Charlie Chaplin Scandal - HOLLYWOOD MYSTERIES AND SCANDALS Rare Episode
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00:00Charlie Chaplin. He was known as the Little Tramp. With his distinctive mustache, ill-fitting
00:08costume and quirky walk, Chaplin is the most recognizable star of the silent screen era.
00:15But after decades of celebrity and acclaim, Charlie Chaplin became the subject of scrutiny
00:20and scandal. At the age of 55, his sexual appetite and his controversial political beliefs
00:26ripped Chaplin from the limelight and shattered his career. Why was Chaplin a target of the
00:30FBI? What obsession landed this beloved comedian on trial? And how did Chaplin end up in exile?
00:36And in the most bizarre twist, what shocking incident occurred after Chaplin was laid to
00:41rest? On this episode of Mysteries and Scandals, we'll examine the harsh reality of Chaplin's
00:46sexcapades. It turned into almost a fatal attraction. It very quickly came to the attention
00:53of the FBI. He had to get out from one of these scandals or another. And we'll identify
00:58Chaplin's accusers and their bitter charges against him. My guess is, with at least as
01:04much influence on the part of the FBI as Joan herself, that a paternity suit against Chaplin
01:11should be filed. The accusations in terms of Joan Barry, the accusations in terms of
01:16communist sympathies, ended Chaplin's career in the United States. Charlie Chaplin's public
01:22ruin will be recounted through archival footage and classic film clips, as well as rare photographs
01:28and dramatic reenactments. I'm A.J. Benza. Join me as we look at the scandalous downfall
01:34of a comic legend, Charlie Chaplin.
01:52On Christmas morning in 1977, a wealthy and reclusive Charlie Chaplin died of old age
02:02at his estate in Switzerland. This Hollywood icon was born 88 years earlier in the ghettos
02:08of London on April 16, 1889. His parents, Charles and Hannah Chaplin, were vaudeville
02:14performers. Chaplin biographer, Wes Gehring, reveals that young Charlie learned at an early
02:19age how brutal an audience can be. His mother, Hannah, basically lost her voice and the audience
02:25was very disruptive and she kind of lost her composure and couldn't go on and basically
02:29almost booed off the stage. Chaplin's mother was traumatized by the public humiliation,
02:35but the incident gave four-year-old Charlie his first break into showbiz. Bonnie McCourt
02:40is the publisher of the Charlie Chaplin fan magazine, Limelight. He just, you know, became
02:46totally animated and did his little song and dance and people loved him and threw money
02:51and he ran and got all the money off the stage and he basically stood in for his mother and
02:57saved the day. His father was an alcoholic and basically abandoned the family at a very
03:02young age and literally died an alcoholic just a few years later. Life with mom was
03:06no party either. Author, Joyce Milton, explains young Charlie had to grow up fast. Chaplin's
03:12mother had a number of mental breakdowns. She was very close to him. She became mentally
03:19ill and was put in a mental institution and here's this little seven-year-old boy in a
03:26workhouse which in South London was the worst shame you could ever endure. Charlie overcame
03:32his shame by calling upon his innate ability to make people laugh. He performed in local
03:37productions and variety shows and at the age of 18, Charlie finally broke out of the
03:42amateur ranks. Sidney Chaplin was Chaplin's half-brother and they were very close throughout
03:47Chaplin's life and they sort of looked out for each other and Sidney Chaplin, you know,
03:53pulled the little strings to get his younger brother this audition. It wasn't very long
03:56before Charlie Chaplin was, you know, a recognized star and then he came over to the United States.
04:02In 1913, on that trip, he was signed to a film contract by Max Sennett who was the premier film
04:10comedy producer in America at that time. Max Sennett's Keystone Film Company was the training
04:16ground for many silent screen clowns including Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle. It was at
04:21Keystone that Charlie first created his signature character, the Little Tramp. And he went over to
04:27the makeup table and he cut up a little mustache and put on a little mustache and asked Fatty
04:34Arbuckle if he could borrow his pants and went over and got a pair of Ford Sterling shoes and
04:40and got a little, found a little tiny jacket, a little hat, kind of walked around and just kind
04:49of strutting his stuff. His character that he created, which is the most hopeful character
04:53that there is. In 1914, his first year at Keystone, 27-year-old Charlie starred in 35 films, writing
05:03and directing more than half of them. His career was on the fast track and Charlie Chaplin was
05:08quickly becoming a household name. The second year that Chaplin was in films, he was signed
05:14to the SNA Film Company. When he worked for Keystone, he was making $125 a week. At the end
05:20of that year, he was signed to a contract for SNA for $1,250 a week. Left there, signed with the
05:29Mutual Film Company for a total of $670,000. And then in 1918, he signed the first million
05:38dollar film contract with the first National Film Company. Wow, a million bucks in 1918. That's a
05:44lot of dough no matter what year it is. And all before he turned 30, Charlie Chaplin had come a
05:49long way from the London slums of his childhood. He even formed his own studio right here in the
05:53heart of Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin was the man. But off-screen, the guy had some big, big problems.
