Charlie became the focus of McCarthy-era commie witch-hunts in the early 1950s, so the US asked MI5 (em eye five) to investigate. The spy agency concluded: ‘It would seem that Chaplin was either not born in this country or that his name at birth was other than those mentioned.’
But, Israel Thornstein hasn't been definitively connected to Chaplin. So who was this guy, really? Well...
Chaplin was crushed under tons controversy. To wit his two marriages to 16-year-old girls, failure to take American citizenship, and claims he fathered an illegitimate child. And oh yea, he owed $2 million in back taxes when he died.
So when he cruised back to England in 1952 after his last American film was released, the US refused to allow him back in again.
Chaplin died in Switzerland at the ripe age of 88. Britain thinks of Charlie as their favorite son, they even knighted him before he died. The idea that the star could be a Russian Jew would not be so welcome in anti-Semetic jolly old England. Just too kosher.
