Josephine Chaplin, the daughter of famous actor Charlie Chaplin and his fourth wife, Oona O’Neill, passed away on 13th July in Paris, as reported by her family on Friday. She was 74 years old.
Josephine was one of 11 children from Charlie Chaplin’s marriages and the third of eight with Oona O’Neill, who was an actor and the daughter of Nobel prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill.
Charlie Chaplin and Oona O’Neill met in 1942 and got married the following year. Despite their age difference, they found true happiness and were soulmates, as mentioned by the Chaplin Office, despite Oona being only 18 and Charlie being 53. (Source: The Guardian)
Josephine Chaplin was born in Santa Monica, California, in March 1949.
As an actress, she appeared in various movies, including Menahem Golan’s politically oriented “Escape to the Sun,” “L’odeur des fauves” alongside Vittorio De Sica and Maurice Ronet, a German-language “Jack the Ripper” with Klaus Kinski, and Daniel Petrie’s “The Bay Boy” with Liv Ullman and Kiefer Sutherland.
Her first film appearance was at the young age of three in “Limelight,” a 1952 film written, directed, and starring her father, Charlie Chaplin. She also acted in her father’s movie “A Countess from Hong Kong” in 1967. However, most of her work was in French films, such as “Nuits rouges” and “À l’ombre d’un été.”
Later in life, Josephine managed the Chaplin family office in Paris and sponsored a statue of her father in Waterville, Ireland.
She faced a bizarre extortion plot shortly after her father’s death in 1978, when two men stole his body and coffin. The family refused to pay the ransom, and the remains were recovered 11 weeks later. Oona O’Neill, her mother, passed away in 1991.
Josephine Chaplin had two marriages, first to Greek businessman Nikki Sistovaris and later to archaeologist Jean-Claude Gardin. She also lived with Maurice Ronet, her former co-star.
She is survived by her brothers Michael, Eugene, and Christopher, and her sisters Geraldine, Victoria, Jane, and Annette. Josephine also leaves behind her sons Charly, Julien, and Arthur. Her funeral will take place in Paris, “in the intimacy of the family,” as announced in the notice of her death.
