# Chaplin, Charlie Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889-1977), an English filmmaker and actor of the early twentieth century; Chaplin did most of his work in the United States. In his silent film comedies, he created the beloved character, the Little Tramp, who wore a shabby black suit, derby hat and floppy shoes, and walked with a cane. In a film he made in 1928, "The Circus," (a movie where he portrays a circus hand who becomes a clown by accident) there is a famous sequence where Chaplin does a tightrope act during which the safety device breaks and he is attacked by three escaped monkeys.