Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin 1889-1977, English film actor, director, producer, writer, and composer, b. (Kennington) London. Chaplin began on the music-hall stage and then joined a pantomime troupe. While on tour in the United States, he was recruited by Mack Sennett. Chaplin merged physical grace, disrespect for authority, and sentimentality into a highly individual character he created for the Keystone Company. In appearance, his Little Tramp wore a gentlemen's derby, cane, and neatly kept moustache with baggy trousers and oversized shoes. He affected a unique, bow-legged dance-walk. Chaplin skipped from one studio to another in search of greater control over his work, finally cofounding United Artists in 1919 with D. W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford.

Chaplin's features include The Kid (1920), The Gold Rush (1924), The Circus (1928), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), Monsieur Verdoux (1947), and Limelight (1952). He enjoyed immense worldwide popularity, though this was tempered by his refusal to use sound until 1940. His political sympathies and various personal scandals contributed to his declining popularity. In 1952, he was barred on political grounds from re-entering the United States and lived thereafter in Switzerland. In 1975 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. His fourth wife was Oona O'Neill, the daughter of Eugene O'Neill. He won an Academy Award in 1972 for his score to Limelight.

See his My Trip Abroad (1922) and autobiography (1964); biographies by C. Chaplin, Jr. (1960) and P. Tyler (1947, repr. 1972); G. D. McDonald et al., The Films of Charlie Chaplin (1965); K. S. Lynn, Charlie Chaplin and His Times (1997). (Text Source The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.)

Charlie's Local Links
Kennington Cross is the focus of several sites associated with Lambeth's most famous son, the film star Charlie Chaplin. The Finca tapas bar was formerly the White Hart pub where, sitting on the pavement, Charlie fIrst discovered the joy of music. One of his schools was in Sancroft Street and one of his (many) homes at 287 Kennington Road. Charlie also lived at nearby 39 Methly St, where he was disturbed by the acrid smell of the pickle factory in Bowden Street.

Kennington Road is the site of two more of Charlie's home Pownall Terrace would have stood close to the Ward Point tower block, on the west side of the road north of Black Prince Road Walcot Mansions still stands (on the same side, further towards the War Museum) but is now called Walcot Gardens.

The Three Stags pub -now an Irish theme pub -at the junction of Lambeth Road and Kennington Road is where Charlie last saw his estranged father. The Tankard pub on the comer of Brook Drive was home to the 'elite of Vaudeville', frequently observed by Charlie.

The Queen's Head on Black Prince Road was owned by Charlie's uncle. Here he saw the local tramp Rummy Binks from whom he claims to have copied his funny walk. (Text Source "Discover the Other Side of London" published by Vauxhall St Peter's Heritage Centre.)
The Times obituary for Charlie Chaplin