Scandal! Charlie Chaplin Part 2

Welcome to 2013 - a year of scandals at A Person in the Dark. Yes, I love movies, but I confess I am a sucker for those juicy Hollywood scandals of old.

April's Scandal: Charlie Chaplin Part 2: Charlie, Joan Barry & Uncle Sam

Once America's most beloved star,
Chaplin is fingerprinted like a common criminal in 1944

After the Lita Grey scandal (click HERE for a recap of that escapade), Charlie Chaplin's private life seemed to remain moderately private. He still loved the ladies (and they loved him), but he confined himself to discrete lovers and nabbed a tasty dish named Paulette Goddard (to whom he may or may not have been married). His relationship with Goddard was both productive (they made "Modern Times" and "The Great Dictator" together) and sane. But, by 1940 they had called it quits. Paulette, that smart cookie, got a Mexican divorce in 1942 and a nice settlement from Charlie, even though it is not clear they were even legally married. 

Charlie & Paulette: So cute together

On the loose, Charlie met a voluptuous redhead named Joan Barry (born Mary Louis Gribble), a would-be actress whose latest role had been as John Paul Getty's mistress. Earlier roles were waitress and shoplifter. Chaplin saw something in the young woman and was impressed enough to sign her to a contract, have her teeth fixed and pay for acting lessons. Oh, and to go to bed with her, too. Like Edna Purviance, Georgia Hale and Lita Grey before her, Chaplin planned to take an unknown and mold her into a star.

Joan Barry's most famous moment: on the stand

Chaplin's relationship with Barry, never public, chugged along intermittently,  with Barry accommodating Chaplin with 2 abortions. Unfortunately, Joan Barry turned out to be a nut job. After a few stalkings, break-ins and gun waving incidents, Charlie attempted to disentangle himself from his volatile redhead. Besides, he had just met Oona O'Neill and was falling madly in love.

But Joan Barry would not be denied. Although it appears the affair with Chaplin had ended almost a year earlier, Barry once again broke into Chaplin's house in May of 1943 and announced that she was pregnant and that Charlie was the father. Chaplin denied it and had her arrested. Joan promptly filed a paternity suit and notified the press.

Vicious x 2

During this period Charlie Chaplin had attracted 2 powerful enemies: J. Edgar Hoover and Hedda Hopper. Hoover thought him a subversive and Hopper was just plain mad that he refused to speak to her. Hoover and Hopper joined forces and, with the Barry paternity suit in full swing, crucified Charlie in the press and in the halls of justice. Chaplin's speeches supporting Russia during the second world war, along with his leftist leanings and lack of desire to become an American citizen after all the wealth and fame this nation had offered him, caused Hoover to see Chaplin as a dangerous red threat.

Charlie testifies

Chaplin defends himself

Based upon Barry's charges, Charlie Chaplin was hit with a slew of indictments, including one for the Mann Act (charmingly known as "The White Salve Act"). Fortunately, he was acquitted on all counts, as Barry was clearly a willing participant. But the star's already tattered reputation was decimated. The paternity suit then went into full swing, with Chaplin coming off as an aging lecher who seduced innocent young women and then callously tossed them aside. After Barry's baby (a girl named Carol Ann) was born, Chaplin took a paternity test, but at that time the results of blood tests were inadmissible in court. At the second trial (the first resulted in a hung jury)  Chaplin was deemed to be the father of Carol Ann and was ordered to pay for her support until age 21. Thus, Chaplin was forced to take responsibility for a child that was not his own. While most people saw this as the ultimate railroading job, Lita Grey, who had a few axes to grind, asserted that Chaplin paid off the 2 labs that did the tests to fake the results and that Carol Ann was, indeed, his child. Unlikely. But Charlie had badly misjudged his once adoring public, who turned their backs on him for good. It had all been just too much. The public hated it when the Little Tramp acted like a little tramp.

Charlie and his Oona

At the time the paternity suit was filed, the 54-year old Chaplin married 18-year old Oona Chaplin. They immediately began to build their family that would eventually grow to 8 plus mom and dad. Eyebrows were raised and tongues wagged, and, ultimately, Charlie Chaplin felt forced to leave the USA, but did so with the woman who was the love of his life. And he did live happily ever after with Oona and his brood in Switzerland and eventually, and at long last, in 1972, all was forgiven when Chaplin was honored at the Academy Awards.

And what of Joan Barry? Not much is known of her life after the trial, but she did marry and some point and had a son, who thought highly of her. After an attempt to start a career as a singer, she was committed to a mental institution by her mother upon being found wandering the streets of Torrence, California barefoot, carrying a child's shoe and ring, and mumbling "this is magic." Carol Ann Barry was raised by a guardian and went on to live a very private life (presumably, she is still alive). Charlie's checks came on time every month until she turned age 21.

After being born in the spotlight, Carol Ann went on to live a very private life