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This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. Charlie Chaplin is a legendary figure of American cinema,

remembered for silent films such as modern times about the alienation of factory work,

and the great dictator, a talking picture in which Chaplin satirized and imitated Adolf Hitler.

But Chaplin also led a colorful and controversial life beyond his film

career. Today we're going to listen to Terry's interview with writer Scott Eymann about his book,

Charlie Chaplin v. America, when art, sex, and politics collided. It's now out in paperback.

Eamond writes about Chaplin's affairs with younger women, a paternity suit in which he

was falsely accused, and the FBI's investigation into his alleged communist ties, among other things.

When Chaplin went to England in 1952 to promote a film, his reentry papers were revoked,

forcing him to spend the last 25 years of his life in exile.

Scott Eamond is also the author of books about John Wayne, Carrie Grant, John Ford, and Cecil B. DeMille.

Terry spoke to him last fall when his book Charlie Chaplin v. America was published in hardback.

Scott Eamon, welcome to Fresh Air. I found this book really interesting.

I didn't realize how controversial chaplain was

and how many different agencies had investigated him,

the FBI, the CIA, the Immigration and Naturalization Service,

the Post Office, the House on American Activities Committee.

So his most controversial film was the 1940 film The Great Dictator.

This was a satire of Hitler.

It was made a year before the U.S. entered World War II.

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