The Dark Side Of Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin is considered one of the greatest comic geniuses in the history of film, and he earned that. His shorts from the 1910s were wildly popular at the time and are still enjoyed today, and many of his feature films are considered masterpieces. But like a lot of people who reached that level of fame, he also had a dark side, and this video is going to cover his relationship with Leta Gray, his second wife, who he married when he was 34 and she was 16. Before I really get into the video, I just want to say that, because of the subject matter, I might tiptoe a bit around certain details, but I'll try to balance that out by not using silly euphemisms. This is a very serious subject and should be treated with respect, but I don't want this video to get demonetized, so hopefully I can strike a good balance. But anyway, let's get into it. Lelita McMurray, later known as Leta Gray, first met Chaplin, by her own account, around 1916 at a chance meeting at a restaurant with her mother. She met Chaplin again when they worked together on his film The Kid around 1920, when she was 12 years old. She happened to get the bit part through their neighbor in Hollywood, Charles Reisner, Chaplin's assistant director. Even at this early stage, Chaplin almost certainly became infatuated with her, so much so that he even created a sequence in the movie just so he could shoehorn her in. Watching The Kid, you might be confused, as I was, with the dream sequence that seems to have no real purpose in the movie. Well, that's why it's there. Leta played an angel, but not just any angel, one that flirted with Chaplin. And they kiss, twice. Chaplin had creative control over his movies by this time, so he definitely made this decision himself. Now, without context, you might think, maybe the intentions were innocent. After all, like many film scenes back then, kids were sometimes kissed briefly on the lips by parental figure characters. Chaplin also does this to Jackie Coogan in The Kid, but as you'll soon find out, it's clear that Chaplin probably had other ideas. Leta later recalled that after the release of The Kid, Chaplin complimented her for her pretty eyes, and winked at her. He also let her into his dressing room, where she saw his collection of autographed photos and saw Chaplin put on his tramp makeup. Leta's mother allowed Leta to hang around movie people only if she had a chaperone. One day, Chaplin invited Leta to the birthday party of actress Mae Collins. He sent a chauffeur to her house the night of the party, but the chauffeur insisted that only Leta could go, her mother couldn't. Leta's mother confronted Chaplin about this, but he said it was just an innocent party, though after this, he didn't renew Leta's contract. About three years later, when Leta was 15, her friend wanted to meet Chaplin, so they went over to his studio, where they were let in. This meeting resulted in a screen test for Leta in Chaplin's upcoming movie, The Gold Rush. Because she couldn't hide this from her mother forever, she eventually told her, and she went along with it. Leta was signed on as the leading lady at $75 a week, and Chaplin then created the stage name Leta Gray for her. Publicity stated her age as 19 years old, when really, she was just shy of 16. Seeing Leta again apparently lit a fire in Chaplin, and while filming on location in Truckee, California, he tried to force himself on her, but she fled. She later described her complicated feelings as scared, but also flattered that someone so famous would want her, and said that she had a hero worship for Chaplin. After returning from Truckee, Chaplin developed a scheme to get him and Leta alone together. He arranged for a fake date, Thelma Morgan, to be a pretense of a chaperone for Leta to appease her mother. Morgan was not in on this scheme, and thought she really was Chaplin's date to parties. Leta went along with this plan. One night in 1924, Chaplin managed to get Leta to his house in Beverly Hills, where he convinced her to go into his steam room. She undressed, and he came in shortly afterward, also undressed. There, where they could barely see each other, he finally had his way with her. She wasn't very enthusiastic about it, but didn't fight back either. Chaplin was, after all, her hero, and she wanted to make him happy. He had been a father figure of sorts to her, a girl whose real father had never really been in her life, and whose nice stepfather had died tragically young. Leta kept her night with Chaplin a secret from her mother. Chaplin continued to take Leta out to parties, but Thelma Morgan found out that she was being used and walked out of a party one night. Shortly after this, Chaplin invited Leta and her mother to stay the night at his house. That night, Leta sneaked off to his bedroom, and her mother was awakened by the squeaking bed springs, and to her horror, caught them in the act. Things became even more complicated when 16-year-old Leta found out that she was pregnant. He knew the bad publicity this would cause him. He offered to pay Leta off, then he suggested an illegal abortion, anything to avoid marrying her. Eventually, Leta had to tell her grandfather, who was furious at Chaplin, someone whose work he had respected. It's unknown what exactly convinced Chaplin to go through with the marriage. Perhaps Leta's grandfather threatened him with legal action. Leta's uncle, after all, was an attorney, and Chaplin had broken the law in having relations with an underage girl. Leta later said that she thought he decided to marry her to appease William Randolph Hearst after Thomas H. Ince's mysterious death on Hearst's yacht, which was rumored to be related to Chaplin's affair with Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies. Whatever the reason was, Chaplin and Leta went to Mexico to get married, which, at the moment, was supposed to be a secret, though some newspapermen had a suspicion that something was going on. Chaplin still wasn't happy about having to marry Leta. She said that he called