AustLit

Charlie Chaplin was an English actor, comedian, filmmaker, and composer who is widely considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career, which spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death at age 88, saw him court both world-wide adulation and controversy. Chaplin's rise to fame in the silent era was largely in response to his iconic character 'the Tramp.'

At the height of his silent era fame, the 1910s, Chaplin also became arguably the most impersonated man in the world. Almost all the impersonators contravened copyright laws. Two of the most noted Australian-based Chaplin impersonators of the 1910s and 1920s were Ern Delavale and Leonard Doogood. Both men portrayed the comedian on the stage and on film.