05:58He had a sexual obsession that would eventually destroy his career. When we come back, we're
06:03gonna expose the shocking personal life of the little tramp, Charlie Chaplin.
06:06By 1918, the career of 29-year-old silent screen star Charlie Chaplin was flourishing. With his
06:18million-dollar film contract, Charlie was the toast of Hollywood. But this comic giant had a
06:23weakness. You see, Charlie just couldn't resist a pretty young girl. His first wife was Mildred
06:29Harris. She was 17 when they were married in 1918. He seems to have thought she was pregnant, and she
06:34wasn't pregnant at that time. There was a suggestion that he was tricked into that, and then when he
06:39found out it was a trick, it was over. When Chaplin's first marriage ended, there was some scandal. But
06:43basically, the press sided with Chaplin, and they were willing to forgive him anything. But how long
06:50would the press support Chaplin? Film historian Anthony Sly describes Chaplin's second underage
06:56conquest. During the making of The Kid, Chaplin met for the first time Lita Gray. She was then,
07:03obviously, a young girl, probably about 12, 13 years old. A few years later, she auditioned for
07:11and won the lead in The Gold Rush, which would go on to be Chaplin's greatest film. Early in the
07:16production of that, she got pregnant. What was with this guy? His affair with Lita Gray was doomed
07:22from the beginning. Her pregnancy forced her to drop out of the movie, and once again, I think he
07:29treated her quite badly. He was, after they were married, she did want to have Charlie Chaplin Jr.,
07:35and then they had another son together, Sidney Chaplin, named after Chaplin's brother. After the
07:40birth of their second child, the marriage fell apart. Lita Gray filed for divorce in 1926. The
07:47heated and much-publicized court proceedings lasted eight months and cost Chaplin more than
07:52his good name. It cost him, with lawyers' fees, about a million dollars, which was the biggest
07:58settlement up to that date. Chaplin had a nervous breakdown in 1927 during the midst of this. It was
08:05constant headlines. I mean, scandal city. It was a major controversy. The press had a field day,
08:12but it was only the beginning. Five years later, in 1932, 45-year-old Chaplin became involved with
08:1921-year-old cinema star Paulette Goddard. That relationship didn't last either, but despite a
08:26chaotic personal life, the 1930s marked a period of artistic achievement and acclaim for Charlie
08:31Chaplin. David Tothereau, grandson of Chaplin's cameraman, believes Chaplin's 1931 movie, City
08:38Lights, is one of the shining moments in film history. Anyone who has seen City Lights knows
08:43there is more just plain human emotion comes through. With modern times, a political element
08:50enters Chaplin's films. Here he's dealing with that age-old problem of capital versus labor.
08:57Chaplin continued to push his political opinions in his next film, The Great Dictator, released to
09:02theaters in 1940. The movie made fun of Hitler and opened a huge can of worms for the 51-year-old
09:07Chaplin. Now, you've got to remember, before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. didn't want any
09:12involvement in World War II, and Charlie was daring the U.S. to stand behind Russia. Chaplin
09:17analyst Stephen Weissman says the pro-communist message of The Great Dictator raised red flags
09:23to J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI. Before World War II broke out, the House of
09:29Un-American Activities Committee was originally formed in 1938 to investigate people advocating
09:36America going into war, doing other subversive things. The first piece of trouble, as I mentioned,
09:41was The Great Dictator. He's trying to find humor out of the Nazis, out of Adolf Hitler.
09:47So to make a film that ridiculed Hitler, held him up to scorn, was to win over sympathy
09:54of many people towards an anti-Hitler sentiment. You have to realize that many, many people did
09:59not want to take part in war against Germany at all. J. Edgar Hoover was determined to drive
10:04Chaplin out of the country. In the midst of Chaplin's political faux pas, he started dating
10:09a woman named Joan Barry. Now, she was ancient by Chaplin standards. Joan was 22, Charlie was 52.
10:17Chaplin would soon learn that Joan was a disaster with a capital D, or would that be a double D?
