Charlie Chaplin

was born today but 125 years ago.
His father Charles and mother Hannah were unfamous actors in England. He was a miserable "no future" kid. He learned at the "London Comedians" and toured around with them also in the USA. In 1913 the "Keystone Studios" in New York discovered his talent. He was hired for 150 $ weekly wages. There he showed up with his famous costume. In 1915 he came to Hollywood, a rubbish place near Los Angeles, then. In 1918 he founded his own studios and a year later United Artists to get independent from companies like Paramount. His first movie with audio " The big dictator" was produced in 1940. But the US-censorship wanted to forbid the movie. Critizicing capitalism and the big business in Hollywood he got in the gunsight of McCarthy, but he said: "I am not a communist but I agitate for peace." In 1952, being british, entry to the USA was refused. He settled with his family in Switzerland.
He was testified a sexmaniac by the biographer Peter Ackroyd, told to be rude and longing for very young women. He is said to have had 2000 women. His first wife, Mildred Harris, was 16 when they married, the second, Lita Grey, was 15 when she got pregnant. His fourth and last marriage with 18-year-old Oona O'Neill in 1943 was stable. They had 8 children.
He died in 1977 at Corsier-sur-Vevey. Two men stole his corpse out of his grave and required 600.000 Franken ransom. But they were caught and the comedian found his peace after this last comedy.
I admired him most of my life, but recently with all the violence and mischief around and not so many reasons to laugh I took him down the ladder to a lower level. To where he started from: as a miserable kid.