Charlie Chaplin
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
NPG.84.114
Tags
SuspendersDerby hatCaneMustachePortraitPosterMovieScreenwriterFilm directorMovie actor
About this artwork
Charlie Chaplin’s early years with his vaudeville-actress mother introduced him to the stage and the outlet that performance could provide. When moviemaker Mack Sennett saw Chaplin on the New York stage in 1912, he knew that he had spotted an unusual talent. Within two years—playing a mustachioed, duck-footed tramp in one two-reel comedy after another—Chaplin was well on his way to becoming one of the greatest film stars of all time. By the 1920s, having formed United Artists with his friends Ma...