Josephine Chaplin was an actress with roles in “The Canterbury Tales” and “Escape to the Sun,” as well as the daughter of actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977).
- Died: July 13, 2023 (Who else died on July 13?)
- Details of death: Died in Paris of at the age of 74.
- We invite you to share condolences for Josephine Chaplin in our Guest Book.
Josephine Chaplin’s legacy
Born in 1949 when her father, famed filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, was 60 years old, Chaplin would follow in the footsteps of both her father and siblings like Geraldine Chaplin by going into the performing arts and enjoying a successful career as an actor. Her uncredited screen debut came in 1952, when she appeared in “Limelight,” one of her father’s final works. She was also in his final film, 1967’s “A Countess from Hong Kong,” starring Marlon Brando (1924–2004) and Sophia Loren.
In 1972, Chaplin began forging her own path with a prominent role in the Italian film adaptation of “The Canterbury Tales.” That same year, she starred in the politically charged “Escape to the Sun,” about a group of people attempting to flee oppression in the Soviet Union. Chaplin would continue to act into the 1990s, with notable roles alongside Klaus Kinski (1926–1991) in “Jack the Ripper,” Liv Ullmann and Kiefer Sutherland in “The Bad Boy,” and a prominent role as Ernest Hemingway’s (1899–1961) first wife, Hadley Richardson (1891–1979), in the 1988 miniseries “Hemingway.”
Chaplin lived most of her life in Paris, and most of her roles were in French language films. She also managed the family business in France on behalf of her siblings – Charlie Chaplin had 11 children overall – and in 1978, was central to rebuffing an extortion plot involving her father’s remains, which were stolen but recovered 11 weeks later.
Tributes to Josephine Chaplin
Full obituary: The Hollywood Reporter
