By JANE WARDELL, Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) - Britain postponed knighting Charlie Chaplin for nearly 20 years because of his romantic escapades and his politics, according to secret documents unsealed Saturday.
Chaplin, now regarded as one of the greatest silent film directors and actors, was initially put forward for the honor in 1956 but did not receive it until 1975.
The documents released by the Public Records Office show that the British government was wary of acknowledging the star because he had become reviled by some Americans as a communist sympathizer and a man of questionable morals.
Chaplin, who was born in London in 1889, moved to the United States in 1910 and lived there for 42 years as his film career flourished.
He was a box office draw with movies such as 'The Gold Rush,' 'City Lights' and 'The Kid,' but the American public was less enamored with his lifestyle.
By 1956, when he was first considered for a knighthood, the documents recorded that the public had 'taken exception' to Chaplin's two marriages to 16-year-old girls — Mildred Harris in 1918 and Lita Grey in 1924.
Gossip columnists were abuzz over doubts about the validity of his later marriage to actress Paulette Goddard in China and a lengthy paternity suit in which he was declared the father of actress Joan Barry's child.
In April 1953, the Internal Revenue Service announced that he owed $1.1 million in back taxes. He was effectively barred from the United States as officials there declared the case against him 'pretty good,' the documents said.
Chaplin had never become a U.S. citizen and was seen by some as ungrateful for the prosperity that his successful career in America had brought him.
In 1969, a U.S. official told the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Protocol Department that Chaplin could only be honored if 'the Queen would be prepared to overlook the charges against him.' Britain passed him over.
The government chooses most of the honors that the queen bestows twice a year on people who have made major contributions to various fields, including business and the arts.
It was only after Scottish businessman Fergus Horsburgh wrote to Queen Elizabeth II in January 1972 from his home in Canada urging an honor for Chaplin that a knighthood became likely.
Horsburgh's plea followed others by 'highly reputable, indeed distinguished sources' the previous year, the documents said.
In his letter, Horsburgh also made a case for the novelist P.G. Wodehouse, whom some authorities considered trying for treason after he agreed to make a broadcast from Germany to the American and British people during World War II.
Horsburgh wrote, 'I respectfully suggest that the time has come to let bygones be bygones and award Charles Chaplin a knighthood. Not only would this give pleasure to Charlie, but it would delight millions in and out of the English-speaking world.
'Also as good a case could be made for Mr. P.G. Wodehouse. No doubt these men have erred, but they are both old now. Why not forgive and forget?'
By then Chaplin was living in Montreux, Switzerland, with Oona O'Neil, whom he had married in 1943.
Britain sought advice from its embassies in Washington and Berne.
Lord Cromer, the British ambassador to Washington, replied, 'A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since 1956.'
'Mr. Chaplin's matrimonial and political conduct lies buried in the past and he is now regarded here more as an Anglo-American father figure responsible for some brilliant acting and having made an outstanding artistic contribution in the early days of the cinema,' he added.
Chaplin finally received his knighthood in 1975, two years before his death at age 78 on Christmas Day in 1977. Wodehouse was honored the same year as Chaplin and died 45 days later, at age 93.
AGC FAQ and FUN STUFF
http://www.dreamwater.net/agc/mainpages/agcfaq.html BLIND ITEM REHASH:
