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Chaplin’s retreat marks his memory with film festival

In a county where legends are mostly of the footballing variety, Kerry celebrates one of its most famous “blow-ins” with a dedicated comedy film festival this weekend.

Charlie Chaplin, who made Waterville his summer home with his family for almost 20 years during the 1950s and 1960s, was one of the picturesque town’s most famous visitors — a fact already underlined by his much-photographed statue overlooking the seafront.

Having initially visited Waterville at the urging of his friend Walt Disney for the fly-fishing in Lough Currane, the iconic star of classics such as Modern Times, The Little Tramp and The Great Dictator, made The Butler Arms Hotel his regular residence, along with his wife Oona and family.

“There were many reasons Chaplin returned to Waterville time and again over the years — the stunning beauty, the wonderful friendships, the easy pace of the place,” says Joe McGill, whose documentary, Chaplin: The Waterville Picture, premiered on RTÉ earlier this year. “But really it was the ability to be himself, to be a normal person with his family in a place where nobody bothered him, that captured his imagination.”

Mick O’Dwyer, a son of Waterville and a GAA legend as both player and manager, says that, in an era when even radios were scarce, Chaplin found in Waterville a private haven. “He became one of our own, really,” says Mick.

“The people of Waterville took him to their hearts, and he repaid it with a wonderful legacy we will honour with this festival.”

* The Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival in Waterville runs from today until Sunday.

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