Charley Chase mini-bio: While Charley Chase is far from being as famous as "The Big Three" Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd today, he's highly respected as one of the "greats" by fans of silent comedy.
Chase (real name Charles Parrott) was born in Maryland, USA in 1893. After a brief career in vaudeville, he entered Keystone Films in 1914, but without remarkable success.
He played bit parts in a large number of short comedies, appearing with Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle among others, before he finally got his chance at Hal Roach Studios as a director, before Roach realized what a gifted performer he had hired. "I can play anything!" Chase told Roach, and eventually he proved that.
During five years, 1924-29, he starred in nearly hundred two-reeler's, most of them directed by Leo McCarey. Chase usually portrayed an apparently gentle and charming man, who in reality, it eventually turned out, was quite a "loser" after all.
His character was largely inspired by Lloyd Hamilton, another neglected comedian whom Chase had directed in several two-reeler's.
Among Charley's most memorable shorts are Innocent Husbands, Mighty Like a Moose and Movie Night.
From the beginning, Charley Chase was a "critics' darling," but none of his movies were remarkably successful at the box-office. There are no official "explanation" to this, but one reason can be that Chase in contrast to the more popular clowns never starred in any feature during the silent period.
Chase made several promising appearances after the talkies arrived in 1929-30, especially in Laurel and Hardy's highly acknowledged feature Sons of the Desert in 1933. Despite this, he was never offered any further appearances in features. He continued to perform in shorts, and did also direct some of The Three Stooges' early movies. He died in 1940, not yet 47 of age, of a heart attack -- it is reasonable to believe that his early death to a large extent had to do with his addiction to alcohol, a problem which had troubled his family for several years. His brother James, also an actor, had died the year before; the two brothers remained close throughout their lives, although their personal problems frequently affected the other (or perhaps that was exactly why they did remain so close). Chase was married once, to Bebe Eltinge from 1914, a marriage which lasted until his death and produced two daughters, Polly and June.
Chase's silent work was recently celebrated on DVD in two volumes from Kino Video. At long last his comic genius is being recognized.
Brother of James Parrott.
Entered films in 1912.
In an interview on the David Letterman show, Hal Roach said that Chase auditioned for him by saying he could play ANY part. Chase then proceeded to do his impression of a lighthouse by turning his head around in a circle, stopping straight forward with his eyes wide open after each rotation.
Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 102-103. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
2 daughters - Pauline (Polly) and June.
Directed short comedies under his birth name, Charles Parrott.
Date of Death:
20 June 1940, Hollywood, California, USA. (heart attack)
