Geraldine Leigh Chaplin (born July 31, 1944) is an American-born English actress whose long career has included multilingual roles in English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German films.
Geraldine is a daughter of Charlie Chaplin, the first of his eight children with his fourth wife, Oona O'Neill, and thus a granddaughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill. Her contribution to Spanish cinema culminated in her receiving the gold medal from the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences in 2006.
Early life and education
Geraldine Leigh Chaplin was born on July 31, 1944, in Santa Monica, California, the fourth child of actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, and the first child of his fourth wife, Oona O'Neill, whom he married in 1943. Charlie Chaplin was 55 when Geraldine Chaplin was born and Oona was 19 years old. Geraldine was the first of their eight children.
When Geraldine was eight years old, her father took the family on vacation to Britain and other parts of Europe. Two days after the family set sail, the U.S. Attorney General James P. McGranery signed an order refusing Chaplin permission to re-enter the country. Chaplin's father moved the family to Switzerland. She attended boarding school there, where she became fluent in French and Spanish. Also in this time period, Geraldine appeared in her father's film Limelight (1952).
Early acting, 1965–1969
When her dream of becoming a ballet dancer ended, Chaplin followed her father into what was to become a prolific acting career. for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination in the category, "Most Promising Female Newcomer". In an interview to publicize the film, she explained, "Because of my name, the right doors opened."
thumb|240x240px|With [[Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965)]]
In 1967, she made her Broadway debut in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. Her performance was praised by Clive Barnes in a New York Times review, where he noted that Chaplin "acts with spirit and force... with a magnificently raw-voiced sincerity" giving a performance of "surprising power".
She also started what would become a major collaboration that year, starring in Spanish film director Carlos Saura's psychological thriller Peppermint Frappé (1967) and playing two women in the film, Ana and Elena.
The Hawaiians through Cría Cuervos, 1970–1979
Chaplin starred alongside Charlton Heston in the American historical film The Hawaiians (1970). Chaplin then appeared in The Three Musketeers (1973), and Nefertiti y Aquenatos (1973), directed by Raúl Araiza in which she played the role of ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti alongside Egyptian movie star Salah Zulfikar, as well as the sequel, The Four Musketeers (1974). Chaplin was cast as the obnoxious BBC reporter Opal in Robert Altman's Nashville (1975), for which she received her second Golden Globe nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to star in the Altman films Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976), and then A Wedding (1978), doing Roseland (1977) in between. Chaplin later occasionally co-wrote scripts for and starred in several later Saura films—for these, receiving her greatest critical success such as Ana and the Wolves (1973), Cría Cuervos (1976), Elisa, vida mía (1977), and Mamá cumple cien años (1979). Cría Cuervos won the Special Jury Prize Award at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. Critic Vincent Canby praised Chaplin's "superb" performance.
thumb|240x240px|With [[Salah Zulfikar in Nefertiti y Aquenatos (1973)]]
Chaplin starred in several films produced by Altman and directed by Alan Rudolph, with a BAFTA-nominated role in Welcome to L.A. (1976), in which she played a housewife addicted to cab rides. She received critical acclaim for her role in Remember My Name (1978), in which she played Anthony Perkins' murderous estranged wife.
In an interview with The New York Times in 1977, Chaplin cited that her career was going more successfully in Europe than in the United States. She complained that "I only seem to work with Altman here ... I don't have any offers in this country, none. Not even an interesting script to read. The only person who ever asks me is Altman—and James Ivory." Other notable Spanish films she collaborated with and appeared in Pedro Almodóvar's Talk to Her (2002), and Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage (2007), for which she received a second Goya Award nomination. She also starred in the Catalan drama, The Mosquito Net (2010), for which she was awarded the Crystal Globe.
In 2006 Chaplin was awarded the gold medal by the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España—the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences—for her contribution to Spanish cinema.
Chaplin appeared in The Wolfman, in 2010.
In Americano, she appeared with Salma Hayek, and featured with Jane Fonda in All Together (both 2011). She reunited with Juan Antonio Bayona for the films The Impossible (2012), A Monster Calls (2016), and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018). Chaplin received the Best Actress Award at the Havana Film Festival for her role in the Dominican Republic film Sand Dollars (2014).
In 2018, she starred in Red Land (Rosso Istria), an Italian movie by Maximiliano Hernando Bruno based on Norma Cossetto and the foibe massacres.
In 2022, she appeared in the music video for the song "Pure", by Swiss artist Gjon's Tears.
Personal life
thumb|212x212px|Chaplin at a screening of [[The Orphanage (2007 film)|The Orphanage in Madrid in 2007]]
Chaplin has two children, Shane and Oona. Her son Shane Saura Chaplin was born in 1974. His father is Spanish film director Carlos Saura, who directed several films Chaplin appeared in. Her daughter Oona is now an actress in British and Spanish films. Chaplin married Oona's father, Chilean cinematographer Patricio Castilla, in 2006.
In 1978, the Chaplin family were the victims of a failed extortion plot by kidnappers who had stolen the body of Charlie Chaplin. Geraldine Chaplin negotiated with the kidnappers, who had also threatened her infant son.
, Chaplin has maintained a home in Miami. She also was spending time in residences between Madrid and Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland (the latter near the former long-time home of her parents).
