Oona O' Neill was looking for a change in her life. At about the age of 17, she made a trip from New York to Califorina in 1942 to see her father and to try her luck in Hollywood.
Oona's visit with her father who was the famous playwright Eugene O’Neill did not go well. The relationship was a poor one from the beginning. Her film career did not develop either. Instead, she would make headlines in becoming the fourth wife of Charlie Chaplin
Many people had this marriage written off before it even started, but they did not know Oona O' Neill.
The couple met in the fall of 1942. Chaplin was looking for an new leading lady for his latest film 'Shadow and Substance'. A talent agent who knew Chaplin introduced the couple at a private dinner. Chaplin thinking Oona too young for the part didn't engage her at first, but Oona showed interest instead and even showed up at the studio one day asking for Mr. Chaplin.
Chaplin signed up Oona and for the next few months she was involved in acting lessons for the part. But instead of acting, a romance developed. Chaplin was reportedly shy about involving himself with yet another young girl, but it was Oona who really showed a deep feeling for him that made him at ease with the decision.
Chaplin placed the film project on the shelf and planned for a quiet wedding instead. On June 16, 1943, the couple married in Santa Barbara, California. And this time the age difference did turn heads. Oona was 18 and Charlie 54. Even with the age difference, the couple had a special bond that would last a lifetime.
The couple spent a great deal of time together. Even Charlie's sons were very taken by their new step-mother. She may have been 18, but she was very mature for her age and had a calmness about her that aided her in this new married life.
The couple would go through some of the most troubled times Chaplin experienced in the States. The Joan Berry lawsuit, the public's dislike for the new directions of his films, and Chaplin's left-leaning politics were all haunting him publicly. In contrast, his private life could not have been better.
'Limelight' in 1952 became a family affair for Charlie, as his oldest and youngest children were all in the film, including his half-brother, Wheeler Dryden as the doctor. It is even reported that Oona appeared briefly, doubling for Clarie Bloom in a scene that needed to be taken after the production had wrapped.
With the film done, Chaplin decided to premiere 'Limelight' in London and show 'his London' to his wife and young family for the first time. Chaplin got all the proper papers he needed to go on the trip and the government officials wished them a great journey!
In September, 1952, Charlie, Oona, and the three children left New York for London. But two days out to sea, the news arrived on ship that Chaplin was being denied re-entry to the United States.
Ready to fight the US government decision, according to 1952 New York Times reports, the family lived in hotels and stayed with friends for the rest of 1952. But Chaplin had enough with court battles and chose instead to buy a lake side home in Switerland in January 1953. Oona especially wanted to be settled for the birth of their fourth child.
For the next few months, life was very quiet at home for the Chaplin family. Charlie made have not been the perfect father at times, but he provided for all his children well. To be fair, it must have been hard to be a father during the 1950's, 60's and 70's, when you were born in 1889. And it must have been hard for the children as well.
Many famous people would visit their home over the years, a real who's who. But even in Switzerland, business still had to be settled with their Hollywood home and studio property. For this Oona was a great help, and we have her to thank for helping save Chaplin's lifetime of film work.
On her solo trip back to America, Oona closed up their Hollywood home and the Chaplin Studios. All his lifetime work at the studio was packed up and shipped to their Switzerland home, with the help of the Chaplin Studio employees, who were still working for him. Their Hollywood home was sold with their belongs either kept and shipped or disposed. Oona made it through the trip with no officials questioning her, even after finding out others were being questioned by the FBI, including former Chaplin's wife, Lita Grey Chaplin, who proudly had nothing to say to them. Chaplin was a nervous wreck throughout the whole ordeal and was very happy to see Oona's return and his work saved.
Charlie created a special film vault at their Switzerland home to store all his valuable film stock. This vault is the main source for all of Chaplin's copyrighted films we enjoy so much today.
Later, Oona even gave up her American citizenship. She had few ties to the States, but would return to help her family when needed. She had her mother and brother with whom she kept in contact.
As for Charlie, he would only return once to the States in 1972 to receive his special Academy Award Oscar with Oona at his side all the way. All the people who worked with Chaplin showed up in either New York or Los Angeles to see him, including his former co-stars Jackie Coogan, Clarie Bloom and Georgia Hale. Edna Purviance would have been there too, if she were alive. (She had died 24 years earlier in 1958.)
When he received the Oscar that night, he had Oona by his side, like she was from the start of their marriage. He pointed at her in gesture that it was Oona that made it possible for him to be there on that night. Oona gave him strenght, where his was failing.
The U.S. trip was a very emotional trip for both. So emotional for Chaplin, he couldn't bear to walk on his old Chaplin Film Studio grounds again. He went to the studio on a Sunday and stopped by the original gate entry. He looked in from the gates, but the menories must have been many. All his wives and his first close love, Edna, were all there in the 34 years he worked there, but that time was gone. All that was left was the building and menories he created on film.
