Charlie Chaplin in Switzerland
The victim of a witch-hunt during the McCarthy era in the United States, Chaplin was already in his 60s when, in 1953, he chose to live in exile in Switzerland with his family. But the artist did not retire. He continued to make films, composed the musical scores to accompany re-releases of his silent movies and wrote his autobiography.
The Manoir de Ban is now destined to become the "Charlie Chaplin Heritage Site". A museum devoted to the film pioneer and the early days of Hollywood, the site will also include a movie theatre, an outdoor stage and a film school. "There had been plans for a museum in London and for one in Hollywood," says Chaplin, the driving force behind the Swiss proposal. "So when we came up with the idea for the Manoir de Ban, we had to persuade everyone that Switzerland was the best place - in the house where he spent the last 25 years of his life."
(swissinfo)
The statue in the above photograph is in Leicester Square, London (in front of the Swiss Centre)
1 comment:
There's a welcome repeat of the series withPaul Morton on Silnet Clowns on the BBC . Last week it was a fascinating one about Buster keaton- a real favourite of mine. Looking forward to the Chaplin programme too. Paul came up with shocking statistic that three quaters of all known silent films have been lost- some melted down for the chemicals! hard to fathom!
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