Synopses & Reviews
Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) was one of the most loved, hated, and gossiped-about figures in film history. On screen the handsome actor delighted viewers with his "Tramp" character, but off screen he betrayed friends and colleagues, stole ideas, evaded taxes, and developed a reputation as a seducer of startlingly young women. Tramp traces Chaplin's life and career, from his childhood in the slums of London, through his early days as a music hall entertainer, to his meteoric rise and astonishing success in the American film world (including seventy-one films by age thirty-three), and his exile in Europe in the McCarthyist 1950s. Attributing some of his disturbing behavior to manic-depression, Milton confronts his troubling views, especially on politics, while celebrating his artistic genius in this probing and revelatory biography.
About the Author
Joyce Milton is the author of Loss of Eden: A Biography of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, The Yellow Kids: Foreign Correspondents in the Heyday of Yellow Journalism, The Rosenberg File (with Ronald Radosh) and Vicki (with Ann Bardach). She lives in Brooklyn, New York.