Chaplin (film) film is structured around flashbacks as the elderly Charlie Chaplin (now living in Switzerland) recollects moments from his life during a conversation with fictional character George Hayden, the editor of his autobiography. Chaplin's recollections begin with his childhood of extreme poverty from which he escapes by immersing himself in the world of the London music halls. After his mother Hannah Chaplin has an attack of nerves on stage during a performance, the four year old Chaplin takes his mother's place on the stage. Hannah retires from performing and is eventually committed to an asylum after developing psychosis. In the years
Billy West (silent film actor) Billy West (silent film actor) Billy West (September 22, 1892 – July 21, 1975) was a film actor, producer and director of the silent film era. He is best known as a Charlie Chaplin impersonator. Born Roy B. Weissburg (or "Weissberg") in the Russian Empire to a Jewish family, West emigrated to Chicago with his family aged two. He appeared in many short films, first in "Apartment No. 13" in 1912. In 1917 movie theaters could not get enough Charlie Chaplin comedies, and an enterprising producer hired West, who had been doing comic pantomimes on the vaudeville stage, to make