making his first speech for the third Liberty Loan in front of the State, War and Navy Building, Washington, D.C., on first anniversary of U.S. entry into World War I. Photo: wiki commons.

Charlie Chaplin, one of the most famous movie stars of all time, is known to the world as being British.  However, it appears the British government was unable to find any record of Chaplin being born inside the country, according to recently published files from MI5 – the British intelligence agency.

Following Chaplin’s departure from America in 1952, related to what some believe was a fear of being chastised as a communist (something Chaplin dealt with a great deal), the U.S. asked Britain to research Chaplin’s life.

According to the files which were made public recently, the U.S. believed Chaplin may have been a Russian Jew and that his real name was Israel Thornstein.

Nothing was found in the British investigation to confirm American suspicions, and thus Charlie Chaplin’s claim to have been born in London in 1889 continues to stand.