Sydney Chaplin
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| Sydney Chaplin | ||
| Background information | ||
| Birth name: | Sidney John Hill | |
| Date of birth: | March 16, 1885 | |
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| Date of death: | April 16, 1965 | |
| Death location: | Nice, France | |
| Genres: | Music hall, actor & manager | |
| Spouse(s): | Minnie (d.1936) Henriette (Gypsy) |
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- For Sydney Chaplin's nephew, son of Charlie Chaplin, see Sydney Earle Chaplin
Sydney Chaplin, born as Sidney John Hill (March 16, 1885 – April 16, 1965), was the elder half-brother of Sir Charlie Chaplin and the half-uncle of the actor Sydney Chaplin (1926– ), who was born as Sydney Earle Chaplin. It is not known who Sydney's father was, although it has been said that it was a man called Hawkes, who never was married to Sydney's mother, Hannah Hill. After her marriage to Charles Chaplin Sr on June 22nd, 1885, Sydney became Sydney John Chaplin.
Charlie and Sydney Chaplin were very close and looked out for each other from their young days. Though younger, it was Charlie that got onto the stage first, in a play, Sherlock Holmes, but it wasn't long before Syd joined the tour. Fred Karno then signed up Sydney, and he then recommended Charlie, giving him his biggest break. After Charlie left Keystone, he suggested Sydney as his replacement, and he made a few comedies there, including the "Gussle" comedies and the feature-length A Submarine Pirate in 1915.
Soon, he was handling the majority of Charlie's business affairs, negotiating most of his big contracts and appearing in a few films during the First National era. Later films include The Perfect Flapper (1924) with Colleen Moore, A Christie Comedy,Charley's Aunt (1925) and five features for Warner Brothers, including "The Man on the Box" (1925), "Oh, What a Nurse!" (1926), "The Missing Link" (1927), "The Fortune Hunter" (1927), and The Better 'Ole (1926--perhaps his most well-regarded film today because of his characterization of cartoonist Bill Bairnsfather's famous World War I character, Old Bill.
Sydney Chaplin died on April 16, 1965, in Nice, France. He married twice and had no children. His first wife, Minnie, died in France in September 1936. His second wife, Henriette (called Gypsy) died after Sydney's death.
Sydney and Charlie shared another half-brother through their mother, British actor Wheeler Dryden, whom they did not meet until the 1920s.
In addition to his inestimable importance in launching and promoting brother Charlie's career over the years, perhaps Syd's most important contribution to history is in the field of aviation. In May, 1919, he, along with pilot Emery Rogers, formulated the first privately owned domestic American airline, The Syd Chaplin Airline, Co., based in Santa Monica, California. Even though the corporation lasted only a year, in that time it accumulated many "firsts." Syd and partners had the first ever airplane showroom for their Curtiss airplanes. Emery Rogers conducted the first roundtrip Los Angeles to San Francisco flight in one 24-hour period. Charlie Chaplin took his first-ever airplane ride in one of Syd's planes--as did many other notable personages of the period. Ever the savvy businessman, Syd Chaplin also knew when to retreat from such a venture--right after legislation began to pass regarding pilot licensure and the taxation of planes, flights, and etc.
Ever the happy peripatetic, Syd is buried beside his wife gypsy in Clarens, Switzerland overlooking the beautiful Lac Leman, but far from the sooty London neighborhood of his youth.
