The legendary Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889-1977), widely considered the greatest comedian and one of the most important figures in the history of cinema, died early this morning “of old age”, according to his doctor.
Born into poverty, he became an immortal artist thanks to his brilliant humanization of man’s tragicomic conflicts with fate.
More than a virtuoso comedian, Chaplin was a versatile actor, writer, musician and director who meticulously perfected every aspect of his films.
The most famous hobo in the world, a cute little man with a black mustache and a swaying gait, dressed in baggy trousers and a tight-fitting jacket, oversized shoes and a little bowler hat, made millions laugh and, on occasion, brought a few tears to their eyes, without saying a word.
When the sound reached the seventh art, the silent star showed that he had a lot to say.
The final speech of his first talkie “The Great Dictator” (1940) was an admirable and progressive defense of democracy, which was not heard in the domains of the Third Reich, neither in Italy nor in Spain, since Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco banned the film, proving that Chaplin had nailed it.
His life, however, was also marked by controversy.
Expelled from USA
Making a comedy regarding a Nazi leader was one of them. He would later write that he was determined to do so because it was essential to laugh at Hitler.
But he had dabbled in politics, and while his private life also fueled the tabloids, it was politics that got him the most trouble.
His speeches during World War II, calling for a second Western Front with Soviet allies to defeat Hitler, angered many conservatives.
With the advent of the Cold War, his friendships with leading artistic figures accused of sympathizing with the communist cause put him in the crosshairs of the authorities.
Representative John E. Rankin, a right-wing legislator from Mississippi (United States), was among those who denounced him and demanded his deportation.
Chaplin’s life “is damaging to the moral fabric of America,” Rankin said, calling for him to be kept “off American screens and that his loathsome images be kept out of the eyes of American youth.”
Finally, in 1952, the actor, British subject and in 1975 knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, was practically expelled from the United States.
His “incalculable effect in transforming cinema into the art form of the 20th century”, recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of that country 20 years later with an Honorary Oscar, was of no avail.
Boarding a ship bound for England, he was told by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service that he would be denied re-entry to that country unless he was willing to answer charges “of a political nature and moral turpitude”.
Outraged and fed up with the relentless harassment of the authorities, the Chaplins moved to Switzerland.
It was there that he died at the age of 88, just hours before the start of his family’s traditional Christmas party.
His fourth wife, Oona, daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill, and seven of their 11 children were with him.
The hiker who made 81 films in a cinematic lifetime that began in 1914 and ended in 1967 was buried in a private ceremony two days later in the hills above Lake Geneva.
But that, as we anticipated in the title, was not the end of the story.
“Ridiculous”
In a coda that seems to have been written by him for one of his first comedy shorts, several months following his death, his body was seized by a pair of bumbling thieves.
In March 1978, they dug up the coffin to force Chaplin’s widow, Oona, to pay £400,000.
Lady Chaplin had inherited regarding 12 million pounds (regarding R$ 360 million in current values) following her husband’s death.
She refused to pay saying “Charlie would have found it ridiculous”.
In subsequent calls, the kidnappers threatened to harm their two youngest children.
The family has kept quiet regarding the ransom demands, but that hasn’t stopped several rumors from circulating regarding the missing coffin.
A report published at the time speculated that the coffin had been dug up because Chaplin was Jewish and had been buried in a Gentile cemetery.
Meanwhile, Swiss police mounted an operation in which 200 telephone kiosks were monitored and the Chaplins’ phone tapped.
Five weeks later, the perpetrators of the kidnapping were located and arrested.
The coffin was later found buried in a cornfield on Lake Geneva.
A spokesman for the Chaplins said: “The family is very happy and relieved that this ordeal is over.”
Superintendent Gabriel Cettou, chief of police in Geneva, told the press that the two men would be charged with attempted extortion and disturbing the peace of the dead.
Italian inspiration
Almost a year following Chaplin’s death, at his trial on December 11, 1978, a Polish refugee confessed to a Swiss court that he had dug up the body and tried to extort money from the comedian’s family.
Roman Wardas, a 24-year-old auto mechanic, said he mightn’t get a job and was having a hard time when he read a newspaper article regarding a similar case in Italy.
“I decided to hide Charlie Chaplin’s body and settle my issues,” Wardas explained to the Vevey District Court.
He added that he asked his friend Gantscho Ganev, a 38-year-old Bulgarian, to help him unearth the coffin in Corsier-sur-Vevey, near the mansion where Chaplin lived for 23 years.
“I didn’t particularly worry regarding interfering with a casket,” he said.
“I was going to hide it deeper in the same hole originally, but it was raining and the earth got too heavy.”
That’s why he was taken away in Ganev’s car and reburied in the cornfield.
The co-defendant told the court, “I didn’t mind lifting the coffin. Death is not that important where I come from.”
Ganev clarified that following helping Wardas that night, he was no longer involved in the matter.
According to a psychiatric report requested by Ganev’s lawyer, the Bulgarian, who agreed to be part of Wardas’ plan believing the risks were minimal, was alarmed by the public impact of the coffin’s disappearance.
Wardas was sentenced to four and a half years hard labor for masterminding the bizarre plot.
His accomplice, described as a “muscle man” with a limited sense of responsibility, received an 18-month suspended sentence (replacement prison sentence).
Charlie Chaplin’s coffin was reburied in the original cemetery, this time in a burglar-proof concrete grave.
By Dahlia Ventura
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