10:23Joan Barry was a 22-year-old, very big-busted and apparently attractive, sexy woman who Charlie
10:31was taken with. She already had a police record for shoplifting. She was an alcoholic, had made
10:37several suicide attempts. Communication professor Dr. Gerard Molyneux recalls Joan Barry's most
10:43desperate act. December 23rd, 1943, she shows up at his house and is trying to get into the house,
10:50knocking on the door, and he's ignoring her. She finds a ladder and starts to try to get into the
10:56second floor and doesn't make that. Comes back down the ladder and breaks the glass on the library
11:03door. Starts to say, you know, why is our romance breaking up? She is threatening to kill herself.
11:09She was furious because he was in love with and getting involved with
11:13Una O'Neill, who was his latest romance, and she was intensely jealous of that.
11:17At some point, it turned out that Joan was pregnant. Joan was in connection with several
11:22people who were interested in making sure that that anything unseemly about Chaplin got known
11:27and might be utilized. In 1942, the FBI and Joan Barry had the same goal, to crucify Chaplin.
11:35But was he really the communist traitor womanizer the FBI and Barry alleged,
11:40or was Charlie Chaplin targeted because he was famous?
11:43When we come back, we'll look at the dishonorable discharge of a renowned comic hero.
11:55Between marriages, Charlie would often shack up here at what is now the Hollywood Athletic Club,
12:00and considering Chaplin's record with women in those days,
12:03it's probably a second home for Charlie back then. Welcome back to Mysteries and Scandals,
12:08I'm A.J. Benzo. In 1942, after a history of romances with young, and I'm talking young women,
12:15Charlie landed in hot water. His 22-year-old lover, Joan Barry, accused a 53-year-old Chaplin
12:21of getting her pregnant. What's more, the FBI was on his back because he seemed to be a communist
12:25sympathizer, making speeches in support of Russia. To the FBI, Chaplin seemed like a traitor.
12:31Chaplin was asked to stand in and make a presentation, a speech in San Francisco,
12:38where he made the unfortunate choice of addressing the members of the audience as comrades.
12:44I think he was sympathetic towards communism. I think just about, well, everybody in the arts
12:50that leaned a little bit to the left was sympathetic.
12:52The FBI's file on Charlie Chaplin was reportedly 1,900 pages. The file included detailed accounts
13:00of his political activities and his romantic involvements. In the 1940s, famed Hollywood gossip
13:06columnist Hedda Hopper was eager to share her scoops on Chaplin with the FBI. She would feed as
13:12much information as she could to the FBI. When Joan Barry found out that she was pregnant,
13:17she thought by Chaplin, she went to Hedda Hopper for help because Hedda had written a column about
13:24all Charlie's past girls. The 1943 paternity suit filed by Joan Barry stated that Charlie Chaplin
13:31got her pregnant and abandoned her. Chaplin was convinced the child wasn't his, but given his
13:36reputation, he knew the press would butcher him. To make matters worse, Chaplin's latest girlfriend,
13:41Oona O'Neill, was, you guessed it, a teenager. Oona moved into his house. This was when she was about
13:4817. His lawyer advised him to send Oona away, send her back to New York, and she refused to go.
13:56But since she refused to be sent away, at that point there wasn't much he could do, and so he
14:01married her. Charlie and his young bride braced themselves for the paternity trial. Besides Joan
14:06Barry's accusations, there were additional charges against Chaplin. For one, Charlie was accused by
14:12the FBI of violating a federal law called the Mann Act that made it illegal to transport any women
14:17across state lines for illicit or immoral purposes. This trip to New York that he had financed for
14:24Joan Barry and her mother, he also was in New York for a political rally, and when she brought
14:32forth her charges about Chaplin was the person that made her pregnant and everything, and she
14:38claimed sexual relations in New York, her lawyers decided to go after Chaplin on the Mann Act.
14:44Chaplin was not convicted of the Mann Act, but it didn't matter. By the time he was done, he was
14:49tarnished. Chaplin went to trial, charged with being the father of Joan's child. The first trial,
14:56the jury is 7-5 and Chaplin gets off. So Joan Barry decided to go after Chaplin in the second trial.
15:03She had a hot shot lawyer named Joseph Scott. Scott is into histrionics and pulpit and looks
15:10like the wrath of God to start with. He's 77 years old and on a mission, on a crusade to get Chaplin.
