Lita Grey began working for 'Charles Chaplin' at his Hollywood studio when she was 12, doing bit parts in a couple of movies of his. Three years later, at 15, she met Chaplin again, became pregnant by him and they were married in 1924, when she was 16 and he was 35. They had two sons before their three-year marriage ended in a bitter divorce. Ms. Grey played clubs in Europe and the US and spent eight years touring with the Radio Keith Orpheum theatre circuit before retiring from show business in 1947.
Lita was 16 years old when she and Charles Chaplin wed; he was 35.
Son, Charles Chaplin Jr. , died of alcohol abuse in 1968
Mother of Sydney Chaplin and Charles Chaplin Jr.
Provided the name and some of the inspiration for Vladimir Nabokov s "Lolita".
As part of her divorce from Charles Chaplin , she received $600,000, the largest cash settlement ever in an American divorce up to that time (the decree was granted on August 22, 1927). Chaplin was also ordered to establish $100,000 trust funds for their sons Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Chaplin. Litas petition included a 52-page complaint against Charlie, listing his sexual peccadilloes. Chaplin settled after she had threatened to name five "prominent women" with which he had been sexually involved in while married to Grey.
In 1932, she lost a two-month-long court battle with ex-husband Charles Chaplin to prevent her from starring with their two sons, seven-year-old Charles Chaplin Jr. , and six-year-old Sydney Chaplin , in a proposed movie, "The Little Teacher." While Charlie was away on a foreign trip, Lita Grey signed a contract with director David Butler to co-star in the film with the Chaplin boys. Upon returning to the U.S., Chaplin filed suit against her on August 25th, on the grounds that he wanted his boys to lead a normal life. Chaplins own boyhood had been disrupted by work. On October 26th, the court ruled in Chaplins favor. The film was never made.
Portrayed by Deborah Moore in Chaplin .
Lita Grey Chaplin authorized the publication of two books: "My Life with Chaplin" and "Wife of the Life of the Party". Unhappy with the inaccuracies and distortions of the first book, Lita Grey Chaplin viewed "Wife of the Life of the Party" as the only authentic account of her life with Charlie Chaplin. "Wife of the Life of the Party" was co-written by her friend Jeffrey Vance and contained an affectionate foreword written by her son, Sydney Chaplin. The books publication also received the support from the Chaplin familys Roy Export.
Despite information to the contrary, she and her family were not from Mexico or of Mexican descent. Lita Grey Chaplin was of English and Scottish descent (paternal side) and the scion of an illustrious Spanish family (maternal side). Her maternal grandmother was Louisa Seymoufina Carrillo Curry, the great-granddaughter of Antonio Maria Lugo. (Lugo was an illustrious California land baron). The misinformation regarding Lita Grey Chaplins family history began with her acrimonious divorce from Charlie Chaplin.
Despite three subsequent marriages after her union with Charlie Chaplin, Lita kept the name of "Lita Grey Chaplin" throughout her life as it was by that name the public knew her and the name with which she had established herself professionally with nearly a decade of work on the Radio-Keith-Orpheum vaudeville circuit starting in 1928. An additional factor was that "Lita Grey Chaplin" retained a name connection to her only children: Charles Chaplin, Jr. and Sydney Chaplin.
Lita and Arthur Day adopted a baby boy in 1940 whom they named Robert. When she and her husband split up in 1946, Bobby went to live with his paternal grandmother. Lita had little contact with him after that.
