A Genious who Made People Laugh and Cry

On November 16th, 1889, one the most important people in the cinema´s world was born in London. He was a man, not very tall, not very handsome, but really expressive.

His childhood was sad and miserable. When he was 5 years old, he debuted replacing his mother in a performance. She was an actress and singer with several mental problems. Then, he was part of travelling variety companies that acted in villages. In 1906 (at 17 years of age) he got his first contract as one the most important attractions in a Circus. In 1913 , when he was 24 years old, he started to work in Hollywood, making 35 short films, creating a character a Little vagabond and sentimental with a peculiar way of walking and dressing. He had great success. In this way, he filmed long movies, still valid today, with a critical humour, tender, very special.

Almost always critical of his time, he usually wrote the script, composed the music and also many times interpreted the roles. Most of his films are silent. His first masterpiece was The Kid, when he was 32. Later, another one: A Great Satire of the Industrial Revolution. The first spoken movie, in 1940, was a great parody of fascism. For this reason, this film was censored in Spain for many years. It was one of the best movies in the history of cinema.

He made 80 movies and he won many awards, such as the Honorific Oscar in 1928. Another one for the music in Limelight.

He was accused of being a communist and doing activities against the U.S.A. For these reasons he had to go to Switzerland to live in exile in 1949.

He was married four times and he had 11 children. Some of them are actors too, but not as great as their father. This great genius died in Switzerland on December, 25, 1997.

Some of his famous sentences are: “A day without smiling is a lost day”. “What others think of you, is not your problem”.

If you still haven’t guessed who he is, I’ll tell you the title of some of his movies: The Kid,  Modern Times, City lights, The Great Dictator, Limelight, and the last one The Countess from Hong Kong.

Ana Seral.

English for Fun, 4ºA

He was a humorous actor, composer, producer, and screen writer of silent cinema.

He was the kind of actor that made the world laugh and cry.

He was a mime artist who transmitted without words. His humbleness, humanity and simplicity appeared in his scenes. He was an inspiring being on many levels. He was very smart and he could leave without any problem. He had the ability to complicate the simplest to make people laugh. He will always be reminded by his walking stick, his bowler hat, his mustache and awake look.

Carmen López

English for Fun 4B

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