1886-1971
Born Chester Cooper Conklin in Okaloosa, Iowa; he got his first taste of live vaudeville in St. Louis, Missouri seeing the team of Joe Weber and Lew Fields. It's not clear what age he was, because he had run away from an extremely violent household sometime after the age of eight, when his father probably murdered his mother in a horrific manner. He vowed never to return, which he didn't; finding work instead in various mid-western cities, before landing in St. Louis. He developed th comedic character that he would be associated with for the rest of his life at this time and it was based on his current boss: a man with a pronounced foreign accent and a huge unruly mustache. With the character he was able to break into vaudeville. He traveled with minstrel shows and even did stints as clowns in traveling circuses. This character development made it's way into his early roles in film fromt he start. This was by way of him viewing a Mack Sennett film (creator of the Keystone Cops) and actually going to Keystone Studios and applying for a job. He was hired at a reputed payment of $3 a day. The first film that he appeared in was Hubby's Job in 1913--directed by Sennett--a bit part that he was not credited for--it starred one the recognized greats of the silent cinema Mabel Norman. The next year, Conklin was a bit player in Making A Living, the film debut of one Charles Chaplin (he would appear in possibly the studio's most famous Chaplin short as the Singing Waiter/Mr. Whoozis in Tillie's Punctured Romance). Also during 1914, Conklin appeared in a number of Mabel Normand films for the Keystone Studio; and he appeared in films by the company with Harold Lloyd. By 1915, Conklin had become a money making comedic star for Sennett and Co. in his own right; teaming up with Mack Swain, the two formed the movie duo of Ambrose and Mr. Walrus, with Conklin in the role of Walrus; one of their first films featuring the act was Love, Speed and Thrills (1915). The duo made close to thirty films together as both those characters and others before Conklin left in 1920. Before this, he had made a few films for Famous Players-Lasky (one of which was the J. Searle Dawley directed feature Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1918), and his star was bankable enough that he had offers from other studios--one of them Fox. During the year of 1919, he was the star of a series of films produced by Mack Sennett Comedies in which he played bubbling characters in different lines of work such as a blacksmith, police chief, school teacher, etc. Conklin rightly figured that he deserved a raise as a condition to renewing his contract with Sennett's company, when Sennett refused (and reportedly spoke of him in disparaging way), Conklin left for Fox. The first film that he made with them was Chicken à la Cabaret in 1920. He continued to be the star of shorts at Fox, though he did take second billing to Australian comic actor Clyde Cook in the feature length (and partially animated) Skirts in 1921. Conklin made a rare appearance in a drama in the 1923 Thomas Ince production Anna Christie, and by 1924, he was appearing in more features than shorts (the market for comedy shorts had grown thin by that time). He appeared in 4 features in 1924 before taking on the role he is most "known" for in the history books of cinema and outside of the world of slapstick fandom: 'Popper' Sieppe in Erich von Stroheim's bloated production that was Greed (his part was cut from film and thought to have been part of the film that was burned for the silver nitrate). He immediately returned to comedy with Battling Bunyan (1924), a poverty row affair produced on the cheap by Encore. Conklin continued to be a major player in films, most of them comedies, throughout the rest of 1920's. Most films were lesser known and not by major studios, though a few, like Where Was I? were made by "majors" like Universal. One Conklin film from 1927, produced at Paramount that is now lost, is of historical import to fans of comedy the world over due to it's being the film debut of Ed Wynn; that film Rubber Heels also featured Thelma Todd. In 1928, Conklin appeared in two films that have titles instantly recognizable today, one was a remake of a famous silent, the other the first version of a film famously remade in in the 1950's. The first is Tillie's Punctured Romance (1928) starring the immutable W. C. Fields and bears little resemblance to the film from 1914 in which he also appeared; the second is Gentlemen Prefer Blonde (1928) which was famously remade with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in 1953. Both of the films from 1928 are now lost. His first film with sound comedy horror House of Horror, which had two versions: a silent version and a Vitagraph all sound version. Conklin appeared in one additional all silent film after this; Stairs of Sand (1929) was a western romance based on a Zane Grey novel--Wallace Beer took top billing. After this, all the rest of his film appearances in 1929 were in sound films, with his appearance in the extravaganza The Show Of Shows rounding out the decade. For someone so acutely associated with silent slapstick, Conklin's transition to talkies was as seamless as they come (of course, he had been a vaudevillian). His first film of the new decade was Swing Time, which featured a number of older former silent actors: Ben Turpin, Stepin' Fetchit and Robert Edeson. In 1931, he appeared with several "old timers" from the Sennett days in Stout Hearts and Willing Hands, a short comedy that amongst the "original Keystone Cop" players, also