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Famous Roma People: Two of Hollywood’s most iconic figures and their Romani roots
How the preservation of cultural heritage is shaping both countries mutual understanding today
by Kaity Leivaditi
Charlie Chaplin
One of the most iconic personas in the history of cinema, known for his unique sense of humor and his innovative acting methods, Charlie Chaplin, was of Romani descent.
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on the 16th of April 1889 in England, to Hannah Chaplin and Charles Chaplin Sr, both music hall entertainers. Chaplin’s childhood was rough, with extreme poverty, his mother’s struggle with her mental health and his father’s alcoholism being only a few of the problems he had to deal with. Despite all those struggles, he started pursuing his acting career at a very young age, and he first performed on stage when he was just nine years old. Soon, he realized that acting was his passion and he registered with a theatrical agency in West End. After a very successful period of theatrical plays and highly acclaimed performances, Chaplin decided to try his luck in cinema, in the era of silent film. Once he entered the American film industry, his fame exploded and he soon became a global phenomenon. Some of his most famous movies are “The Great Dictator”, “The Tramp” and “Modern Times”, while his enormous cinematic legacy is still influencing today’s actors, directors and screenwriters.
One of the most iconic personas in the history of cinema, known for his unique sense of humor and his innovative acting methods, Charlie Chaplin, was of Romani descent.
Although it was said from the beginning of his career that Chaplin had some Romani roots from his paternal grandmother’s side, very few things were known about his heritage. Even though there were no official records or a birth certificate, Chaplin wrote in his autobiography that he was born in South London. But in 2012, 35 years after his death, a very interesting letter was found by one of his daughters, Victoria Chaplin, that revealed many details about his connection to the Roma community. The letter was found locked in a cupboard next to Chaplin’s bed and it was written by a man named Jack Hill, who called Chaplin a “little liar” for claiming that he was born in London. Hill wrote to the famous actor that he was in fact born “in a caravan that belonged to the Gypsy Queen on the Black Patch in Smethwick”, an area next to Birmingham with a long history of Romani camps. Hill also informed Chaplin that he was the only man alive who knew all that information about his birth and his ethnic background.
The publication of the letter didn’t shock Chaplin’s children and grandchildren, because as they said, he never hid his Romani ancestry from them and he was proud of his roots. They assume that he kept his Romani identity a secret, because of the discrimination and the racism this ethnic group was perceiving, and he didn’t want the stigma to be an obstacle to his career. Ever since the letter was found, the Chaplin family became more vocal about their Romani descent and they have publicly expressed their support to the community multiple times. In 2015 Chaplin’s oldest son, Michael, traveled to Birmingham in order to honor his father’s roots and to pay tribute to the Black Patch Romani community, 110 years after their eviction from the area. He unveiled a memorial to the Smethwick’s Romanies and he stated that his father was proud of his heritage, but the prejudices of his era didn’t allow him to embrace it.
Rita Hayworth
The “Love Goddess” of Hollywood during the ’40s, the ultimate pin-up girl and one of the most legendary actresses of all time, Rita Hayworth, was partly Romani as well. Hayworth was born as Margarita Carmen Cansino in 1918 to Volga Hayworth, an Irish American actress and Eduardo Cansino, a Spanish flamenco dancer. Eduardo was an immigrant from Castilleja de la Cuesta, a small town located close to Seville, Spain and he was of Romani/Gitano descent. Cansino family had a long history of flamenco dancers and Rita Hayworth’s grandparent, Antonio Cansino, was a famous dancer and credited for introducing Romani flamenco to modern Spanish dances. After her father’s persuasion, Hayworth started dancing flamenco at a very young age, but she soon realized that acting was her real passion.
Hayworth started taking small roles in Hollywood films during her teenage years, but she was always cast as the “exotic foreigner”, the “gypsy dancer” and other stereotypical cinematic tropes of this era. Her features and her skin complex were considered “too ethnic” to be the main female character in an American movie. In order to boost her career, studio heads and producers persuaded Hayworth to become “more European”: her pitch-black hair was dyed ginger red, her hairline was raised with electrolysis and much lighter shades of makeup were used on her face. The final change to become the ultimate American girl was her surname. Margarita Cansino sounded too exotic for a Hollywood actress, and so she adopted her mother’s surname, becoming the known-toall Rita Hayworth. After this white-washing procedure, her career exploded. Hayworth quickly became America’s favorite girl, taking one lead role after another in enormous Hollywood productions, while her beauty and her sex appeal were acclaimed by everyone.
Even though Hayworth was somehow forced to change her surname and her physical characteristics that indicated she was Romani, her heritage was widely known and Hayworth never tried to hide it. She didn’t hesitate to play roles of Romani women while she was at the peak of her career and to embrace her roots. She often appeared in movies dancing flamenco, honoring both her father’s family and her Romani ethnic background. However, the stereotypes and prejudices towards the Romani community were widely spread, and even Hayworth could not escape them. Her expulsive, strong character and her turbulent love life were characterized as a result of her “wild, gypsy blood”. Furthermore, Hayworth was also fetishized because of her heritage. Her second husband, the famous actor Orson Welles, is an example of this behavior, as he has stated that he was obsessed with her “exotic gypsy blood”.
Both Charlie Chaplin and Rita Hayworth had to face the stereotypes, the discrimination and the struggles that come with being of Romani descent. Even though they both managed to become dominant figures in Hollywood and their legacy lives up to this day, their connection to the Roma community is hardly ever mentioned. Even though the conditions in today’s film industry have improved, Hollywood is by no means racism-free, and many changes have to occur in order for the new-generation stars of Romani descent to be vocal about their heritage and to embrace it.
