Here are some fun and lessor known facts about Charlie Chaplin:
• Charlie Chaplin was the first actor who graced the cover of Time magazine. He appeared on the July issue of Time in 1925.
• He was 73 years old when his youngest son was born.
• He was trained in playing the cello and violin.
• Charlie Chaplin joined a “Charlie Chaplin Look-Alike Contest” and he only came in third.
• Queen Elizabeth II knighted him when he was 85 years old.
• There is an asteroid named after Charlie Chaplin – the 3626 Chaplin. It sits in the asteroid belt found in between Venus and Mars.
• Charlie Chaplin stood 5 feet 5 inches tall.
• Charlie Chaplin had blue eyes. Most people guessed he had brown eyes since they only see him in black and white films.
• He was ordered to pay child support for a child that was not his own. In the 1940s, Charlie had a brief relationship with actress Joan Barry. Several months after their breakup, she claimed that Chaplin was the father of the child to which she had just given birth. When blood tests proved that Chaplin was not the father of the child, Barry’s attorney moved to have the tests ruled inadmissible as evidence. Because there was little historical precedent to admit the test results into the trial, the judge did not allow them to be used as evidence of Chaplin’s non-paternity. After a mistrial and a retrial, Chaplin was ordered to pay Barry $75 per week for child support, a respectable amount in those days.
• Three months after Chaplin died on Christmas 1977, his body was stolen in an effort to extort money from his family. Chaplin’s body was recovered 11 weeks later after the grave-robbers were captured. He is now buried under 6 feet of concrete to prevent further theft attempts.
• His daughter portrayed his mother in the movie Chaplin. The accomplished actress, Geraldine Chaplin, is Charlie’s daughter with his last wife Oona. In the 1992 Hollywood movie adaptation of Charlie Chaplin’s life, Chaplin, she portrayed Hannah Chaplin, Charlie’s mother.
