Trivia: After 22 years of experience with minstrel shows, vaudeville, and legitimate theater, in 1913 he joined Mack Sennett's Keystone comedies. Standing 6'2" and weighing 280 pounds, he was skilled in knockabout, slapstick comedy; he supported Charlie Chaplin in many of the latter's earliest shorts. In late 1914 he began starring in his own comedy series, portraying Ambrose, an energetic, lecherous lout with a huge mustache and thick makeup. In the late teens his career started drying up, and he might have become a has-been if not for Charlie Chaplin, who rescued his career; he played supporting roles in many of Chaplin's films, including his features. He was especially memorable in The Gold Rush (1925) as the starving prospector who imagines Chaplin to be a chicken dinner. He went on to play character parts and occasional leads through the early '30s.

Trivia: Brunette Georgia Hale starred as the dancehall girl so idolized by Charles Chaplin in the seminal classic The Gold Rush (1925). Despite the exposure from this major hit, Hale's only other noteworthy film was The Salvation Hunters (1925), an interesting failure bankrolled by Chaplin and directed by Josef Von Sternberg. A former dancer, Hale was picked from the ranks of movie extras for her role in The Gold Rush and although she would only make 13 silent films in all, she remains one of the most visible actresses of the era. In 1929, Chaplin filmed tests of Hale as the blind girl in City Lights (released 1931), hoping to replace the inexperienced Virginia Cherrill. Too much footage had already been shot, however, and Chaplin ended up retaining Cherrill, much to the detriment of Hale's own career. She reportedly remained on Chaplin's payroll until 1953 but Hale's screen career had effectively ended with the low-budget silent The Floating College (1928). Surprisingly, she returned to star opposite Rin-Tin-Tin in the 1931 Mascot serial Lightning Warrior (reportedly replacing the difficult Edwina Booth); it proved the final film for both. Long out of public view, Georgia Hale remained devoted to Chaplin for the rest of her life, so much so that she never married. Her autobiography, Charlie Chaplin: Intimate Close-Ups, was published posthumously in 1995.

Trivia: Bulky Swedish actor Henry Bergman came to the U.S. in the early 'teens. He worked as a utility player at Pathe, L-K0 and Mutual Studios until 1916, when he was cast in the Charlie Chaplin 2-reeler The Floorwalker (1916). Thereafter, Bergman worked almost exclusively for Chaplin as both supporting player (frequently in female drag) and assistant director. So devoted was Bergman to "the Little Tramp" that, as Chaplin later put it, "he'd have kissed me if I'd let him." Henry Bergman retired after the 1936 Chaplin feature Modern Times, but remained on Charlie's payroll until his death ten years later.

