Josephine Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin’s actress daughter, dies at 74
The family announcement did not reveal the cause of her death but stated that a funeral would take place in Paris
Josephine Chaplin, comedy legend Charlie Chaplin’s daughter with his fourth wife, Oona O’Neill, died at the age of 74 in Paris on July 13, revealed her family. The family announcement did not reveal the cause of her death but stated that a funeral would take place in Paris “in the intimacy of the family”.
Josephine was born on March 28, 1949, in Santa Monica, California, as the third of Charlie Chaplin and Oona O'Neill’s eight children. She is survived by her three sons, Charlie, Arthur and Julien Ronet, her brothers Michael, Eugene and Christopher, and sisters Geraldine, Victoria, Jane and Annette.
Her first screen appearance was at the age of three in 1952 movie Limelight, which was written and directed by her father. In 1967, she was featured in her father’s A Countess from Hong Kong. In 1972, she appeared in Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales, Richard Balducci's L'odeur des Fauves and Menahem Golan's Escape to the Sun.
She also appeared in Georges Franju’s 1974 film, Nuits Rouges, and Jesus Franco’s 1976 movie, Jack the Ripper opposite Klaus Kinski. She was featured opposite Liv Ullmann in The Bay Boy in 1984 and Claude Chabrol’s Cop au Vin in 1985, reported Deadline. Her final screen appearance was in the film, Downtown Heat in 1994.
Her first husband was Greek businessman Nikki Sistovaris. They were married for eight years before splitting ways in 1977. She briefly lived with French actor Maurice Ronet until he died in 1983. In 1989, she tied the knot with archaeologist Jean-Claude Gardin until his death in 2013, according to The Mirror.
She reportedly sponsored her father’s statue in Ireland’s Waterville. A longtime resident of Paris, Josephine managed the Chaplin family office in Paris on behalf of her siblings over the years, reported The Guardian.
Josephine was the victim of an extortion plot in 1978 when two men stole her father’s body and coffin. Her family declined to pay a ransom of $600,000 and the remains were recovered about three months after the incident.
