Cozy Croc

Charlie Chaplin across 50 years: 10 photos from 1915 to 1965

By Cozy Croc

Split image: a young Charlie Chaplin seated at a desk on the left, and an older Chaplin, circled in red, looking at a book beside Dutch royals on the right.

These ten pictures follow Charlie Chaplin from about 1915, when he was making short comedies, to 1965, when a European prize honored his career. Along the way he meets Sousa, Einstein and Gandhi, eats a boot and mocks a dictator. Every photograph is in the public domain or released under CC0.

A young star at his desk

A young man with dark wavy hair, a vest, a bow tie and a loose jacket sits at a desk with his arm resting on it, smiling at the camera.
Bain News Service, Library of Congress, about 1915

Bain News Service photographed Chaplin at a desk about 1915, with no mustache or bowler hat in sight. He had joined Essanay at the end of 1914 for $1,250 a week plus a $10,000 bonus. The Tramp, released that April, is widely seen as a turning point, when his character grew gentler.

Standing with John Philip Sousa

A man in a dark suit and bow tie holds a small object in one hand while talking with an older man in a band uniform and peaked cap, in a corridor with wooden doors.
Library of Congress, about 1916

The Library of Congress dates this print to 1916 and says it shows bandleader John Philip Sousa, in uniform, standing with Chaplin. That year Chaplin signed with the Mutual company for $670,000 a year. Sousa, then in his early sixties, was a bandleader famous across America.

On the boat in The Immigrant

Chaplin in a bowler hat and toothbrush mustache stands shoulder to shoulder with weary passengers in shawls and caps, a paper tag pinned to his coat, while a woman beside him looks worried.
J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs

The Immigrant was one of four films Chaplin released in 1917 for Mutual, along with Easy Street, The Cure and The Adventurer. Scholars rank that group among his finest work. In this scene the Tramp is packed into steerage on a ship bound for America.

Chaplin and Harry Lauder in costume

Two men in costume pose in front of a painted woodland backdrop, one in a bowler hat, kilt and long socks, the other in a small hat, mustache, baggy trousers and a tight jacket, each holding a cane.
Underwood and Underwood, The New York Times, 1918, via Library of Congress

The New York Times ran this photograph on February 10, 1918. It pairs Scottish entertainer Harry Lauder, on the left, with Chaplin in his Tramp outfit. That spring Chaplin toured for a month to sell Liberty Bonds, and Shoulder Arms came out in October.

The Kid and his tramp

A man in a bowler hat, small mustache and shabby suit sits on a stone doorstep next to a small boy in an oversized cap and ragged clothes, both looking at the camera.
J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs

The Kid was Chaplin’s first feature-length film, released in January 1921 and running 68 minutes. Jackie Coogan was four years old when filming began in August 1919, and production took nine months. Chaplin plays a tramp who finds an abandoned baby and raises him.

Eating a boot in The Gold Rush

Chaplin, in a dark jacket, raises a bootlace to his mouth over a plate holding a boiled shoe, with a fork and a second plate beside it.
United Artists publicity still, 1925

In The Gold Rush, which premiered on June 26, 1925, a starving prospector boils his boot and eats it like a fine dinner. Chaplin shot the mountain scenes with 600 extras near Truckee. At the film’s release he said it was the picture he wanted to be remembered by.

Einstein at the City Lights premiere

Albert Einstein, with tousled gray hair and a mustache, and Charlie Chaplin, smiling, sit side by side in dinner jackets and bow ties, with a plaid wrap over Einstein’s arm.
Photoplay, April 1931

Albert Einstein and his wife attended the Los Angeles premiere of City Lights on January 30, 1931, as Chaplin’s personal guests. Photoplay printed this picture in its April 1931 issue. City Lights had no spoken dialogue, even though sound films had taken over by then.

Meeting Gandhi in East London

Chaplin, in a suit, sits smiling with his hands clasped beside Mahatma Gandhi, who wears glasses and a white shawl, with a woman in a light head covering seated in front of them.
Agence Rol, Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1931

On September 22, 1931, Chaplin met Mahatma Gandhi at a friend’s house in Canning Town, East London, during Gandhi’s visit for the Round Table Conference on India’s future. Chaplin asked about machinery. Gandhi said machines had made India dependent on England and that he would still oppose them after independence.

Hynkel and his globe

A man in a military uniform with a peaked cap and a toothbrush mustache stands behind a large globe on a stand, resting his hands on it, in front of tall double doors.
United Artists publicity still, 1940

The Great Dictator, Chaplin’s first sound film, opened in New York on October 15, 1940, in two theaters at once. He plays both a Jewish barber and Adenoid Hynkel, a dictator who parodies Hitler. This still shows Hynkel and his globe of the world.

Receiving the Erasmus Prize

An older man with white hair, circled in red, holds an open book on the left, while a tall man in a dark suit, a woman in a white hat and a younger woman holding flowers stand beside him.
Jac. de Nijs, Anefo, Nationaal Archief, 1965 (CC0)

On June 24, 1965, Chaplin received the Erasmus Prize in the Netherlands, with Prince Bernhard, Queen Juliana and Princess Beatrix beside him. He shared it with the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. The jury praised how his films joined seriousness, humor and social compassion. Chaplin, circled in red, was 76.

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