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A Life in Film
Arcade
December 2008
On Sale: November 25, 2008
315 pages
ISBN: 1559708921
EAN: 9781559708920
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
Born in London in 1889, Charlie Chaplin grew up in dire
poverty. Both his parents were in show business, but severe
alcoholism cut short his father's flourishing career, and
his beloved mother first lost her voice, then lost her mind
to syphilis. Charlie at age seven was committed to the
Hanwell School for Orphans and Destitute Children. How then
did this poor, lonely child become such an extraordinary
comedian, known and celebrated worldwide? Chaplin cut his
teeth in British music halls, but it was America that made
him. At age twenty-five, he was touring here with a
vaudeville troupe when his talents caught the eye of
entertainment entrepreneur Mack Sennett, who spirited him
off to California and signed him to a film contract. Chaplin
became Sennett's star comedian, and by twenty-eight the
actor had become a millionaire and the world's greatest
celebrity. Weissman traces Chaplin's life and the sources of
his genius in fascinating detail, demonstrating how his
tragic childhood shaped his personality and his art.
Infamous for his politics and his scandalous sex life,
Chaplin was a much more complex and contradictory character
than has hitherto been known. Weissman brilliantly
illuminates both the screen legend and the turbulent era
through which he lived and worked.
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