Few people know that apart from fame, Charlie Chaplin's films also brought him problems with the American authorities. FBI Director Edgar Hoover believed Chaplin was a communist and a threat to US national security. So Hoover made it his goal to drive him out of the country.
The FBI began investigating Chaplin for possible ties to the Communists as early as 1922.
The film character of his films aroused suspicion among the services, because he played the role of a poor, unemployed vagabond who mocked the rich in a capitalist society. What does Chaplin mean by this? The file of the actor reaches 1,900 pages. His response to the media is "I don't want to make any revolution, I just want to make movies."
In 1939, Charlie Chaplin raised even more suspicion after satirizing Hitler in his first voice-over film, The Great Dictator. He spent two years writing the script. What prompted him to deliver his famous speech, hailed as one of the greatest monologues in film history? Does he want to bring America into war with Germany? Such questions are being asked by some US senators and congressmen despite the great success of the film. Its broadcast is even banned in some Latin American countries. The world was just entering World War II.
But Chaplin was interesting for the services and for his private life. For example, the FBI tried unsuccessfully to determine Chaplin's origins, where exactly he was born, and even involved British intelligence. It was only known that he was a British subject, Chaplin himself did not want to talk about these things (after his death, his descendants discovered that he was born in a Roma traveling caravan, and a film is currently being prepared on this topic). As they say, the FBI is looking for evidence, only to discover some compromising facts about the actor. They also delve into his scandalous family life, he married several times and had many children from his various marriages.
When Charlie Chaplin went to England for the premiere of his film "Limelight" in 1952, the US Attorney General banned him from returning without much explanation. The actor was not an American citizen and it was easy to close the door on him. Since then he lives in Switzerland. Chaplin did not return to the United States until 1972 to receive a second Oscar, this time for his overall contribution to cinema.
Charlie Chaplin was never indifferent to politics. With a funny gait, "The Tramp" clearly takes a side against evil, at a time when to speak out against fascism is to be accused of sympathizing with communism. When Chaplin did this, the world did not yet know about concentration camps, and America was not yet at war.
