125th birthday - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2014 - 90 Euro Cent

His trademarks were a bowler hat, loose trousers, oversized shoes, and the typical two-mustache mustache - Sir Charles Chaplin, however, was much more than that; he created milestones in film history and fought for his artistic freedom all his life. This year Charlie Chaplin would be 125 years old, on this occasion and in memory of one of the greatest movie stars of all time, the Austrian Post AG issued its own special stamp. Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on April 16, 1889, the son of a poor artist couple in London. After the separation of his parents, he spent a lot of time in poorhouses with his mother and half-brother. At age nine, Chaplin first appeared on a theater stage, from 1910 to 1912 he went on tour with a London theater company to the US, was signed by the "Keystone Company" and took the movie world by storm. As a "tramp" - his famous fictional character - he first appeared in 1914 in "Kid Car Races at Venice". Chaplin shot countless films in the following years and changed the film company several times. He soon began directing his own films and writing the screenplays, and by 1916 was already one of Hollywood's most beloved and highest paid actors. His first feature film "The Kid" has been screened in over 50 countries. In January 1919, he founded "United Artists" with a couple of film colleagues - the company initially conceived solely as a distribution company, and over the next few decades developed into one of the largest film studios in the USA. Chaplin's last silent movie "Modern Times" (1936) was a great success despite the already popular sound film. In 1940 he also turned to the film with "The Great Dictator". Although he narrowly escaped the censorship authority, the parody of Adolf Hitler became a blockbuster. After three failed marriages and some other unfortunate relationships with mostly much younger women Chaplin found in 1943 with Oona O'Neill his late marital bliss, from which emerged eight children - including the actress Geraldine Chaplin. His blatant social criticism, which also referred to the US, brought him to the end of the 1940s, increasingly in distress, but never to silence. When he was refused re-entry to the United States in 1952 following a visit to Europe, he moved to Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, where he remained after his rehabilitation and an Oscar for his life's work in 1972. Charlie Chaplin died on December 25, 1977. The special stamp was designed by the engraver and artist Kirsten Lubach and shows Charles Chaplin as "Tramp", his parade role of the lovable rover.