Famous Firsts:
      Making a Living was the first film Chaplin appeared in; Mabel’s Strange Predicament was the first in which he played the Tramp, but… Kid Auto Races at Venice was released just a few days before it, and so that film was the first in which he was seen by the public in his tramp guise.  He also made Tillie’s Punctured Romance, which was the very first US feature-length comedy film.  All of these were made in 1914.

Chaplin would later say that fulfilling the Mutual contract was the most rewarding period of his career.

His right-to-residency in the US was revoked in 1952 over suspicions of communism.  However, the real reasons were more to do with his amoral lifestyle, a paternity suit, and the fact that he had refused to apply for citizenship, despite having lived in the country for nearly thirty years.

He returned in 1972 to receive a special Oscar, ‘for the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century’.

Chaplin actually won two awards in competition, forty-four years apart.  At the 1927/28 awards he received a special Oscar for The Circus, and was then honoured at the 1972 awards for scoring the music to Limelight, which had only just been shown in the Los Angeles area – thus qualifying it for inclusion – twenty years after it had been made.