Filmography
thumb|253x253px|Chaplin in a break on the set at the Caffè Gambrinus in Naples, Italy
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! Year
! Film
! Role
!Director
!Notes
|-
| 1952
|Limelight
| Little Girl in Opening Scene
|Charles Chaplin
|Uncredited
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1965
|Crime on a Summer Morning
| Zelda
|Jacques Deray
|
|-
|Doctor Zhivago
| Tonya Gromeko
|David Lean
|Nominated – Golden Globe Award Most Promising Newcomer
|-
| 1966
|Andremo in città
| Lenka
|Nelo Risi
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |1967
|Casino Royale
| Keystone Kop
|Ken Hughes<br>John Huston<br>Joseph McGrath<br>Robert Parrish<br>Richard Talmadge
|Uncredited
|-
|I Killed Rasputin
| Mounia Golovine
|Robert Hossein
|
|-
|Stranger in the House
| Angela Sawyer
|Pierre Rouve
|
|-
|A Countess from Hong Kong
| Girl at Dance
|Charlie Chaplin
|
|-
|Peppermint Frappé
| Elena / Ana
| rowspan="3" |Carlos Saura
|
|-
| 1968
|Stress Is Three
| Teresa
|
|-
| 1969
|Honeycomb
| Teresa
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1970
|The Hawaiians
| Purity Hoxworth
|Tom Gries
|
|-
|The Garden of Delights
| Woman in Church
|Carlos Saura
|Uncredited
|-
|1971
|Perched on a Tree
| Mrs. Muller
|Serge Korber
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1972
|Innocent Bystanders
| Miriam Loman
|Peter Collinson
|
|-
|Z.P.G.
| Carol McNeil
|Michael Campus
|Maria Award for Best Actress
|-
|A House Without Boundaries
|Lucía Alfaro
|Pedro Olea
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1973
|Ana and the Wolves
| Ana
|Carlos Saura
|
|-
|The Three Musketeers
|Anne of Austria
|Richard Lester
|
|-
|Marriage a la Mode
|Marie des Anges
|Michel Mardore
|
|-
|Yankee Dudler
| Kate Elder
|Volker Vogeler
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1974
|The Four Musketeers
|Anne of Austria
|Richard Lester
|
|-
|¿...Y el prójimo?
| Luisa
|Ángel del Pozo
|
|-
|Sommerfuglene
| Anne Zimmler
|Chris Boger
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1975
|Cría cuervos
| Ana / Maria
|Carlos Saura
|
|-
|Nashville
| Opal
| rowspan="2" |Robert Altman
|Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress
| Iris
|J. A. Bayona
|
|-
|Red Land
|Giulia Visantrìn Adulta
|Maximiliano Hernando Bruno
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2019
|Holy Beasts
|Vera V.
|Laura Amelia Guzmán<br>Israel Cárdenas
|
|-
|The Barefoot Emperor
|Lady Liz
|Jessica Woodworth
|
|-
| rowspan="1" |2021
|98 Segundos Sin Sombra
|Clara Luz
|Juan Pablo Richter
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2023
|Luka
|The General
|Jessica Woodworth
|
|-
| Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes
| Cecilia
| Robert Schwentke
|
|-
|}
Television
thumb|right|250px|Chaplin in 2014
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! Year
! Film
! Role
!Notes
|-
| rowspan="2" |1967
|La familia Colón
| Silvia
|Episode: "Esa muchacha llamada Silvia como una golondrina"
|-
|The Danny Thomas Hour
| Donna (Hippie Girl)
|Episode: "The Scene"
|-
|1971
|Carlos
| Lisa
|Television film
|-
|1973
|Nefertiti y Aquenatos
| Nefertiti
|Television film
|-
| rowspan="2" |1978
|The Word
| Naomi Dunn
|Miniseries; 4 episodes
|-
|Short Letter to the Long Goodbye
| Judith Seldan
| rowspan="2" |Television film
|-
| 1981
|The House of Mirth
| Lily Bart
|-
|1983
|My Cousin Rachel
| Contessa Rachel Sangalletti
|Miniseries; 4 episodes
|-
|1985
|The Corsican Brothers
| Madame Savilia de Franchi
| rowspan="2" |Television film
|-
|1991
|Duel of Hearts
| Mrs. Miller
|-
|1993
|Screen One
|Beverly
|Episode: "A Foreign Field"
|-
|1996
|Gulliver's Travels
|Empress Munodi
|Miniseries; 1 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2" |1997
|The Odyssey
|Eurycleia of Ithaca
|Miniseries; 2 episodes
|-
|Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor
|Mother Teresa
| rowspan="2" |Television film
|-
|1999
|Mary, Mother of Jesus
|Elizabeth
|-
|2000
|In the Beginning
|Jochebed
|Miniseries; 2 episodes
|-
|2002
|Dinotopia
|Oriana
|Miniseries; 1 episode
|-
|2003
|Winter Solstice
|Gloria Blundell
| rowspan="2" |Television film
|-
|2004
|A Christmas Carol
|Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come / Blind Beggarwoman
|-
| rowspan="2" |2006
|Agatha Christie's Marple
|Mrs. Fane
|Episode: "Sleeping Murder"
|-
|Les Aventuriers des mers du Sud
|Maggie
|Television film
|-
|2012
|The Hollow Crown
|Alice
|Episode: "Henry V"
|-
|2013
|Jo
|Liliane Coberg
|Episode: "Place de la Concorde"
|-
|2016
|Beyond the Walls
|Rose
|Miniseries; 3 episodes
|-
|2017
|Electric Dreams
|Irma
|Episode: "Impossible Planet"
|-
|2019
|The Crown
|Wallis, Duchess of Windsor
|Supporting role (season 3)<br>2 episodes
|-
|2020
|Britannia
|Queen Mother of Amena
|Season 2, Episode 5
|}