A new museum on Chaplin to open in 2005 in Vevey
Paul Michaud, Contributor, Paris
Film actor/director Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) is to be at the center of a new museum that is scheduled to be opened near Geneva in 2005.
The museum, which is named after him, is located not far away from Vevey where he died on Christmas Day in 1977 and where he spent the last 50 years of his life, at the side of Oona O'Neill. Chaplin married O'Neill in 1943 when the bride was only 18 and he was already 54!
The Chaplin family made the official announcement to collaborate actively with the museum by providing the actor's archival holdings. The reason to announce it this year is also to mark the 25th year of Chaplin's death.
Michael Chaplin, the actor's son, said the new museum would have the "unanimous support" of all eight children. The family recently released some of many home movies and outtakes from his professional films that accumulated at the Chaplin house near Geneva and the French border.
One of Chaplin's best-known films, The Great Dictator (1940), was recently re-released in France to great popular success. Outtakes from the original film as well as footage shot of the making of this film by his brother Sidney were recently released in DVD format.
On March 3, 1978, Chaplin's corpse was stolen from the Sur- Vevey cemetery. The police had to undertake a thorough investigation before finally able to locate his remains on May 18 the same year.
Chaplin was born in London on April 16, 1889, to parents Charles and Hannah Chaplin, both music hall entertainers. In his first stage appearance at five, little Charlie replaced his ill mother to sing a song. At eight, he had already toured in a musical The Eight Lancaster Lads.
When he was nearly 11, Chaplin appeared in Giddy Ostende at London's Hippodrome. From the age of 17 to 24 he was with Fred Karno's English vaudeville troupe, which brought him to New York in 1910 at the age of 21.
His career catapulted in the U.S. when he managed to become an international movie star with debuts like The Circus, A Woman of Paris and The Kid. But his stardom began to wane when he was hounded for his political views and freewheeling lifestyle. In 1943, he was accused of fathering a child.
Tired of political and moral controversies, Chaplin decided to leave the U.S. in 1952 and settled down near Geneva.
He regained worldwide attention in 1964 when he published his memoirs, a runaway international best-seller. In 1972, Chaplin returned to Hollywood only to claim a special Oscar honoring his lifetime contribution to movies. He was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire in 1975.