Charlie Chaplin's Wives

Mildred Harris

Charlie Chaplin’s first wife was Mildred Harris (1901-1944). They married in 1918 after Mildred believed she was pregnant - it was a false alarm, though she did later give birth to Charlie’s first child, who sadly only lived for three days. Their divorce, in 1920, was acrimonious. Mildred was an actress who appeared in a few films such as The Inferior Sex and For Husbands Only.

Lita Grey

His second wife was Lita Grey (1908-1995). She played the flirtatious angel in The Kid and one of Edna’s maids in The Idle Class, and started out as the leading lady for The Gold Rush before falling for Charlie and then falling pregnant. She had two children with Chaplin, Charles Jr. and Sydney Earl. This marriage (1924-1927) also came to a bitter end in court. Lita carried on in Vaudeville quite successfully, but eventually had problems with alcohol. Her later years were spent working as a sales assistant in Beverly Hills.

Paulette Goddard

Charlie Chaplin’s third marriage lasted from 1936 to 1942 and was to Paulette Goddard (1911-1990), the actress who appeared in Modern Times and The Great Dictator. Though Charlie and Paulette divorced, it was by all accounts, on amicable terms.

Oona O’Neill

When Charlie Chaplin married Oona O’Neill in June 1943, he at last found true happiness, and it seems they had both found their soul mates, despite the fact that Oona was only 18, and Charlie was 53. They met when Charlie Chaplin considered her for a part in an unmade film, Shadow and Substance (during 1942) and were inseparable from then on. She supported Charlie totally throughout a particularly harrowing court case in the 1940’s and when he was exiled from the U.S. in 1952. They eventually made their home in Switzerland. Together Oona and Charlie Chaplin had eight children (Geraldine, Michael, Josephine, Victoria, Eugene, Jane, Annette and Christopher).