Oona O'Neill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Oona O'Neill
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O'Neill in Santa Barbara, California in 1943
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Oona Ella O'Neill
14 May 1925 Warwick Parish, Bermuda
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| Died | 27 September 1991 (aged 66) Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland
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| Resting place | Cimetière de Corsier-sur-Vevey, Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland |
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| Education | Brearley School |
| Title | Lady Chaplin |
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| Children | Geraldine, Michael, Josephine, Victoria, Eugene, Jane, Annette and Christopher |
| Parent(s) |
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| Relatives | Eugene O'Neill Jr. (half-brother) |
Oona O'Neill, Lady Chaplin (born May 14, 1925 – died September 27, 1991) was an American-British actress. She was the daughter of famous American playwright Eugene O'Neill and writer Agnes Boulton. Oona was also the fourth and last wife of the well-known English actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin.
Oona's parents divorced when she was four years old. After that, her mother raised her in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. She did not see her father very often. Oona first became known to the public when she attended the Brearley School in New York City from 1940 to 1942. During this time, she was often seen in photos at popular nightclubs with her friends Carol Marcus and Gloria Vanderbilt.
In 1942, Oona received a lot of media attention. She was chosen as "The Number One Debutante" of the 1942–1943 social season at the Stork Club. Soon after, she decided to become an actress. After small roles in two plays, she moved to Hollywood.
In Hollywood, Oona met Charlie Chaplin. He thought about her for a movie role. The movie was never made, but Oona and Chaplin started a romantic relationship. They married in June 1943, just a month after Oona turned 18. There was a 36-year age difference between them. This caused a scandal and ended Oona's relationship with her father. He was only six months older than Chaplin and did not approve of her acting dreams.
After getting married, Oona gave up her acting plans. She and Chaplin had eight children together. They stayed married until his death. For the first ten years of their marriage, they lived in Beverly Hills. However, in 1952, Chaplin's permit to re-enter the United States was cancelled. This happened while they were traveling to London. So, they moved to Manoir de Ban in the Swiss village of Corsier-sur-Vevey. In 1954, Oona gave up her US citizenship and became a British citizen. After Chaplin died in 1977, she spent her time between Switzerland and New York. She passed away from pancreatic cancer at age 66 in Corsier-sur-Vevey in 1991. Her daughter Geraldine Chaplin named her own daughter Oona in 1986.
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Early Life and Family (1925–1942)
Oona O'Neill was born on May 14, 1925, in Bermuda. Her parents had moved there six months before she was born. They hoped it would be a good place to write during the winter. Oona had an older brother named Shane Rudraighe O'Neill (1919–1977). Both of her parents also had children from earlier relationships. These were Eugene O'Neill Jr. and Barbara Burton. But they did not live with the family. Oona only saw them sometimes when she was a child.
Oona spent her early childhood living in Bermuda. Her family spent winters there. In 1926, they bought a house called Spithead. They also spent time in different places on the East Coast of the United States. Her parents separated in November 1927. Agnes and the children stayed in Bermuda until the next summer. Then, they moved to her parents' old house in West Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Agnes got a divorce in Reno, Nevada in July 1929. Three weeks later, Eugene married Carlotta Monterey in France.
After the divorce, Oona mostly lived with her mother and brother in West Point Pleasant. Sometimes, they stayed at Spithead. Even though the divorce allowed joint custody, Oona rarely saw her father. She mostly wrote letters to him. Usually, Carlotta Monterey answered these letters.
Oona first went to a Catholic convent school. But it was not a good fit for her. So, she then went to the Ocean Road Public School in Point Pleasant. The divorce agreement said both children should go to top boarding schools from age 13. In 1938, Oona was sent to the Warrenton Country School in Warrenton, Virginia. Agnes did not like the school. So, she moved Oona to the Brearley School in New York for her second year of high school in 1940.
At Brearley, Oona became close friends with Carol Marcus. Through Carol, she met Gloria Vanderbilt and Truman Capote. Even though Oona was still underage, the group often went to popular nightclubs. They started appearing in the society pages of magazines. During this time, Oona dated cartoonist Peter Arno and author J. D. Salinger. In April 1942, during her last year at Brearley, she was named "The Number One Debutante" of the 1942–1943 season at the Stork Club. This event got a lot of attention across the country. She received offers from movie studios and modeling agencies. This publicity made her father very angry. He used his connections in the Hollywood film industry to stop her from signing a movie contract.
After graduating from Brearley, Oona turned down an offer to study at Vassar College. Instead, she chose to become an actress, even though her father was against it. She first appeared in a small role in a play called Pal Joey. This was at the Maplewood Theatre in New Jersey in July 1942. The play was not successful and closed after two weeks. Later that summer, Oona traveled to California with Carol Marcus. Carol was going to marry author William Saroyan. During the trip, Oona had a brief role in Saroyan's play, The Time of Your Life, in San Francisco. She also tried to meet her father, who lived nearby, but she was not successful.