included all three of the Moore brothers as lookalike bartenders. Given his background in comedic film shorts, it is hardly surprising that he wound up in Three Stooges shorts. As time went on, however, his roles became smaller and smaller, often going uncredited; this did not stop him from working steadily all the way up through the 1950's. In 1947 he had a very small role in the Pearl White biopic The Perils of Pauline; White, of course, being a silent star herself. Conklin, it seemed, would have been a shoe-in for television, yet that was not to be (and, in fact, he wound up taking job like department store Santa to make ends meet in the 1950's, instead of being hired for broadcast--a real lose!). He did appear on television but not often. In fact, the first series that he appeared on was Ed Wynn's show in 1950 as himself. Additionally, he appeared on the Make Room For Daddy and Doc Corkle and General Electric Theater. He also made a small appearance the Roger Corman production The Beast With A Million Eyes in 1955. This was the same year that his acting visibly slowed, after decades of appearing in films his acting career was coming to an end. He appeared in three films after this: one in 1958, one in 1962 and one in 1966, which was the last acting job of his life (the film was A Big Hand For The Little Lady the Henry Fonda western). Conklin died on the 11th of October in 1971 at the age of 85. He was cremated and his ashes were eventually scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
1889-1977
Giant of the silver screen and silent megastar Charlie Chaplin (birth name Charles Spencer Chaplin) was born on this day in the Walworth area of London, England, UK. His parents were music hall entertainers, so acting and the stage was literally in his blood. Though his parents separated when he was very young and his mother's acting career was never successful, therefore, he grew up in poverty, and was even sent to a workhouse more than once. Chaplin and his brother were sent to at least two schools for paupers, places that he later remembered as sad and soul crushing places to be "schooled." Things only got worse when, while his mother was convalescing in a public mental institution, he and his brother were sent to live with their alcoholic father, who was so abusive that the National Prevention of Cruelty to Children even paid a visit--a rarity in that day. His mother would recover, but only for a time and eventually was permanently institutionalized. This period in Chaplin's life were particularly hard, especially after his brother entered the Navy. He was a one point homeless and still a young teenager. Still, by this time, he had also already started to perform on the stage. In fact, according him, it was his mother that introduced him to the stage at the age of five. Acting became an active interest to the youngster, something that his mother was said to have encouraged before her hospitalizations. At 14, he registered with a theatrical agent in London's West End. Things slowly began to turn around for him. His first major role came in the play Sherlock Holmes in which he played the pageboy; the play toured nationally. He stayed in the role until 1906. By this time his brother Sydney was also pursuing an acting career and the two embarked on a comedy tour together entitled Repairs. By the age of 18, young Charles had become a seasoned comedic actor with good reviews to his name. In 1906, Sydney Chaplin had signed with the successful company owned by Fred Karno. Sydney persuaded Karno to hire his younger brother. Though Karno was at first reluctant; after Charlie's first performance, Karno was won over. By 1909, he was a star at the company, and in 1910 he was given a new sketch Jimmy The Fearless, which turned out to be a huge success and had wide positive write-ups in the press. It this that lead to the decision that Charlie would be one of the company's actors to tour on the vaudeville circuit in North America. The tour lasted 21 months, and had wide spread positive reviews. It's success brought another North American tour, and it was at this time that film work entered into Chaplin's life. About half way through the tour, the New York Motion Picture Company, which operated Keystone Studios, invited him to join. Though Chaplin didn't think all that highly of the slapstick comedies that Keystone produced, he knew it would be madness not to accept the offer. Of course, it's history in the making and Chaplin would never have to worry about finances again. He signed a contract with them for $150 dollars a week (roughly a little over $3600 in today's money). Chaplin arrived in Hollywood where the studio was located in December of 1913. Despite that his boss Mack Sennett had concerns about Chaplin looking too young, Charles made is film debut in Making A Living in very early February. He was off on the road to serious comedic history. There is some confusion about what film came next; many sources site Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914), others that it was Kid Auto Races At Venice (1914). Whatever the case, the later of these two films introduced his ultra-famous "Tramp" character. During this period of time, though uncredited, he contributed a great deal to sketches--most of them Mabel Norman films; in fact, he has far more writing credits than acting ones. He apparently didn't along very well with Norman and when he clashed with her on set, he was almost booted from his contract. Nonetheless, he kept his contract and made his directorial debut in Caught In The Rain in May of 1914--thereafter he