Actress Geraldine Chaplin is the daughter of the great comedian Charlie Chaplin. Geraldine's career in cinema has been going on for more than half a century - she has played roles in both European and Hollywood films. And at the same time three times she became a nominee for the "Golden Globe" - for her roles in the films "Doctor Zhivago" (1965), "Nashville" (1975) and "Chaplin" (1992).
Childhood and youth
Geraldine Chaplin was born on July 31, 1944 in the USA, in the California town of Santa Monica. She was the first child of Charlie Chaplin from his fourth legal wife - Una O'Neill. They got married the year before, in June 1943. Moreover, at the time of the wedding, Charles Chaplin was already 54, and Una was only 18. It is also worth noting that Geraldine's maternal grandfather was the famous American playwright, Nobel laureate in literature, Eugene O'Neill.
In 1952, the actress first appeared in the cinema - in the film of her wonderful father "Ramp Lights". In the fall of 1952, Charlie Chaplin and his entire family (including, of course, with Geraldine) went on vacation by ship to Great Britain. Two days after the family sailed from American shores, the US Attorney General signed an order banning Chaplin from entering the country. This was due to politics - supporters of the so-called "McCarthyism" accused the comedian of "anti-American activities", as well as sympathies for communist ideas
As a result, Chaplin moved the family to Switzerland. And it was in this country that Geraldine received her school education.
At the age of 17, the young girl decided to connect her life with dancing, and over the next two years she studied ballet (including at the Royal Ballet School in London). After that, Chaplin tried to act as a professional ballerina. However, she quickly realized that she needed to start practicing ballet from an earlier age - only in this case she could count on really great success.
Life and career of an actress in the 1960s and 1970s
When her dream of becoming a first-class ballerina collapsed, Geraldine Chaplin decided to try herself as an actress. In 1965, she appeared in the European crime film A Beautiful Summer Morning. This was Geraldine's first serious film work, and her partner in the frame was Jean-Paul Belmondo.
A little later, in the same 1965, she starred in the famous film by David Lean "Doctor Zhivago". She played in this film Tonya Gromeko, the wife of Doctor Zhivago. For this role, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Film Award in the category "Most Promising Actress Debut" (now this category does not exist, in the eighties it was abolished).
In 1967, Geraldine starred in her father's last feature film, The Countess from Hong Kong.
Literally in the same 1967, her relationship with the Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura began, which lasted about twelve years - until 1979. In 1974, they had a son, Shane. And during this period, Geraldine starred in several really good Spanish-language films, directed by Saura. Among them are "Chilled Mint Cocktail", "Raise the Crow", "Ana and the Wolves", "Mom turns 100".
Also in the seventies, Geraldine showed herself in French cinema. For example, in 1971 she co-starred with comedian Louis de Funes in the comedy Perched on a Tree.
On top of that, in 1975, Geraldine took part in the filming of Robert Altman's Hollywood film Nashville. Here she appeared in the form of a colorful journalist named Opal. For this role, she received another Golden Globe nomination (this time in the category "Best Supporting Actress").
Geraldine Chaplin from 1982 to the present
In 1982, the actress was on the jury at the Festival de Cannes. A year later, in 1983, a French movie with Geraldine's participation "Life is a Novel" (directed by Alain René) was released. In 1989, she starred in another project of Rene - in the film "I want to go home." Moreover, no language problem has arisen here and could not have arisen - the actress is fluent in French (as well as Spanish).
And in the eighties, Geraldine became a mother for the second time - in 1986, she gave birth to a girl, whom she named Una. Una's father was a cinematographer Patricio Castilla. And it is he who today is the husband of the actress. At the same time, it is interesting that they officially got married only 20 years after the birth of their daughter - in 2006. By the way, Una Castilla Chaplin at this time is also a fairly popular actress. In particular, in the TV series "Game of Thrones" she played the role of Talisa, the lover of Robb Stark.
In 1992, a biopic about Geraldine's father with the capacious title "Chaplin" was released. In it, the actress played her grandmother Hannah. And for this she was eventually nominated for the Golden Globe for the third time.
In 1993, she appeared as Mrs. Weiland in Martin Scorsese's melodrama Age of Innocence. And in 1996 she could be seen in the next film adaptation of the literary work of Charlotte Brontë "Jane Eyre" (directed by Franco Zefirelli).
In the 2000s, Geraldine again began to appear a lot in Spanish cinema. In 2002, she played Maria in Antonio Hernandez's In A City Without Borders, an old woman who has kept a terrible family secret for many years … For this work, Geraldine was awarded the Goya Prize, the most prestigious Spanish film award. She also appeared in Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her (2002), Hernandez's The Secret (2005) and Luca Guadagnino's sensual drama Melissa: An Intimate Diary (2005). In the end, in 2006, for her contribution to Spanish cinema, Geraldine was awarded the gold medal of the Spanish Academy of Cinematic Arts.
In recent years, the actress is still creatively active. For example, in 2016, she appeared as the head teacher of a school in Juan Antonio Bayona's fantasy film The Voice of the Monster. In 2017, she starred in the Amazon fantasy series Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, an episode of The Planet That Wasn't There, set in the distant future. Here she very convincingly played the old woman Irma, who dreams of seeing the Earth - the semi-mythical planet of her ancestors. And in 2018, Geraldine appeared in the blockbuster about out-of-control dinosaurs "Jurassic World 2" in the form of housekeeper Iris.
It should also be mentioned that the actress currently lives in Miami (USA). In addition, Geraldine has residences in Switzerland and Spain.
