Charles Chaplin and Sydney Chaplin Earliest Known Photograph

The earliest know Charles Chaplin photo alongside his brother Sydney Chaplin who both signed in pencil. The photos are about 5 3/8" x 3 1/2" in size. Some tear along the edges.

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, The Tramp, and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy. 

In the years Chaplin was touring with the Eight Lancashire Lads, his mother ensured that he still attended school but, by age 13, he had abandoned education.  He supported himself with a range of jobs while nursing his ambition to become an actor. At 14, shortly after his mother's relapse, he registered with a theatrical agency in London's West End. The manager sensed potential in Chaplin, who was promptly given his first role as a newsboy in Harry Arthur Saintsbury's Jim, a Romance of Cockayne. It opened in July 1903, but the show was unsuccessful and closed after two weeks. Chaplin's comic performance, however, was singled out for praise in many of the reviews.

Sydney John Chaplin was an English actor. Chaplin was the elder half-brother of actor and director Charlie Chaplin and served as his business manager in later life. Through their mother Hannah, they were older half-brothers to the younger Wheeler Dryden, who grew up separately with his father in England and was not told about his brothers until 1915. Dryden later immigrated to the United States, joining the Chaplins in Hollywood. Sydney Chaplin was also a half-uncle of actor Sydney Chaplin (1926–2009), who was named after him.

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