INTRODUCTION- Birth-16 April 1889 Death- 25 December 1977 Cause of death- Stroke Occupation- Actor, Composer. EARLY LIFE- Chaplin's childhood was fraught with poverty and hardship. Chaplin's early years were spent with his mother and brother Sydney in the London. ENTRY TO FILM- Chaplin was invited to join the New York Motion Picture Company. Chaplin arrived in Los Angeles, home of the Keystone studio, in early December 1913. BEGINNING- A contract was negotiated with Mutual that amounted to $670,000 a year, which Robinson says made Chaplin – at 26 years old – one of the highest paid people in the world. RENEW- In the last two decades of his career, Chaplin concentrated on re-editing and scoring his old films for re-release, along with securing their ownership and distribution rights. In an interview he granted in 1959, the year of his 70th birthday, Chaplin stated that there was still "room for the Little Man in the atomic age". DEATH- By October 1977, Chaplin's health had declined to the point that he needed constant care. In the early morning of 25 December 1977, Chaplin died at home after suffering a stroke in his sleep. THE LETTER- "I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large ... I added a small mustache, which, I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression. I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked on stage he was fully born."