Charlie Chaplin left a lasting and memorable legacy in the movie industry, and not just through his own achievements, but also through his family. There are actually several Hollywood families that are quite prevalent on the big and small screens, such as the Barrymores, the Carradines, the Coppolas - including Nicolas Cage - the Fondas, and more. However, few are bigger and more important to the history of cinema than the Chaplins, who have been in show business for more than a century.
It all started in the late 19th century with Hannah Chapman, an English vaudeville actress and music hall performer, who helped get her young son, Charlie, into acting. She unfortunately never found success in the industry, but things were quite different for her son and the family he raised. Charlie joining a vaudeville trope as a young boy and getting into stage comedy proved to be the beginning of one of the greatest celebrity dynasties of all time.
The Chaplins have had a presence in every era of Hollywood. In fact, some are still active today, starring in various movies and TV shows, such as The Crown or Game of Thrones. Chaplin was notably married to four actresses, one of whom, Paulette Goddard, being a huge star in her own right. A large number of his children and grandchildren tried to follow in his footsteps as actors and actresses, but are known mostly for minor and bit roles. This includes Christopher, Michael, Josephine, Eugene, Kiera, and Carmen. Others found much greater levels of success within the industry. Here’s every famous member of the Chaplin family.
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin has a reputation as a pioneer when it comes to movies. Through various films, Chaplin cultivated an image of himself through his on-screen persona, “the Little Tramp”, which he utilized in dozens of Hollywood pictures in the 1910s and 1920s, including The Kid, The Gold Rush and 1936's Modern Times. It was through the Little Tramp that Chaplin evolved into a beloved cinematic icon. Unfortunately, demand for the Tramp and his movie appearances took a hit with the rise of “talkies”, as the success of Chaplin’s style hinged on the format of silent films, which allowed him to deliver laughs without the use of dialogue. That said, Chaplin still managed to provide solid entertainment to audiences through movies like 1940’s The Great Dictator, which he starred in, wrote, and directed. Despite silent movies like Great Dictator or Modern Times being made long after that phase in Hollywood’s had passed, they’re considered to be among the best movies ever made, as both were topical stories that dealt with real-life social issues and concerns in meaningful ways.
Paulette Goddard
As noted above, Charlie Chaplin had four wives, which were Mildred Davis, Lita Gray, Paulette Goddard, and Oona O’Neill. All four were associated in one way or another with show business, but only one was a silver screen icon and that was Paulette Goddard, a top Hollywood 1940s actress and a favorite of Paramount Pictures. When Chaplin’s career was starting to go downhill, Goddard was at the height of her fame, playing the female lead opposite Hollywood legends like Gary Cooper and James Stewart on a regular basis. She was also an early choice for the part of Scarlet O’Hara in Gone with the Wind but ultimately lost out to Vivien Leigh. Her characters were often the likable, “girl next door” types. She also made a few comedies with Bob Hope and played love interests to Chaplin’s characters in The Great Dictator and Modern Times.
Mildred Harris
Though not nearly as famous as Goddard, Mildred Harris was considered a successful actress at one point in Hollywood. She, like Charlie Chaplin, did her best work during the silent era. She married Chaplin at the age of 16 in 1918 but the two divorced a year later, without any surviving children. Following the end of their relationship, Harris was cast in big, typically romantic roles in numerous pictures alongside names like Walter Pidgeon, Lionel Barrymore, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Sydney Chaplin
With Grey, Charlie had two sons, Sydney and Charles. The oldest of the two, Sydney appeared in the likes of Six Million Dollar Man spinoff The Bionic Woman and A Countess In Hong Kong but never came close to his father’s stardom. That said, he managed to obtain some degree of success in both movies and stage. In the 1950s and 1960s, he starred in several notable B-movies and Broadway musicals. For one play, 1957’s Bells Are Ringing, he won a Tony Award. One of his best-known roles was the character of Neville in his father’s Limelight in 1952, which is commonly regarded as one of Chaplin’s best films.
Geraldine Chaplin
Through Chaplin’s four marriages, he fathered 11 children. Easily the biggest name among them is Geraldine Chaplin, who is the daughter of Oona O’Neil. Through a career that has lasted over half a century, Geraldine has crafted an impressive resume, littered with well-received performances in films like the critically-acclaimed Doctor Zhivago from 1965 and Chaplin, where she portrayed her aforementioned grandmother, Hannah. More recently, she starred in The Crown season 3 as Wallis Simpson. Over the years, her roles have garnered her three Golden Globe nominations.
Oona Chaplin
Named after Oona O’Neill, Oona Chaplin is the daughter of Geraldine Chaplin and cinematographer Patricio Castilla. After appearing in several Spanish and British movie and TV projects, Oona’s career reached a new level when she landed the recurring role of Talisa Maegyr in HBO’s Game of Thrones. In 2017, she was a member of the main cast for the FX historical miniseries, Taboo. She’s also set to play a character named Varang in James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar sequels.
Spencer Dryden
One of the most iconic rock bands to come out of the 1960s was Jefferson Airplane, which released chart-topping hits like “Somebody to Love” and "White Rabbit" - most recently heard in The Matrix Resurrections trailer - with Grace Slick as its lead singer. Prior to his departure and its evolution into Jefferson Starship in 1974, the band’s drummer was Spencer Dryden, who joined in 1966. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group (and the public), Dryden was the nephew of Chaplin. He was the son of Wheeler Dryden, Charlie’s half-brother, who represents a branch of the family that Charlie and his children were unaware of for decades. The Jefferson Airplane drummer’s ties to Charlie Chaplin went unknown for years because Dryden had decided previously he didn’t want his career to be influenced in any way by their relationship.