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 the Office of Fair Trading required the disposal of ten former UCI sites, including the Empire Leicester Square, which in October 2005 were sold to Empire Cinemas Ltd. and rebranded as Empire Cinemas. The Empire Leicester Square was subsequently acquired by Cineworld in July 2016, and the cinema is now known as Cineworld Leicester Square. Following Empire Cinemas' acquisition, in 2006 the THX certification of Screen 1 was reinstated. The sound system was completely replaced by Bell Theatre Services Ltd, using 5 JBL 5632 Custom ScreenArray screen speakers, each with dual 18" drivers, and 16 18" JBL 4645C subwoofers, all