Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin was born in London in 1889. His parents were singers and they taught him how to sing and dance. He started on stage at the age of eight.

His father left his mother when Charlie and his half-brother were very young and he died when Charlie was ten years old. Then his mother entered a mental hospital and her two children had to go to an orphanage.

In 1913 he went to the United States. This was when he began his film career in Hollywood. He never returned to the stage.

He was an actor and a film director. In 1914 he created his world-famous character: The Tramp. He became an extremely popular star and acted in seventy silent films.

Talking films or ‘talkies’ appeared in the 1930’s, and in 1940 he made his first talking film, The Great Dictator. 

Chaplin lived in the United States for forty years but never became an American citizen. ‘I am a citizen of the world’, he declared. In 1953, because of political and personal problems, he left the United States. He sold his house in Beverly Hills and then bought a chalet in Switzerland where he spent the rest of his life with his large family. He died in Switzerland on Christmas Day, 1977.     

Read the text very carefully and answer these questions:

Who is this document about?            

What was his parents’ job?      

When and Where was he born?              

How old was he when he first started on stage?    

When did he go to the USA?

Where and when did he begin being a movie actor?   

What did he create in 1914?        

What were the consequences of this creation?   

How many silent films did he make?     

When did “talking movies” appear?           

What was the title of his first talking film?      

How long did he stay in the US? Where did he live exactly?

What was his nationality?             

Why did he leave the USA in 1953?              

Where did he go?                                                   

How long did he stay in this country?                     

When did he die? (Give the precise date) 

Ask someone to correct them.