Charles Chaplin Jr.

Charles Chaplin Jr., born Charles Spencer Chaplin III on May 5, 1925, in Beverly Hills, California, was an American actor who worked in film, television, and theater. He was the elder son of silent film legend Charlie Chaplin and actress Lita Grey.

Chaplin's early years were shaped by his parents' contentious divorce, during which he and his younger brother Sydney were drawn into highly publicized legal proceedings. Following the separation, the brothers were raised by their mother and maternal grandmother until the mid-1930s, when they began spending regular time with their father. Chaplin received his education at the Black-Foxe Military Institute in Hollywood and the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and later served with the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II.

His acting career encompassed 13 films, including an appearance alongside his father in Limelight in 1952. Among his other film credits are The Beat Generation, Fangs of the Wild, and Girls Town, the latter of which also featured Harold Lloyd Jr., son of another prominent figure from the silent film era. Chaplin also appeared with his brother Sydney in a stage production of Ethan Frome at the Circle Theatre, now known as El Centro Theatre. His Broadway work includes the 1950 production Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.

Beyond performing, Chaplin authored a book about his family in 1960 titled My Father, Charlie Chaplin, co-written with N. and M. Rau and published by Random House in New York. His half-siblings from his father's later marriage to Oona O'Neill include Geraldine, Michael, Josephine, Victoria, Eugene, Jane, Annette, and Christopher.

Chaplin died of a pulmonary embolism on March 20, 1968, in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 42. He is interred at the Abbey of the Psalms mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery alongside his maternal grandmother, Lillian Carrillo Curry Grey.