Charlie Chaplin’s actress daughter Josephine dies in Paris aged 74 – one of the silent screen star’s 11 children

• French film star Josephine Gardin-Chaplin died peacefully surrounded by family 

Charlie Chaplin’s daughter Josephine Gardin-Chaplin, one of the silent screen star’s 11 children, has died aged 74 in Paris. 

The actress – whose mother was British-American actress Oona O’Neill, Sir Charlie’s fourth and final wife – died peacefully surrounded by her friends and family in the French capital on July 13.

Throughout her career she had roles in a number of productions, including French films such as Doctor Francoise Gailland, Chicken In Vinegar and Red Nights.

Gardin-Chaplin also starred in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Canterbury Tales, along with Limelight and A Countess From Hong Kong, which were both written and directed by her father, who died in December 1977 at the age of 88. 

The Chaplin office in Paris, which represents the comedian’s companies and his family, confirmed that Gardin-Chaplin died in the French capital on July 13. A funeral for the actress was held on Friday at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Charlie Chaplin’s daughter Josephine Gardin-Chaplin (far right) has died aged 74 in Paris. Pictured: Charlie Chaplin, arriving in Southampton with his wife and two of their daughters, Geraldine, 8, and Josephine age 3

The actress – whose mother was British-American actress Oona O’Neill, Sir Charlie’s fourth and final wife – died peacefully surrounded by her friends and family. Pictured: The actress on the set of Les contes de Canterbury 

Chaplin sat with his daughter during a summer holiday at their villa in Saint-Jean-Cap Ferrat, in the south of France

The statement said: ‘She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her beloved family and friends.

READ MORE: Charlie Chaplin’s children reveal their fear of the comedy pioneer – as a new documentary uncovers his obsession with teenage girls 

‘For years, Josephine managed the Chaplin office in Paris on behalf of her siblings until she took leave to care for her husband Jean-Claude Gardin. Our deepest condolences are with her family.’

Gardin-Chaplin had previously married Nicholas Sistovaris and was in a relationship with the French actor Maurice Ronet, star of Purple Noon, until his death in the 1980s. 

Her later husband, French archaeologist Gardin, died around 10 years ago.

Born on March 28, 1949, in California, she followed in the footsteps of her famous British father who was best known for his silent movies and on-screen character the Little Tramp.

She was one of the eight children Chaplin and O’Neill had together, including Geraldine, Michael, Josephine, Victoria, Eugene, Jane, Annette and Christopher. 

O’Neill stayed with Chaplin until his death in 1977.  Their daughter Geraldine said in a documentary about the silent star’s life: ‘My mother was so young when she met him, she was 17 and he was 52. They fell in love and then as soon as she turned 18 they married.

‘Everyone thought she was just a bimbo and she would be gone soon. But they were mad about each other.’

The actress was one of the star’s 11 children. Pictured: Charlie Chaplin in Shoulder Arms in 1918 (PA)

Sir Charlie at the Savoy Hotel in 1975, after being knighted, with his family including son-in-law Nicholas Sistovaris, daughters Annie and Josephine, wife Oona, son Christopher and daughters Geraldine and Jane 

Her maternal grandfather was the American playwright Eugene O’Neill, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936 and wrote The Iceman Cometh and Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

She lived in Paris and would go on holiday in Waterville in Ireland with Sir Charlie, who had made regular trips to the area since the 1950s.

The Co Kerry village hosted the Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival, with the permission of his family, and Gardin-Chaplin sponsored a statue of the Little Tramp near the area’s seafront.

Gardin-Chaplin is survived by her three sons Charly, Julien and Arthur, and her sisters Geraldine, Victoria, Jane and Annette and brothers Michael, Eugene and Christopher.

THE MANY WIVES OF CHARLIE CHAPLIN  

MILDRED HARRIS 

M 1918-1920

Mildred met Charlie when he was 29 and she was 16-years-old in 1918.

The pair married after she told him she was pregnant that same year.  

In April 1920, Mildred began divorce proceedings, citing ‘cruelty’ 

LITA GREY

M 1924-1927

In 1920, Charlie, then 31, spotted 12-year-old Lillita Louis MacMurray on the set of The Kid and set about modelling her into an actress. 

He is thought to have seduced her in 1924, when she was 15 and he was 35,

PAULETTE GODDARD

M 1936-1942

Charlie, then 43, met 22-year-old former child model Paulette Goddard in 1932, although she claimed to be just 17. 

They were married from 1936 to 1942, after which Goddard received a settlement and kept quiet about their union. 

 Fed up with Chaplin’s attempts to control her, and his bullying on set, she left him in October 1940.

OONA O’NEILL

M 1943-1977 

He moved on to his fourth and final wife Oona O’Neill a year after his divorce.

She bore him eight children and stayed with him until his death in 1977. 

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