Trivia: The first great screen comedian, Charles Chaplin was also one of the most gifted directors in history, in addition to being a formidable talent as a writer and composer. The son of music hall performers from England, he began working on the stage at age five. He was a popular child dancer and got work on the London stage, eventually moving up to acting roles. It was while touring America in 1912 that Chaplin was spotted by Mack Sennett, the head of Keystone Studios, and he was signed to them a year later. After a disappointing, relatively non-descript debut, Chaplin began evolving the persona that would emerge as his most famous screen portrayal, The Little Tramp, and after his first 11 movies, Chaplin began to manifest a desire to direct. By his 13th film, he had shifted into the director's chair, and also emerged as a writer. Chaplin's 35 movies at Keystone established him as a major film comedian and afforded him the chance to adapt his stage routines to the screen. He next moved on to Essanay Studios, where he had virtually complete creative freedom, and The Little Tramp became an established big-screen star. In 1916, Chaplin went to Mutual, earning an astronomical 10,000 dollars per week under a contract that gave him absolute control of his films -- the Mutual titles, most notably The Immigrant and Easy Street, are still counted among the greatest comedies ever made. These modestly proportioned two-reelers were followed by Chaplin's move to First National Studios, where he made lengthier, more ambitious, but fewer films, including the comedy The Kid, which was the second highest grossing silent film after D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, and made an overnight sensation of his co-star, Jackie Coogan. By this time, Chaplin had become an international celebrity of a status that modern audiences can only imagine because he achieved his success through comedy. With three other screen giants, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and D.W. Griffith, he founded United Artists, the first modern production and distribution company, and achieved further renown as a director with A Woman of Paris two years later. In 1925, he made what is generally considered his magnum opus, The Gold Rush. Chaplin's success continued into the sound era, although he resisted using sound until Modern Times in 1936. He had his first failure in 1940 with the anti-Hitler political satire The Great Dictator at about the same time that his personal life -- he had been involved in several awkward problems with various women, including a paternity suit filed against him by aspiring actress Joan Barry -- began to catch up with him. Chaplin's career during the immediate post-World War II period was marred by continuing problems, as his pacifism and alleged anti-American views led to investigations. He also made the black comedy Monsieur Verdoux, which failed at the box office. It was followed, however, by the best of his sound comedies, Limelight, which, because of his legal difficulties, didn't open in Los Angeles until two decades later -- when its score, written by Chaplin, received an Oscar. A King in New York, in 1957, and The Countess From Hong Kong, made nine years later, closed out his career on a lackluster note. After D.W. Griffith, Chaplin was the most important filmmaker of the silent film era. Through his clear understanding of film and its capabilities, and his constant experimentation -- he frequently ran through hundreds of takes to get just the right shot and effect he wanted -- he set most of the rules for screen comedy that are still being followed, and his onscreen image remains one of the most familiar.

Trivia: In the U.S. from 1912 with the famous Fred Karno troupe, gangly British music-hall comic Albert Austin appeared in stock in Denver, CO, for two years before joining fellow Karno comedian Charles Chaplin at Mutual in 1916. One of Chaplin's closest associates, Austin was the shop assistant in The Floorwalker (1916), the trombone player in The Vagabond (1916), and the cab driver in One A. M. (1916). He continued to work for Chaplin through 1931's City Lights, often functioning as an assistant director. During the notoriously long delays in filming, Austin would direct or co-direct such other Chaplin regulars as child stars Jackie Coogan and Dean Reisner. Working as a gag writer in the early sound era, Austin ended his career as a guard at Warner Bros. in Burbank, CA. His brother, William Austin, also enjoyed a long Hollywood career, often playing foppish characters.

Trivia: Though no relation to comedian Chester Conklin, Charles "Heinie" Conklin spent his early film years at Chester's alma mater, Mack Sennett's Keystone studios; in later years, Heinie claimed to be one of the original Keystone Kops. Heinie's silent-screen makeup consisted of heavy eyebrow lining and a thinnish, upside-down, painted-on variation of Kaiser Wilhelm's moustache. In areas where anti-German sentiments still ran high during the post-World War 1 era, Conklin was billed on screen as Charlie Lynn. One of Conklin's first talkie appearances was as the addled military hospital patient in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). He spent most of his sound career in microscopic bit roles, often appearing at Columbia studios in support of such 2-reeler stars as The Three Stooges, Andy Clyde, Hugh Herbert and Harry Langdon. Significantly, Heinie Conklin's last billed performance was in 1955's Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops.

Trivia: American cameraman William Bradford began his long film career as an assistant cutter at First National and Universal in the mid-'20s. From 1925-1935, he worked with various independent companies, including Allied and Liberty, before joining the special effects team at serial producer Mascot in 1935. Bradford remained with the company when it became part of Republic Pictures, filming every "cowboy" on the lot. Later associated with Gene Autry at Columbia Pictures, Bradford also served as a cameraman on such Autry-produced television shows as Annie Oakley and The Adventures of Champion. He died in 1959.

