virginia Cherrill was an American actress best known for her role as the blind flower girl in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931).

<i>Chaplin: His Life and Art</i> Biography of Charlie Chaplin by David Robinson

Chaplin: His Life and Art is a 1985 book by film critic David Robinson which examines the life and works of Sir Charlie Chaplin. Along with Chaplin's 1964 book My Autobiography, it was used as source material for the 1992 film Chaplin. The idea for the book originated with Chaplin's long-time collaborator and producer Jerome Epstein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Chaplin filmography</span>

(Sir) Charlie Chaplin (KBE) (1889–1977) was an English-born internationally renowned Academy Award-winning actor, comedian, filmmaker and composer who was best known for his career in Hollywood motion pictures from 1914 until 1952; he subsequently appeared in two films in his native England. During his early years in the era of silent film, he rose to prominence as a worldwide cinematic idol renowned for his tramp persona. In the 1910s and 1920s, he was considered the most famous person on the planet.

Scott Eyman is an American author, and former book editor and art critic of The Palm Beach Post. He is a frequent book reviewer for The Wall Street Journal and Film Comment, and was a contributor for The New York Observer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konrad Bercovici</span> American writer

Konrad Bercovici (1882–1961) was a Romanian-American writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Chaplin Sr.</span> English music hall entertainer

Charles Spencer Chaplin Sr. was an English music hall entertainer. He achieved considerable success in the 1890s, and was the father of the actor and filmmaker Sir Charlie Chaplin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clifford Gray (athlete)</span> American bobsledder

Clifford Barton "Tippi" Gray was an American bobsledder, songwriter and actor, who competed in the late 1920s and 1930s. He won two medals at the Winter Olympics, a gold in the four-man event at Lake Placid, New York in 1932 and a gold in the five-man event at St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1928, as well as a bronze in the four-man event at the 1937 FIBT World Championships in St. Moritz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Chaplin</span> English stage and musical actress

Hannah Harriet Pedlingham Chaplin, also known by the stage name Lily Harley, was an English actress, singer and dancer who performed in British music halls from the age of 16.

References

  1. Chaplin, Charlie (2012). My Autobiography. ISBN   978-1612191928.
  2. "The top 25 most compelling Hollywood autobiographies-ranked!". The Guardian. 2 April 2020.