That was the last time Chaplin saw his studio.
Chaplin gained new energy from this American travels and went back to Switzerland where he created his second book 'My Life in Pictures'. He was able to talk about his second marriage more in this book, but mainly in pictures.
Oona was there in London to see him receive his English knighthood in 1975. A great honor! But his old energy was gone. He asked not be photographed while struggling to enter his car. The man who once could move with great ease, was no more.
In 1976, he restored te last of his classics and one of his favorite films 'A Woman of Paris'. It was Edna Purviance's first starring role. Chaplin and Edna got great reviews, but in the end, it was the little fellow people wanted to see, not the great director. He created a music score for it too, like all his other classics. His health was failing a great deal by this time, and the music does show it, for it does not have the same voice as his earlier work.
As always, Oona was never far away. Sitting in a corner knitting she would be asked by Charlie about this scene or that. She became his personal advisor, and he always listened. Charlie would even look for her, even if she left the room for even a short while. She was his energy, his youth. She was everything he wanted in a wife, and more. It has been said, that Oona would laugh loudly at his jokes, whether she heard it before, or not. If he was looking to find his first love he lost with Hetty Ketty, he found her in Oona.
His last year with Oona was as quiet as the first months in Switzerland. He would watch films, take drives, do walks, see visitors and attend family outings. But by November 1977, Chaplin stayed home for good. Oona worked hard on caring for him, until her health was called into question by their own children.
But the end was nearing for 'the little fellow'.
It is rather irony that Chaplin would die in the early morning hours of the one holiday that was the saddest from his childhood. During the annual family holiday gathering in 1977, Charlie died on Christmas Day.
In Los Angeles, flowers were left at the gates of the former Chaplin Film Studios and even on Chaplin's mother's gravesite. (Charlie's mother lived her last years in the 1920's in a house Chaplin brought for her in the Los Angeles area.)
Oona never got over the death of Charlie. She tried to start a new life and even lived in New York City for a while. But her whole life centered around Charlie, and life without him just didn't seem possible for her. Living with Charlie was never easy for Oona, but living without him was agonizing. If there was one fault in the marriage, it maybe that Oona didn't develop more of her own personally outside of the marriage. If she had, maybe she would still be with us and her children today.
Oona died from cancer on September 27, 1991. It was just before the release of the film ‘Chaplin’ for which she gave permission to use Charlie's book as source material for the film.
The couple had eight children: Geraldine, Eugene, Victoria, Annette, Josephine, Michael, Jane and Christopher Chaplin. While all the children went on to lead successful lives of their own, to most people, Geraldine Chaplin is the best known in the acting world. Her first major role was in 'Dr. Zhivago'. She even got to play her own grandmother (Charlie's mother, Hannah) in 1991 movie 'Chaplin'.
The Chaplin family is currently creating a lasting tribute to their parents by turning the family home in Switzerland into the Chaplin Heritage Center . (The final name of the center is still being decided.) They plan to have it open to the public in the future.
After three marriages that didn't work out, Charlie's final marriage realized his ideal girl and love of his life in Oona O'Neill. While Edna was Chaplin's ideal girl on the silver screen, it was Oona who became his ideal girl in real life.
And it will always be Oona Chaplin who will always be remembered as Mrs. Charles Chaplin.
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Oona's visit with her father who was the famous playwright Eugene O’Neill did not go well. The relationship was a poor one from the beginning. Her film career did not develop either. Instead, she would make headlines in becoming the fourth wife of Charlie Chaplin
Many people had this marriage written off before it even started, but they did not know Oona O' Neill.
The couple met in the fall of 1942. Chaplin was looking for an new leading lady for his latest film 'Shadow and Substance'. A talent agent who knew Chaplin introduced the couple at a private dinner. Chaplin thinking Oona too young for the part didn't engage her at first, but Oona showed interest instead and even showed up at the studio one day asking for Mr. Chaplin.
Chaplin placed the film project on the shelf and planned for a quiet wedding instead. On June 16, 1943, the couple married in Santa Barbara, California. And this time the age difference did turn heads. Oona was 18 and Charlie 54. Even with the age difference, the couple had a special bond that would last a lifetime.
The couple spent a great deal of time together. Even Charlie's sons were very taken by their new step-mother. She may have been 18, but she was very mature for her age and had a calmness about her that aided her in this new married life.
The couple would go through some of the most troubled times Chaplin experienced in the States. The Joan Berry lawsuit, the public's dislike for the new directions of his films, and Chaplin's left-leaning politics were all haunting him publicly. In contrast, his private life could not have been better.
'Limelight' in 1952 became a family affair for Charlie, as his oldest and youngest children were all in the film, including his half-brother, Wheeler Dryden as the doctor. It is even reported that Oona appeared briefly, doubling for Clarie Bloom in a scene that needed to be taken after the production had wrapped.