Trivia: In films from the early 1910s, distinguished-looking Allan Garcia (born Ernest Garcia) played supporting roles in scores of Westerns ranging from The Regeneration of the Apache Kid (1911) to In Old Mexico (1938). When not riding the range with the likes of Warner Baxter and Leo Carillo, Garcia functioned as casting director for Charles Chaplin.

Trivia: A minor silent-screen actress from Cuba, Inez Gomez played handmaidens and other exotic types as early as 1916, when she supported Adda Gleason in a version of the ever-popular Ramona. Usually a bit part-player, Gomez had a couple of more substantial assignments in the 1920s, including playing a fiery señorita in West of the Rockies (1929), a silent Western that also featured her husband, the redoubtable Art Mix (aka George Kesterson).

Trivia: Former vaudevillian George Holt (born George Anselm Holt) began his screen career with Lubin in Philadelphia and later played villains for the Los Angeles Vitagraph company. By the late 1910s, Holt was directing Universal's Spur and Saddle series and also helmed very obscure B-Westerns featuring the likes of Franklyn Farnum and Dick Hatton. He returned to acting in the sound era, retiring in the mid-'30s. There was a later German actor of the same name.

Trivia: Born in Cincinnati, singing actor John King briefly attended that city's university before embarking upon a series of manual-labor jobs. By the time he was in his early twenties, King was working as a radio announcer and vocalist at Cincinnati stations WCKY and WKRC. He was hired as a singer for Ben Bernie's orchestra, and in that capacity made his film debut in a musical two-reeler. Signed to a Universal studio contract in 1935, he played the title character in the popular serial Ace Drummond (1936), and essayed utility roles in features. King switched to Monogram Pictures in 1940, where he became a western star, adopting the nom de film of John "Dusty" King. In 1942 he replaced Bob Livingston in Monogram's Range Busters series, serving as the studio's resident singing cowboy. Retiring from films in 1946, John "Dusty" King spent his retirement managing a California waffle shop.

Trivia: Born in the Arizona Territory to Mexican parents, Chris-Pin Martin developed a reputation as a laughgetter at an early age. He made his earliest film appearance in 1911, playing an Indian. During his heyday of the 1930s and 1940s, Martin earned his salary perpetuating a stereotype that nowadays would be the ultimate in political incorrectness: the lazy, dull-witted Hispanic comic foil. Chris-Pin Martin appeared in several Cisco Kid programmers, playing sidekick Pancho (sometimes named Gorditor) to such screen Ciscos as Warner Baxter, Cesar Romero, Gilbert Roland and Duncan Renaldo.

Trivia: Circus clown John Rand joined the Charles Chaplin stock company at Niles, CA, in 1915 and went on to play scores of supporting roles in Chaplin comedies well into the sound era, often taking more than one assignment per film (e.g., playing both a ship's officer and the drunken diner in The Immigrant, 1917). Rand's appearances away from Chaplin proved sporadic but he does turn up as Ruth Hiatt's father in Lige Conley's Fast and Furious (1924) and, late in life, as a gardener in Blondie (1938).

Trivia: Balding, long-necked character actor Frank Rice made his earliest screen appearance in 1922. In talkies, Rice often appeared in comic bit roles, many of which -- notably the butler in Laurel and Hardy's Pack up Your Troubles (1932) -- afforded him the opportunity of performing his rolling-eyeballs specialty. From 1931 onward, he successfully pursued a career as a Western comedy sidekick, appearing opposite such sagebrush stars as John Wayne and Buck Jones. Frank Rice died prematurely at age 44 of complications ensuing from nephritis and hepatitis.

Trivia: British actress Georgina Hale often found herself in loud, abrasive roles perfectly attuned to the loud, abrasive 1960s and 1970s. She was frequently cast in the films of controversial director Ken Russell, contributing to the general cacophony of The Devils (1971), Mahler (1974), Lisztomania (1975), and Valentino (1975). In addition, she has done plenty of TV work, including the 1970 weekly series Budge. Though Ken Russell curtailed his later activities, Georgina Hale kept busy well into the late '90s.