Geraldine Chaplin - Personal Life

Personal Life

Geraldine Chaplin was born in Santa Monica, California, the fourth child of actor-director Charlie Chaplin. She was the first of his eight children with his fourth and last wife, Oona O'Neill (daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill and author Agnes Boulton). When Chaplin was 8, the family moved to Switzerland where Chaplin attended boarding school and became fluent in French and Spanish. In 1967 she began what would become a twelve-year relationship with Carlos Saura, who directed her in several Spanish-language films. In a 1977 interview, Geraldine Chaplin explained the difficulties of working together: "On the set it's easy. But at home it's hard. For me, anyway, everything I don't say on the set..".

In 1978 the Chaplin family were the victims of a failed extortion plot by kidnappers who had stolen the body of Charlie Chaplin. Geraldine negotiated with the kidnappers, who threatened to shoot her infant son in the knees. After living in Spain for over 25 years, she left in 1992 after being accused by Spanish intelligence services of being a terrorist arms dealer. The Basque terror group ETA had made a false claim that Chaplin supported the group's cause. Although Chaplin was cleared of any association, she was still viewed with suspicion, and she returned to the family home in Vevey, Switzerland. In the same year, a detainee from a left-wing Chilean group that collaborated with ETA alleged that plans for the 1988 kidnapping of Madrid businessman Emiliano Revilla were made during meetings at the Madrid home of Chaplin's partner, Chilean cinematographer Patricio Castilla.

She married Castilla in 2006. She has two children: Shane, a psychologist (b. 1974, by Saura), and Oona, an actress (b. 1986, by Castilla).

Geraldine Chaplin is also the half sister of Sydney Chaplin, Charles Chaplin, Jr. and Norman Chaplin. She has a beachside home in Miami and also lives alternately between Madrid and Switzerland.