From biographies I’ve read, Chaplin was an extraordinary mimic and an incurable ham actor, always plotting to steal the scenes, but he was also a complete failure as a Family Man.
Charlie could act alarmingly close to being a little dictator on his movie sets, allowing no room for discussion or debate. He had been extremely successful very early in his career and thus felt virtually infalible. Marlon Brando recalls on the set of Charlies last big film “The Countess From Hong Kong”. Marlon played one of the leads. He saw Charlie discussing stage setting with one of his sons. That son made some kind of silly mistake, making a reshoot necessary.
Charlie slapped his young adult son right there on the movie set in front of all the actors and stage crew. You could hear it. Nobody said anything about it. Marlon asked his son later, ‘how can you stand working with Charlie when he’s slapping you around?
His son seemed to brush it off, saying ‘That’s just the way he is”.
Chaplin was also a communist