With the film done, Chaplin decided to premiere 'Limelight' in London and show 'his London' to his wife and young family for the first time. Chaplin got all the proper papers he needed to go on the trip and the government officials wished them a great journey!
Ready to fight the US government decision, according to 1952 New York Times reports, the family lived in hotels and stayed with friends for the rest of 1952. But Chaplin had enough with court battles and chose instead to buy a lake side home in Switerland in January 1953. Oona especially wanted to be settled for the birth of their fourth child.
For the next few months, life was very quiet at home for the Chaplin family. Charlie made have not been the perfect father at times, but he provided for all his children well. To be fair, it must have been hard to be a father during the 1950's, 60's and 70's, when you were born in 1889. And it must have been hard for the children as well.
During Chaplin's life he had 11 children born between 1919 to his youngest in 1962. Two died during his lifetime. Most of his children grew up during the 50's and 60's.
To his kids, he was Dad, but to the world he was still 'The Little Tramp'. This silent-era film figure was a bit too distant for the children, and Charlie did not talk much about his early film days to his children. Maybe it was losing that life, the way he did, was just too hurtful to relive.
To his kids, he was Dad, but to the world he was still 'The Little Tramp'. This silent-era film figure was a bit too distant for the children, and Charlie did not talk much about his early film days to his children. Maybe it was losing that life, the way he did, was just too hurtful to relive.
Charlie created a special film vault at their Switzerland home to store all his valuable film stock. This vault is the main source for all of Chaplin's copyrighted films we enjoy so much today.
Later, Oona even gave up her American citizenship. She had few ties to the States, but would return to help her family when needed. She had her mother and brother with whom she kept in contact.
As for Charlie, he would only return once to the States in 1972 to receive his special Academy Award Oscar with Oona at his side all the way. All the people who worked with Chaplin showed up in either New York or Los Angeles to see him, including his former co-stars Jackie Coogan, Clarie Bloom and Georgia Hale. Edna Purviance would have been there too, if she were alive. (She had died 24 years earlier in 1958.)
When he received the Oscar that night, he had Oona by his side, like she was from the start of their marriage. He pointed at her in gesture that it was Oona that made it possible for him to be there on that night. Oona gave him strenght, where his was failing.
That was the last time Chaplin saw his studio.
Chaplin gained new energy from this American travels and went back to Switzerland where he created his second book 'My Life in Pictures'. He was able to talk about his second marriage more in this book, but mainly in pictures.
Oona was there in London to see him receive his English knighthood in 1975. A great honor! But his old energy was gone. He asked not be photographed while struggling to enter his car. The man who once could move with great ease, was no more.
In 1976, he restored te last of his classics and one of his favorite films 'A Woman of Paris'. It was Edna Purviance's first starring role. Chaplin and Edna got great reviews, but in the end, it was the little fellow people wanted to see, not the great director. He created a music score for it too, like all his other classics. His health was failing a great deal by this time, and the music does show it, for it does not have the same voice as his earlier work.
As always, Oona was never far away. Sitting in a corner knitting she would be asked by Charlie about this scene or that. She became his personal advisor, and he always listened. Charlie would even look for her, even if she left the room for even a short while. She was his energy, his youth. She was everything he wanted in a wife, and more. It has been said, that Oona would laugh loudly at his jokes, whether she heard it before, or not. If he was looking to find his first love he lost with Hetty Ketty, he found her in Oona.
But the end was nearing for 'the little fellow'.
It is rather irony that Chaplin would die in the early morning hours of the one holiday that was the saddest from his childhood. During the annual family holiday gathering in 1977, Charlie died on Christmas Day.
In Los Angeles, flowers were left at the gates of the former Chaplin Film Studios and even on Chaplin's mother's gravesite. (Charlie's mother lived her last years in the 1920's in a house Chaplin brought for her in the Los Angeles area.)
Oona never got over the death of Charlie. She tried to start a new life and even lived in New York City for a while. But her whole life centered around Charlie, and life without him just didn't seem possible for her. Living with Charlie was never easy for Oona, but living without him was agonizing. If there was one fault in the marriage, it maybe that Oona didn't develop more of her own personally outside of the marriage. If she had, maybe she would still be with us and her children today.
Oona died from cancer on September 27, 1991. It was just before the release of the film ‘Chaplin’ for which she gave permission to use Charlie's book as source material for the film.
The Chaplin family is currently creating a lasting tribute to their parents by turning the family home in Switzerland into the Chaplin Heritage Center . (The final name of the center is still being decided.) They plan to have it open to the public in the future.
After three marriages that didn't work out, Charlie's final marriage realized his ideal girl and love of his life in Oona O'Neill. While Edna was Chaplin's ideal girl on the silver screen, it was Oona who became his ideal girl in real life.
And it will always be Oona Chaplin who will always be remembered as Mrs. Charles Chaplin.
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