First love
It was there, behind the scenes of one of the variety shows, nineteen-year-old Charlie met his first great love, which left a mark on his heart for life. Hetty Kelly was a dancer. Fragile, almost weightless, she looked even younger than her fourteen. Chaplin managed to get only a few visits, after which Hetty gave him a turn from the gate. He guarded her around the house, but she did not leave him any chance, and their relationship came to naught. But later, all his women were something like Kelly at least his age ...
Very few people knew about Chaplin's passion for nymphets. Although in principle he did not hide much. Often, the actor, sitting in his luxurious car, went to the nearest school, where he was lying in wait for another young beauty. And after a close acquaintance, giving the girl some trinket, I forgot about her forever.
Mildred
For the first time Charlie Chaplin married a year before his thirtieth birthday. His wife was almost twice his age - Mildred Harrig was only sixteen. But to call her a young and immaculate language somehow did not turn. At the age of ten Harris appeared naked in a film by David Griffith. The wedding took place because of Mildred's unexpected pregnancy, which (as it turned out after the wedding) was false. A year later, the wife still gave Charley an heir.
July 7, 1919 the couple had a son Norman Spencer Chaplin, but the baby lived only three days. Some such tragedies are being rallied, and Mildred and Charlie, on the contrary, began almost to rush at each other and a couple of months later the divorce procedure began.
Lita Lolita
Four years after the divorce, Charlie Chaplin decided to bond with Hymeny for the second time. Lita Gray, like her first wife, was only sixteen. To avoid gossip, his marriage Chaplin registered away from the US, in Mexico. The reason for the marriage was banal: the pregnancy of the young lady. It is said that Charlie, in order to avoid a stamp in his passport, offered the future wife a decent amount at that time for twenty thousand dollars - just for marrying another or having an abortion. But Lita was a tough nut to crack. She knew that by becoming an actress's legal wife, she could get much more than these "pathetic" twenty thousand.
In this marriage, the great comedian had two children - Charlie Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Earl Chaplin, but the couple lived together only four years. And this time during the divorce Chaplin had to pay large compensation. According to some data, he paid Lita eight hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, on the other - seven hundred thousand.
By the way, it is believed that it was the relationship between Chaplin and his second wife, Lita Gray, that formed the basis of the novel by Vladimir Nabokov "Lolita." After all, Lita's full name is Lilith, which is very much in tune with Lolita. And the image of Humbert also brings thoughts about Charlie Chaplin. And here's another amazing coincidence. After leaving America, Chaplin settled in the Swiss town of Vevey, just a few kilometers from Montreux, where Vladimir Nabokov came to the same year to create Lolita.
Paulette
Four more years passed, and Chaplin again got serious relationships. Paulette Goddard was also an actress, with whom the actor lived for eight years and shot it in two films. By the way, it is still unknown whether Paulette and Charlie were officially married: they assured that they registered their marriage during the trip to Asia, but none of the surrounding people saw the contract.
Their union was easy and cloudless. Paulette turned their house into a secular salon, where the best minds and talents of those years came to dinner. Even the children of Chaplin from the previous marriage of the soul did not see in their stepmother. In addition, Paulette was the only ex-wife with whom Chaplin spoke after the divorce. About the reasons for the separation, they did not tell anyone.
Happiness Happiness
Charlie Chaplin found his family happiness with the fourth attempt. He finally found one with whom he was ready to meet old age. At the time of his marriage he was already fifty-four, but his wife - thirty years less. Una O'Neill was a prominent girl. She was courted by writer Jerome Salinger and director Orson Welles. But she preferred Chaplin to all her fans. And she never regretted it: "He helped me grow up, I helped him feel young." They met during the casting for the film "Ghost and reality", directed by Chaplin. Una then turned seventeen, and she was unusually good-looking. The girl came to the test and as soon as she looked at Charlie, I realized that I was lost. The same as the great comedian later admitted, he felt. The film "Ghost and reality" was never withdrawn. But instead of a ghost of love, Chaplin had a reality - in the image of Una and the numerous children who were soon born.
In the marriage with Chaplin, Una fully realized herself as a wife and mother, without a shadow of doubt, abandoning her acting career. They had eight children: three sons - Christoph, Eugene and Michael and five daughters - Giraldina, Josephine, Janet, Victoria, Anna-Emil. And the last child was born when Charlie was already over seventy.
Charlie loved his children. Remembering his hungry childhood, he tried to arrange so that his offsprings did not need anything.
However, soon from America it was necessary to leave. Hollywood did not forgive Chaplin sympathy for the Russians, whom he never hid. But especially the film "The Great Dictator." He could stay in the States and try to prove his innocence, but Charlie surrendered without a fight. Perhaps he would have done something if he felt behind his back the support of the public, the one that had worshiped him not so long ago. However, when the screens came out his picture "Monsieur Verdu", the worst happened for him. "Send Chaplin to Russia!" - shouted posters, with which ordinary Americans lined up in front of the cinema building, where the premiere was held.
... When Charlie was thrown out of the US, he gave his word never to return to this country. And found shelter in Switzerland, where life outside the gates of a luxurious mansion was as secure and closed from foreign encroachments as an account in a Swiss bank.
His promise he broke only once. In 1971, he was informed that the film academy was going to award him an Oscar - "for an invaluable contribution to the fact that in this century cinema has become an art." For the sake of this event, he temporarily lifted his ban and went to the Hollywood Hills. To never return to America.
The great comedian, surrounded by his numerous family, died in the Swiss town of Vevey, right on the shore of Lake Geneva in 1977. And today in Vevey about him like a bronze sculpture in full growth, photographed next to which anyone can. And of course, with us are his brilliant films.
But even after Charlie Chaplin's death, his adventures did not end. About a couple of months after the funeral, a message suddenly arrived that the body ... had been stolen by unknown persons. Soon they called in with a proposal to redeem the corpse. The police for a long time could not get on the trail of criminals, different versions were being developed. In the end, it became clear that the usual scumbags participated in the case. And that they had nothing against Chaplin himself - they just decided to earn some money this way. For three months Chaplin's body lay on a desert site owned by a Swiss peasant, and only then was buried again.