would direct nearly all the films that he appeared in for Keystone (Tillie's Punctured Romance was notably not among them). When his contract was up, he asked Sennett to up his weekly salary to $1,000 (around $24,200 in today's money); Sennett refused. Chaplin was quickly snapped up by Essanay, for a whopping $1,250 a week and a signing bonus of $10,000. This was December of 1914. Here he would make some his most famous early silent films, including The Bank (1915) and The Tramp (1915), both of which he directed. When his contract was up at Essanay at the end of 1915, Chaplin was well aware of his bankability and shopped his contract around, requesting a $150,000 signing contract. The best offer came from the Mutual Film Company, with the giant sum of $10,000 a week. He wound up with a contract with them that would pay him by the year at $670,000 a year! He was just 26 years old. Mutual gave Chaplin his own studio to boot. There he made such classics as Easy Street (1917), The Immigrant (1917), and The Adventurer (1917). Chaplin would later recall that his time at Mutual was the happiest of his career. However, when his contract was up, he chose to become a free agent--his own producer. He founded Charles Chaplin Productions under the auspices of First National with an agreement to produce 8 films for them in exchange for $1 Million dollars. He chose to build his own studio on Sunset Blvd. Probably the well known film that he made under this contract was A Dog's Life (1919). First National became frustrated with Chaplin's slowing pace in making films, so when Chaplin requested more money from them after making Shoulder Arms in 1918 (it would later be reissued in 1959 in a mono version), they refused any increase in funds. Angry over this, Chaplin teamed up with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and famed director D.W. Griffith to form United Artists. The first film that he made with this new arrangement was Sunnyside in 1919, which he also used to count toward his 8 films for First National (this film was also reissued in a Mono version). Chaplin then could work in his own pace. As his brother Syd had explained, Charlie wanted quality over quantity. In 1921, he made The Kid with a very young Jackie Coogan later of "Addams Family" Uncle Fester fame--this was pure Chaplin gold. Between this time and 1931, Chaplin would produce the silents he most famously associated with, even by those who don't know much about silent film. Among them are: Idle Hands (1921), Pay Day (1922), The Gold Rush (1925) and the very, very late silent classic City Lights (1931). At least a couple of these films were made to fully fulfill his contract with First National, but there was no doubt that having formed the United Artists partnership allowed Chaplin to work fully at his own pace during this time. After 1923, began making full length films as well, with The Pilgrim being his last short (though at 47 minutes long, it's not really all that short). He would not make another film until 1936, hewing very closely to his comedic silent acting style that he had so famously created. Modern Times is listed as a Mono film, but recorded with the unique Western Electric Noiseless Recording Sound System; there is very little dialogue in it, rendering basically a very late silent type film. By the late 1930's Chaplin's popularity had begun to wane and legal and personal problems were on the rise. When people started to remark that his on-screen appearance looking remarkably like the troubling leader of Germany: Adolf Hitler; Chaplin responded by making The Dictator in 1940. He then gained the very unwanted attention of J. Edgar Hoover, who was determined to go after him because he believed Chaplin was (erroneously) a communist. It did not help that the Nazi party itself was under the misapprehension that Chaplin was Jewish. He would go on to make just four more films in his long lifetime, 3 of them in 40's and 50's, with the last coming in 1967. A Countess From Hong Kong starred Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren, with bit part for him and his brother Syd; the script was based one that he had written for his then 3rd wife Paulette Goddard. By this time he had long been living in Europe, having been banned from re-entry into the United States in 1952. Starting in the 1960's Chaplin's health began to seriously deteriorate, having had a series of small strokes. In 1972 he was offered an Honorary Academy Award, that despite his ill health, he traveled back to the U.S. to accept. He planned to write and direct more films in the 1970's, but he suffered several more small strokes and was confined to a wheelchair, with his communication abilities effected. Chaplin died in his Switzerland home after suffering yet another stroke during the night on Christmas Day in 1977. He was 88 years old. He was buried in the Corsier Cemetery in Corsier-sur-Vevey Switzerland; his fourth and final wife Oona O'Neill Chaplin (daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill) would join him there in 1991. In a bizarre event that occurred the following March, two Polish immigrants dug up his coffin and tried to ransom his body back to his widow; a scheme that she rejected, saying that her husband would found the whole affair absurd. Eventually the police were able to recover it and it was re-interred with a cement vault added. Chaplin was also knighted during his life-time being Queen Elizabeth II. Several of his children have gone into various aspects of the entertainment industry as well.
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