her a gold digger, among other names, and vowed to annul the marriage. Leta also claimed that, while on a train, Chaplin told her everything could be solved if she jumped, and that he was frequently verbally abusive to her at this time. And one night, she claimed he even threatened her with a gun. After they returned to California, Chaplin was still sour, though his attitude improved after their son, Charles Jr., was born less than a month after Leta turned 17. To escape the stressful environment of Chaplin's home, Leta was moved to a different house temporarily. Chaplin also wanted to keep the birth very secret, so that people wouldn't do the math and find out that the underage Leta had been pregnant before the marriage. Chaplin also paid to have his son's date of birth changed on his birth certificate to fit this narrative. Suffice it to say, because of all of this, of course, Leta would not end up continuing her lead role in the gold rush. While Chaplin had calmed down, he still wasn't a very involved parent, only making a few decisions and leaving everything else to Leta and her mother. But he still took Leta to his bedroom, a lot, both during and after her pregnancy. And soon enough, she was pregnant again. And, only about two weeks shy of her 18th birthday, Leta gave birth to her second child, Sydney. Though not as frequently as he had when she was first pregnant, Chaplin still flew into rages at Leta. But they also had some pleasant outings together. But their marriage had never been based on love, only one-sided lust, and divorce was practically inevitable. Chaplin had already been preparing, strategically moving around some of his money, and even bugging Leta's room so he could have some evidence. But they limped on for a little while longer. According to Leta, the breaking point came as Chaplin was making his next movie, The Circus. Leta found out that her childhood friend, Myrna Kennedy, who she had successfully suggested for the leading lady role in the movie, was having an affair with Chaplin. Despite her mother trying to talk her out of it, Leta approached Chaplin with an offer. For $10,000, she would leave forever with the kids. He refused, and verbally assaulted her with profanities. Not long after, Leta officially filed for divorce. Chaplin tried to escape being served, and he was also trying to run away from the IRS due to his unpaid back taxes. When the divorce proceeded, it was pretty ugly. Chaplin's team accused Leta's family of trying to get to his money, and that her mother had set up their relationship initially for this purpose. Leta's team over-exaggerated her financial situation as being near destitute to try and get sympathy. And all of this was very public. Chaplin fought against a settlement, but when Leta's team threatened to release the names of multiple women he had had affairs with, including Marion Davies, he finally agreed to settle. The divorce was granted in August 1927. It was because of all these problems going on in Chaplin's life that delayed the release of The Circus. And for many years, he really didn't like that movie because he associated it with all of this drama. But he had caused all of it in the first place. Leta got $825,000, a large portion of which she had to pay to her lawyers. Some of the money would go toward a trust fund for their sons. Leta bought a $90,000 house in Beverly Hills, and then accepted an offer for vaudeville work. She and Chaplin clashed in court a couple of times in the 1930s, but eventually reconciled somewhat in the 1940s. By then, Leta's vaudeville career had petered out, and she had become an She tried starting a talent agency in the 1950s, but it only lasted two years, though she did get her drinking under control. She published a memoir in 1966, though the text was altered by someone else to be more sensationalistic. But she really needed the money. Her oldest son, Charles Jr., died in 1968 due to the effects of alcoholism. Starting in 1970, Leta worked as a sales clerk at a department store. She died on December 29th, 1995 at the age of 87. The very weird relationship between Leta and Chaplin may have been an inspiration for the controversial novel Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov, a story about a man's attraction to a young girl. This connection is not confirmed, but there are some coincidences, such as Leta's real name being the very similar Lilita. The information about Leta and Chaplin's relationship comes from a memoir written by Leta herself many decades after the fact, but it's really the only account. She meant for it to replace the exaggerated 1966 memoir. Chaplin only mentioned her in passing in his later writings, mostly just saying that the marriage was a disaster. So, since he didn't really defend himself, we're only left with Leta's account. But it doesn't look good for Chaplin even if we didn't have her memoir. It's a confirmable fact that she gave birth to his child when she was still underage, and that he had to marry her to avoid possible severe legal issues and damage to his reputation. And the justification sometimes made that Leta lied about her age to Chaplin falls flat when it becomes very clear that Chaplin had known her when she was still very obviously a child, and should have definitely known that she was underage. And it's important to note that Chaplin showed a pattern. In October 1918, he married his first wife, Mildred Harris, who was 16 at the time, after finding out that she was pregnant. His third wife, Paulette Goddard, was in her 20s when they started their relationship. But this didn't mean that the pattern ended there. His fourth and final wife, Una O'Neill, had just turned 18 when they got married, though they had started their relationship earlier. Knowing all of this context, it can be very uncomfortable to watch a 12-year-old Leta flirt with Chaplin in The Kid, and it's very much a test of separating the art from the artist. But anyway, that's all for now all you sheiks and gals out there, but stay tuned for more tales from the Jazz Age. The good, the bad, and the ugly.