Although his contributions to film extend from acting to directing, producing, and composing, it was his acting in silent films that brought Charlie Chaplin fame and made him the most widely recognized person of his era. He helped boost motion pictures from a novelty entertainment to a form of art, regularly breaking from convention to create fresh meaning.

Born in deep poverty in London, England, Charles Spencer Chaplin spent his early childhood in run-down housing, poorhouses, and even an orphanage. His music hall performer parents, Charles Chaplin and Lily Harley Chaplin, separated only a year after Chaplin was born. His father died in 1901 from liver complications as a result of his alcoholism, and his mother was placed in an asylum for the insane at about the same time.

Chaplin's acting career began when he was nine years of age. He soon left school and...