Charlie Chaplin was an English comic actor, filmmaker, film editor 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 his childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both accolade and controversy.
Chaplin had close connections to many of the most central figures in cinematic history, including Buster Keaton, Roscoe Arbuckle, and D.W. Griffith. His first sound film was The Great Dictator (1940), which satirised Adolf Hitler. The 1940s were marked with controversy for Chaplin, and his popularity declined rapidly. He was accused of communist sympathies, and some members of the press and public were scandalised by his involvement in a paternity suit and marriages to much younger women. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened an investigation, and Chaplin was forced to leave the U.S. in 1952 and settle in Switzerland. He remained in Switzerland until his death in 1977.