15:1811 of the 12 jurors were women, and this one went against him. He lost the court case and was going
15:24to pursue it further, and it was just too messy, and he just sort of backed away from it. Chaplin
15:29always maintained that Barry's kid wasn't his, but what are you going to do? The U.S. Attorney General
15:34at the time, James P. McGrannery, considered Chaplin an immoral menace to society. McGrannery was
15:41determined to get him, and as soon as he got into office, he said, FBI, give me what you have on
15:46Chaplin. The FBI gave him seven volumes on Chaplin's morals and six volumes on his politics.
15:53Under intense public scrutiny, Chaplin decided with his next film he'd take a different approach,
15:59and he starts to try to recast himself to get back to the old Chaplin in a film called
16:05Limelight. He planned a trip to celebrate the opening of his film Limelight in England and
16:12France. He sailed with his family, and no sooner were they offshore than the next day
16:20he got word that the Attorney General was pulling his visa. It was announced that if Chaplin chose
16:28to re-enter the country, he would have to appear and answer questions as to his political and moral
16:37fitness. In 1953, at the age of 64, Charlie Chaplin went into a self-imposed exile.
16:44He had never become a U.S. citizen, but he had always considered America his home.
16:48Now he felt his adopted country had betrayed him, and public opinion here in the States suggested
16:53the feeling was mutual. But still, questions remain. Was Chaplin really a communist? Was he
16:58really the father of Joan Barry's kid? And what happened to Chaplin's body after his death?
17:04Answers revealed when we come back.
17:11Silent Screen star Charlie Chaplin left the United States in 1953 after years of political
17:16controversy, personal scandal, and negative press. So what truth was there to justify
17:21Chaplin's persecution and exile? Let's start by looking at Chaplin's ex-lover Joan Barry.
17:27She insisted that Chaplin was the father of her baby, and even won a hefty court settlement.
17:31But Charlie wasn't the only big wig on Joan Barry's dance card. Before and after hooking
17:36up with Chaplin and suing him for child support, Barry, get this, was also sleeping with oil tycoon
17:42J. Paul Getty. So as promised, let's set the record straight. Was Charlie Chaplin the father
17:48of Joan Barry's child? Joan was, shall we say, pretty active in the community. Even when she
17:54was with Chaplin, she'd be going back to to J. Paul Getty's house. What tests done at the time
18:00can scientifically prove in an absolute fashion that is totally valid today that he could never
18:05have been the father of this child if they were not admitted into evidence. And what about the
18:10FBI's allegations that Chaplin was a communist? He did support communism in Russia. He did support
18:16Stalin. If they had put him under oath and said, are you now or have you ever been a member of the
18:21Communist Party, he could have said no. So for 20 years, Chaplin lived in exile in Europe with his
18:26wife Una and their eight children. Then, as so often happens, the movers and shakers of Hollywood
18:31had a change of heart. In 1972, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences decided to honor
18:36Chaplin with a special Oscar. Robert Wise is the former president of the Academy. There was a
18:41tribute to him at the Motion Picture Academy. He spoke very, very well. It was very moving and very
18:46delighted to to be back and all. And it was a very, very special event for the Motion Picture Academy.
18:52It was sort of America saying we're sorry. It was just so wonderful that Hollywood really
18:58showed that they respected what this man did. And whether they agreed with him politically or not,
19:06it was the work that really was the focus. In 1977, five years after he returned to the U.S.
19:13to accept the Academy's tribute, Charlie Chaplin died. Ironically, even in death, Chaplin was the
19:19focus of a scandal. His body was stolen by some men who wanted to finance a garage and they figured
19:28they'd steal the body and hold it for ransom. Chaplin was very into the macabre when he was
19:33alive. I think he would have kind of laughed at this whole situation because it was just so bizarre
19:40that they stole his body. Eventually, the grave robbers were caught and Charlie's body was
19:45returned. In spite of all the uproar over his political and moral behavior, Charlie Chaplin
19:50was very much a family man later in his life and will always be considered one of the greats of
19:54film comedy. Chaplin, as a filmmaker, will always be one of those pioneers who, by sheer power of his
20:04performance ability, captured the hearts of more people than anyone has before or since.
20:13What is there to fight for? Everything! Life itself, isn't that enough? Life was not a beautiful place.
20:20He made movies about the real issues of life and later on in his film career.
20:26The movies became really about what it is to be a human being. Now is the time to show them what
20:32you're made of! Now is the time to fight! Like the characters he portrayed, Charlie Chaplin was human
20:38with maybe more than his fair share of human frailties. And like some of the others, he sometimes
20:43let his star power get in the way of good judgment. But Chaplin was an artist. His impact in Hollywood
20:49is undeniable. I'm A.J. Benza. Join me the next time we take a stroll down the flip side of the Walk of Fame.
21:19you