Charlie Chaplin’s Daughter Makes Her Own Name

Feb. 14, 1965 - Geraldine Chaplin (far left), at 20 the eldest of eight children of Charlie Chaplin and Oona O’Neill, has begun a film career playing the important part of Tonya in David Lean’s film of “Dr. Zhivago,” which is being shot in Madrid.

Miss Chaplin decided on a theatrical career at 17. Her father initially opposed the decision, insisting she take a university degree before making up her mind about her future. But she was eager to become a ballerina, and the training of dancers often begins at an earlier age than 17. Her mother sided with her, and she left the Chaplin residence at Vevey, Switzerland, to study at the Royal Ballet School in London.

“Daddy’s advice to me was, ‘Whatever you do, do it well — even if it’s digging ditches,” she said. “He hates the second rate.”

Last year, Miss Chaplin made her ballet debut in Paris in Prokoviev’s “Cinderella” and received as much attention in the press as the ballet itself. This disproportionate publicity annoyed her father, who refused to attend.

But father and daughter are on good terms. Miss Chaplin spent the Christmas holidays at Vevey and speaks of her father with warmth and affectionate humor.

“Mother’s read the ‘Zhivago’ script by Robert Bolt and wrote me that she finds it very beautiful,” Miss Chaplin said. “I don’t know whether Daddy’s read it, but I think he’s proud that I have been offered such an important assignment.

“Daddy doesn’t follow the movies today, but he knows David Lean’s work. He rarely goes to the pictures. Once he took me because he wanted to see Marilyn Monroe. He had a story that he thought might be suitable for her, a story he is now preparing for Sophia Loren. The Monroe film he found so bad that he only stayed about three minutes.

“When he came back from Sweden, he told me he had met a very interesting man there. ‘I think he’s connected with producing pictures. His name is Bergman,’ he said. First I laughed, and then I took him to see ‘Wild Strawberries.’ He was quite impressed.”

Miss Chaplin was born in Santa Monica, Calif., and went abroad with her parents to stay when she was eight. She attended a convent school and almost forgot English, which she spoke only when she was vacationing at home. Today, she speaks fluent Spanish as well as French. Her permanent residence is an apartment in Paris.

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