Actor son of Charlie Chaplin dies

Sydney Chaplin, second son of Charlie Chaplin and himself a Tony-winning actor has died at 82.

Chaplin died on Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage, long-time family friend Jerry Bodie said. He said Chaplin had recently suffered a stroke.

"He was one of those guys who just sort of trooped through history," Mr Bodie said of Chaplin, recalling his friend as a gregarious man who struck up friendships with everyone from Albert Einstein to Frank Sinatra.

Chaplin appeared in two of his father's later films, 'Limelight' (1952) and' The Countess from Hong Kong' (1967).

He never achieved the success in Hollywood that he enjoyed in New York's musical theatre, however.

He won his Tony for 'Bells Are Ringing', the 1956 Betty Comden and Adolph Green musical about a telephone answering service operator (Holliday) who falls in love with a customer (Chaplin).

New York Herald Tribune critic Walter Kerr wrote that the actor "doubles the evening's warmth by the simple expedient of believing in its love story".

His best-remembered show, though, was the 1964 smash 'Funny Girl' in which he played Nicky Arnstein, the gambler who woos Streisand in her star-making role as Fanny Brice.

The New York Times called him "a tall, elegant figure as Nick, gallant in courting and doing his best when he must be noble".

The show brought him another Tony nomination, but he left in June 1965, citing unspecified differences with producer Ray Stark.

When it was time to make the film, Omar Sharif, a major heart-throb following his roles in 'Lawrence Of Arabia' and 'Doctor Zhivago', was cast opposite Streisand.

Chaplin - also bypassed in the film version of 'Bells Are Ringing' - said he was not disappointed.

"I never had the burning desire for recognition and respect that had driven my father," he explained.

He starred in another Comden-Green musical, 1961's 'Subways Are For Sleeping'.

Although his career never measured up to that of his father, he had little use for those who thought a famous name was a handicap.

"I think anyone who feels his life has been scarred because of the fame of his father is a bore," he said in 1967.

He was the second son born to Charlie Chaplin's second wife, Lita Grey. The other son, Charles Chaplin Jr, died in 1968.

Sydney was named for his father's older half-brother, who helped young Charlie launch his theatre career in England. After Charlie became a superstar in the movies, he returned the favour by bringing Syd Chaplin into the business.

Lita Grey was 16 when she married the 35-year-old Chaplin in 1924. Sydney was born two years later and his parents divorced a year after that in a court battle that brought sensational headlines.

He spent much of his boyhood in boarding schools - "I had been thrown out of three schools by the time I was 16," he recalled - with occasional weekends at his father's house. He recalled playing tennis with Greta Garbo and turning the music pages for the violin-playing Einstein.

"I thought everyone's father was like mine," he commented in 2003. "I may have been a little sheltered."

He was stationed with the army in Europe for a time during the Second World War and later toured with a group entertaining GIs.

Back in Hollywood, with a newfound work ethic because of his war service, he joined a theatrical troupe at the Circle Theatre that specialised in classical and avant-garde plays. His father became interested and directed several of them.

Charlie Chaplin was patient with the other actors but not with his son, Sydney recalled in 2003.

"It's your own kid, you expect him to get it immediately. With me it was 'Come on, Syd!'"

His first film role was in his father's 'Limelight', arguably Charlie Chaplin's last great film. He had written the role especially for his son, who played a composer who falls in love with a ballet dancer (Claire Bloom) who is befriended by a fading music hall star portrayed by the elder Chaplin.

As for the poorly-received 'A Countess From Hong Kong', his father's last film, Chaplin told the Los Angeles Times in 1971 that he adored it.

"It's a hell of a good picture," he said.