On the 27th of February, 1916, Chaplin signed with Mutual Films for $10,000 a week plus a $150,000 signing bonus. He remained with for a little over a year, until June 17, 1917, when he signed with First National Exhibitor's Circuit for $1,075,000 a year. He was still a bachelor - handsome, rich, and famous - when he became infatuated with a sixteen- year-old movie ingenue, Mildred Harris. On October 23rd, 1918, they were suddenly married. By the early 1920's his box office appeal was so great that no studio could afford his talents, and he appeared only in films produced by himself. Chaplin, together with two other of the foremost stars of the day, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks (who was Chaplin's best friend) and the director D.W. Griffith formed United Artists, so that each could produce and distribute his own films independently. He demanded unquestioning obedience from his associates; years of instant deference to his point of view had persuaded him that it was the only one that mattered.

Chaplin's most famous films that brought him the most admiration, and controversy were: The Kid (1920), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), Monsieur Verdoux (1947), and Limelight (1952). After these films Chaplin filled the sky as the most famous person in the world. Until he was nearly thirty Chaplin's life had been quiet, scandal-free and without any serious involvement.

Then, "Talkies" started coming out. These are movies with sound. "Talkies are spoiling the oldest art in the world- the art of pantomime. They are ruining the great beauty of silence. They are defeating the meaning of the screen." Charlie Chaplin said when the talking movies came out.

Forty years after he came to America, Chaplin was accused of being a communist. He had no answer to prove the accusations wrong except that it was his constitutional right, and with Senator McCarthy on the loose that wasn't enough. Charlie had come to America, that forty years ago, to breathe free air. Now he was leaving for the same reason. After finding out that Chaplin was "sympathetic with the Leftist beliefs", the FBI went to work to find out what was going on. The extensive files on Chaplin maintained by the FBI over a period of more than fifty years. They total more than nineteen hundred pages. Not only was he accused of being a communist, he was also accused of being Jewish, as well, because his half-brother, Sidney, was three-fourths Jewish. Chaplin's reputation was not good with the FBI. Charlie's investigation began on August 15, 1922, when an agent called A.A. Hopkins passed on the information to the FBI that Charlie had given a reception for a prominent labor leader, William Z. Foster, who was visiting Los Angeles. He was also frequently the guest of the millionaire D.C. James at his cliffside mansion in Carmel. It was there that he came to delight with his host's son, Dan, a would be writer and a communist whom he later would employ as an assistant director on The Great Dictator. After being questioned about being a communist, Chaplin answered, "I do not want to create any revolution, all I want to do is create a few more films. I might amuse people. I hope so."

The FBI interviewed scores of witnesses, and the secret evidence they collected fills more than four hundred pages. On January 15th, 1927, Chaplin suffered a serious nervous breakdown. Three days after that, the broken comedian learned from a story in the New York Times that the U.S. Government was about to lien on his assets. In 1933 the impromptu performances stopped. Instead, Chaplin's dark moods became more obvious, and his anger flashes more constant. A fear of failure was plaguing him. The secret to Chaplin's fortitude in weathering the storms of the late 1940's was the unqualified success and happiness of his marriage to Oona.

In 1947, after the film, Monsieur Verdoux, he returned to California on April 30th, but for the next six weeks he stayed away from the studio. He was lonely, dispirited, and given to expressing dissatisfaction with his achievements.