Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Peter Ackroyd

Quote by Peter Ackroyd

“Chaplin left the Keystone studios on a Saturday night in December after cutting his last film, without bidding farewell to any of his erstwhile colleagues; he spent Sunday in his room at the Los Angeles Athletic Club and on the following day he turned up for work at the Essanay Studios in Niles, California. Of course, everyone at Keystone knew about his imminent departure, but he could not bring himself to make a speech or shake hands. He just left. Sennett said later that 'as for Charles Spencer Chaplin, I am not at all sure that we know him'. He had never really been part of the team; he would never become a member of any group.”

Quote by Peter Ackroyd

Work

Charlie Chaplin: A Brief Life

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd is a renowned British biographer known for his in-depth research and vivid storytelling. Born on October 5, 1949, he has been writing about historical figures in Britain since the 1970s, including Thomas More, Charles Dickens, and George Orwell. more

You May Also Like

“Faced with their confused glances and naive questions, I saw that there indeed was, between the writers and that public, however benevolent and sympathetic, a visible barrier. The audience simply did not have enough background information to comprehend what the writers sitting in front of them on the podium were saying. Confronted with such a lack of understanding, I felt that I had no other choice but to hang on to 'my' group, the writers from Eastern Europe. At least they knew what I was talking about; at least we understood each other's problems, if that was of any comfort to a single one of us. And in any case, even if I had loudly screamed that I didn't want to belong to any group at all, the audience would have put me with them. Perhaps for the first time I became aware of how tired I was of constantly being pushed back into 'my place' every time I made an attempt to break out of it.”