Marriage to Charlie Chaplin (1943–1977)
From San Francisco, O'Neill went to Los Angeles. Her mother and stepfather were living there. She quickly found a film agent, Minna Wallace. She did her first and only screen test for Eugene Frenke's The Girl From Leningrad. In October 1942, Wallace introduced her to Charlie Chaplin. He was looking for a lead actress for his next movie, based on the play Shadow and Substance. Chaplin thought O'Neill was beautiful. But at 17, she was too young for the role. However, because she and Wallace kept trying, he agreed to give O'Neill a movie contract.
Shadow and Substance was put on hold in December 1942. But the relationship between O'Neill and Chaplin soon changed from professional to romantic. On June 16, 1943, a month after O'Neill turned 18, they ran off and got married. It was a civil ceremony in Carpinteria. Only Chaplin's studio secretary, Catherine Hunter, and his friend and assistant, Harry Crocker, witnessed the ceremony. Crocker took photos for gossip columnist Louella Parsons. Chaplin had given her the only rights to share news of the marriage. He hoped she would write a more positive article than her rival, Hedda Hopper, who did not like him. The marriage received a lot of media attention. This was because of the 36-year age difference between O'Neill and Chaplin.
After the marriage, O'Neill gave up her career plans. She settled into being a housewife. She rarely spoke in public. But in 1952, she said she was "happy to stay in the background" and help Chaplin when needed. They spent the first nine years of their marriage living in Beverly Hills. They had their first four children during this time: Geraldine Leigh (born July 1944), Michael John (born March 1946), Josephine Hannah (born March 1949), and Victoria Agnes (born May 1951). Even though she focused on her home and children, O'Neill also spent time at the studios if Chaplin was working. He often asked O'Neill for her opinion. She also stood in for the lead actress Claire Bloom in Limelight (1952). This happened when a scene needed to be filmed again after the movie was finished, and Bloom was already working on another project.
The 1940s and 1950s were hard for Chaplin in the United States. He was accused of having communist sympathies. The FBI investigated him. In September 1952, Chaplin, O'Neill, and their children were traveling to London. They were going for the premiere of Limelight on the ship Queen Elizabeth. His permit to re-enter the US was taken away. The family soon decided to move to Europe permanently. In November 1952, O'Neill flew back to the US. She moved Chaplin's money to European bank accounts. She also closed up their house and the studio. In early January 1953, they moved to their new home, Manoir de Ban. This was a large estate in the village of Corsier-sur-Vevey in Switzerland. The next year, O'Neill gave up her American citizenship. She became a British citizen.
While living in Switzerland, the Chaplins had four more children: Eugene Anthony (born August 1953), Jane Cecil (born May 1957), Annette Emily (born December 1959), and Christopher James (born July 1962). Chaplin's health slowly got worse in the late 1960s. He relied more and more on Oona's help. He died from a stroke at age 88 on December 25, 1977. He was buried two days later.
In March 1978, O'Neill faced a difficult situation. Chaplin's coffin was stolen from his grave. Two unemployed mechanics, Roman Wardas and Gantcho Ganev, tried to get money from O'Neill in exchange for the body. The two men were caught by police two months later. Chaplin's coffin was found buried in a field in the nearby village of Noville. It was reburied without being opened.
Later Life and Legacy (1978–1991)
After Chaplin's death, O'Neill spent her time between Switzerland and New York. She appeared in a small role as a mother in the film Broken English (1981). She did this as a favor to the film's producer, Bert Schneider. But other than that, she avoided public attention. According to some writers, O'Neill became very private after moving back to Manoir de Ban permanently in the late 1980s. She died on September 27, 1991, at age 66. She passed away from pancreatic cancer in Corsier-sur-Vevey. She was buried next to her husband in the village cemetery. In her last will, O'Neill, who wrote many diaries and letters during her life, asked that all her writings be destroyed and never published.
Portrayals in Media
Oona O'Neill has been shown in movies and plays.
- In film, Moira Kelly played O'Neill in Richard Attenborough's movie about Charlie Chaplin's life, Chaplin (1992).
- Zoey Deutch played her in the film Rebel in the Rye (2017). This movie was about the early life of J. D. Salinger.
On stage, she has been played by:
- Ashley Brown in Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in 2010.
- Erin Mackey in the Broadway version of the show, Chaplin – The Musical, in 2012.
She is also a main character in French author Frédéric Beigbeder's novel Oona & Salinger (2014). This book is loosely based on her short romance with Salinger in the 1940s.
The popular novel Only Oona (2023) by Tamatha Cain is about Oona O'Neill Chaplin.
See also
In Spanish: Oona O'Neill para niños
