Statue of Charlie Chaplin, London Statue of Charlie Chaplin, London The statue of Charlie Chaplin in Leicester Square, London, is a work of 1979 by the sculptor John Doubleday. It portrays the actor, comedian and filmmaker in his best-known role, as The Tramp. A memorial to Chaplin in the city of his birth was proposed on 25 December 1977, soon after Chaplin's death, by Illtyd Harrington, the leader of the opposition in the Greater London Council. Initial plans for a memorial in the Elephant and Castle, in South London where Chaplin spent his early years, were dropped and instead Leicester Square, at the centre of
Empire, Leicester Square adjacent building (1–4 Leicester Square) that opened in 1937, which was originally designed as a newsreel cinema, the architect being George Coles. It was acquired by MGM for moveovers of feature films, and later renamed Empire 2. It has been refurbished several times, notably in 1970 with Sidney Kaye, Eric Firmin and Partners as the architects, and revamped in the 2000s with the addition of a new stadium seating structure. A separate entrance was retained until the mid-1980s, subsequent to which access has been via the main cinema foyer level, by entering into a stairwell leading down to the auditorium.