ACTOR · BORN 1908 · DIED 1995
Lita Grey
- Born
- 15 April 1908
- Died
- 29 December 1995
12 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
Lita Grey (15 April 1908 – 29 December 1995) was an actor.
12 Interesting Facts About Lita Grey
Lita Grey appeared in The Kid and The Idle Class and was Charlie Chaplin’s second wife. They were married from 1924 to 1927. Charlie Chaplin — official website
Interesting Facts (3)
- #001
As part of her divorce from Charles Chaplin, Lita Grey received $600,000, the largest cash settlement in an American divorce up to that time (the decree was granted on 22 August 1927). Chaplin was also ordered to establish a $100,000 trust fund for their sons Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Chaplin. Grey's petition included a 52-page complaint against Chaplin detailing his sexual peculiarities, and he agreed to a settlement after she threatened to name five "prominent women" with whom he had had sexual relations while married to Grey.
- #002
Provided the name and some of the inspiration for Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita".
- #003
Lita Grey was portrayed by Deborah Moore in Chaplin (1992).
Career & Awards (1)
- #004
Lita Grey appeared in two films selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Kid (1921) and The Gold Rush (1925).
Life & Family (8)
- #005
In 1932, Lita Grey lost a two-month court battle against her ex-husband Charles Chaplin to prevent him from appearing with their two sons, seven-year-old Charles Chaplin Jr. and six-year-old Sydney Chaplin, in a proposed film, "The Little Teacher." While Chaplin was abroad, Grey had signed a contract with director David Butler for the children to appear in the film with Chaplin. After returning to the United States, Chaplin sued her on 25 August, arguing that he wanted his children to lead a normal life, since his own childhood had been disrupted by work. On 26 October the court ruled in Chaplin's favor, and the film was never made.
- #006
Lita was 16 years old when she and Charles Chaplin wed; he was 35.
- #007
Although she married three more times after divorcing Charlie Chaplin, Lita kept the name "Lita Grey Chaplin" for the rest of her life, because from 1928 she had worked for nearly ten years on the Radio-Keith-Orpheum vaudeville circuit and had established herself professionally under that name, and the public knew her by it. "Lita Grey Chaplin" also maintained her name connection to her sons with Chaplin, Charles Chaplin, Jr. and Sydney Chaplin.
- #008
Lita and Arthur Day adopted a boy they named Robert in 1940. When they separated in 1946, Bobby went to live with his grandmother, and afterward Lita had very little contact with him.
- #009
Lita Grey was the mother of Sydney Chaplin and Charles Chaplin Jr.
- #010
Lita Grey Chaplin authorized the publication of two books: "My Life with Chaplin" (1966) and "Wife of the Life of the Party" (1998). Unhappy with the inaccuracies and distortions of the first book, she regarded "Wife of the Life of the Party" as the only true account of her life with Charlie Chaplin. "Wife of the Life of the Party" was co-written with her friend Jeffrey Vance and included a loving foreword by her son Sydney Chaplin. The book's publication also received support from Roy Export, which belonged to the Chaplin family.
- #011
Despite information to the contrary, Lita Grey and her family were not from Mexico or of Mexican origin. Lita Grey Chaplin was of English and Scottish descent on her father's side and was descended from a famous Spanish family on her mother's side. Her maternal grandmother was Louisa Seymoufina Carrillo Curry, a granddaughter of the famous California land baron Antonio Maria Lugo. Misinformation about Lita Grey Chaplin's family background began with her bitter divorce from Charlie Chaplin.
- #012
Lita Grey's son Charles Chaplin Jr. died in 1968 from alcohol addiction.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work