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
Leicester Square Irving Street, to the south; and a section of road designated simply as Leicester Square, to the west. It is within the City of Westminster, north of Trafalgar Square, east of Piccadilly Circus, west of Covent Garden, and south of Cambridge Circus. The nearest Underground station is Leicester Square, which opened in 1906. London bus routes 24, 29 and 176 run on nearby Charing Cross Road. Leicester Square has also been used as name for the immediate surrounding area, roughly corresponding with Coventry Street, Cranbourn Street, Charing Cross Road and St Martin's Street. This includes Bear Street, Haymarket, Hobhouse Court