Her father was her mentor: actress Geraldine Chaplin turns 80
Published: Thursday, Jul 25th 2024, 08:10
Updated At: Tuesday, Jul 30th 2024, 09:00
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She made her first film appearance alongside her father Charlie Chaplin. She now has more than 150 to her name. Now Geraldine Chaplin is 80 and still being asked about her father.
Geraldine Chaplin took on her first role at the tender age of eight. She made a small appearance as a ballet dancer in the melodrama "Limelight". The director and star of the film "Limelight" (original title) was her famous father. Charlie Chaplin shaped Geraldine's career, her attitude to work and her life. People still talk about him today, although Geraldine Chaplin stepped out of the film legend's shadow early on. The renowned British actress turns 80 on Wednesday.
Chaplin, who has a penchant for colorful clothing, has been struggling with aging for some time. "Since I turned 50, I've seen that death is waiting for me, hungry," she told Interview magazine last year. "And that's why I wake up every morning and think: Oh, I'm still here for the moment!" And she continues to stand in front of the camera.
Great variety of roles and courage
Chaplin has played more than 150 roles in her long career to date. Two more were added last year. She appeared in Robert Schwentke's "Seneca - Or: On the Birth of Earthquakes" and Jessica Woodworth's "Luka". She has also appeared more frequently on television recently, including in "The Crown", the popular Netflix series about the British royal family.
Geraldine Chaplin has occasionally shown courage in her choice of roles, which span a wide range of genres. In the 2014 drama "Sand Dollars", she played a sex tourist aged around 70 who falls in love with a 19-year-old in the Dominican Republic. In one scene, she even stood naked in front of her much younger movie partner. "It took me a lot of effort because I'm so old," she told Welt am Sonntag. "That goes without saying."
"Doctor Zhivago" makes them famous
Geraldine Leigh Chaplin was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1944. A year earlier, Charlie Chaplin had married the much younger actress Oona O'Neill. It was his fourth marriage. He was 54 at the time, she was only 18, and the couple went on to have seven more children. After Charlie Chaplin was denied re-entry to the USA following a vacation in Europe due to his alleged sympathy for communism, the family settled in Switzerland.
Geraldine Chaplin studied at the Royal Ballet School in London, but then decided - against her father's wishes - to pursue a career as an actress. She became known to a large audience in 1965 as Tonia in David Lean's epic film "Doctor Zhivago". The role earned her a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Young Actress. In her father's last film, "The Countess of Hong Kong", she made a small appearance alongside three of her siblings in 1967.
Spain instead of Hollywood
Instead of Hollywood, however, she moved to Spain, where she met director Carlos Saura. The two were a couple for twelve years. Chaplin appeared in several of Saura's films, including "Anna and the Wolves" (1973) and "Elisa, My Life" (1977). Their son Shane was born in 1974. After separating from Saura in 1979, she got together with cinematographer Patricio Castilla, to whom she has been married since 2006. The marriage produced daughter Oona, who is also an actress.
The fact that she grew up bilingual and is fluent in other languages has often benefited Geraldine Chaplin in her career. She made films in English, Spanish, French and Italian. "People tell me I sound completely different in French than in English," she told Interview magazine. "I have a slight accent in Spanish. But in French, my voice changes. It becomes a French voice in a way."
Her famous father is always an issue
One of the many French productions for which Geraldine Chaplin appeared in front of the camera was "Balduin, the Sunday Driver" (1971), one of film legend Louis de Funès' weaker films. At the time, the French cult comedian said of his co-star: "I'm flattered to be shooting with (Charlie) Chaplin's daughter. She is very serious. She's a child of show business."
Whenever people talked about her or with her, it seemed, her father was also a topic. It didn't bother her. When asked whether she had considered dropping the name Chaplin, she replied in an interview with Welt Online: "Excuse me? I used and exploited the name as often as I could." She continued: "Without the name I would have been nothing, nobody would have wanted me. Only the name opened doors for me."
Geraldine Chaplin herself repeatedly refers to the influential film star and director, who was very strict as a father. "I adore Charlie Chaplin, not my father," she told Brigitte We. "When I was born, he was already in his mid-50s. I knew an older gentleman with gray hair with whom I watched his films - and this young, beautiful man played in them."
Film role as her own grandmother
In 1992, Richard Attenborough filmed the life of Charlie Chaplin with Robert Downey Jr. in the title role and many other stars. Geraldine Chaplin also played a part in "Chaplin - The Life of the Immortal Film Legend". She played her own grandmother Hannah. "It was difficult to portray this madness," she said of this personal role. "She wasn't an uncontrollable madwoman. It was a gentle kind of madness."
Today, Chaplin lives alternately in Spain and Switzerland. When she was asked for a tip for up-and-coming actors at last year's Berlinale, she advised: "Stay on the ball." Because that's what she learned from her father. After all, Charlie Chaplin never gave up. "My father was the only mentor I ever had", she said, "and he was pretty good".
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