The coffin of Charlie Chaplin was stolen
On this day in 1978, the coffin of Charlie Chaplin was stolen from a small, unguarded village cemetery in Switzerland.
Charlie Chaplin was born on 16th April 1889 and died aged 88. He was a comic actor, film director and composer, although he is most famous for his work involving silent films. He spent much if his younger life in South London and it is believed he was born there too, although no record of his birth in England has been found. His signature look of a hat, baggy trousers and moustache was born from one of his early films, ‘The Tramp’. In his autobiography, he said,
“…on the way to the wardrobe I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large. I was undecided whether to look old or young, but remembering Sennett had expected me to be a much older man, I added a small moustache, which I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression.”
The famous comedian died in his sleep on Christmas Day, 1977 and was buried two days later. Charlie Chaplin’s coffin and corpse was stolen from Corsier-Sur-Vevey Cemetery in Switzerland by Polish, 24-year-old Roman Wardas, and Bulgarian, 38-year-old Gantscho Ganev.
His grave was dug up from the cemetery in a plot to extort money from his family. Chaplin’s 51-year-old widow, Lady Oona Chaplin, refused to pay, saying: “Charlie would have thought it ridiculous.” If she wanted the body back, she would have to pay $600,000. The ransom was lowered to $250,000, after she refused to pay.
Chaplin’s coffin was retrieved from a cornfield near Lake Geneva and reburied under 6 feet of concrete. The two men were convicted in December 1978 of stealing the coffin and trying to extort £600,000 from the Chaplin family. Wardas was sentenced to four-and-a-half-years hard labour, while Ganev, only received an 18-month suspended sentence.
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