1. Oona O'Neill, Lady Chaplin was a Bermudian-born actress, the daughter of Irish-American playwright Eugene O'Neill and English-born writer Agnes Boulton, and the fourth and last wife of actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin.
23 Facts About Oona O'Neill
1. 2.
Oona O'Neill first came to the public eye during her time at the Brearley School in New York City between 1940 and 1942, when she was photographed attending fashionable nightclubs with her friends Carol Marcus and Gloria Vanderbilt.
3.
In Hollywood, Oona O'Neill was introduced to Chaplin, who considered her for a film role.
4.
In 1954, Oona O'Neill renounced her US citizenship and became a British citizen.
5.
Oona O'Neill died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 66 in Corsier-sur-Vevey in 1991.
6.
Oona O'Neill was born on 14 May 1925 in the British colony of Bermuda, where her parents had relocated six months before her birth in the hopes that it would be a good place to write during the winter.
7.
Oona O'Neill had an older brother, Shane Rudraighe O'Neill.
8.
Oona O'Neill rekindled his romance with Monterey during a trip to New York in the early autumn of 1927, and after a brief return to Bermuda, separated from Agnes in November.
9.
Oona O'Neill first attended a Catholic convent school, but it was deemed unsuitable for her, and she was then enrolled at the Ocean Road Public School in Point Pleasant.
10.
At Brearley, Oona O'Neill became a close friend of Carol Marcus, and through her was introduced to Gloria Vanderbilt and Truman Capote.
11.
Oona O'Neill made her debut in a small supporting role in a production of Pal Joey at the Maplewood Theatre in New Jersey in July 1942.
12.
Later that summer, Oona O'Neill travelled to California with Carol Marcus, who was due to marry author William Saroyan.
13.
From San Francisco, Oona O'Neill headed to Los Angeles, where her mother and stepfather were living.
14.
Oona O'Neill soon found herself a film agent, Minna Wallace, and made her first and only screentest, for Eugene Frenke's The Girl From Leningrad.
15.
On 16 June 1943, a month after Oona O'Neill had turned 18, they eloped and married in a civil service in Carpinteria.
16.
Oona O'Neill rarely spoke in public but in 1952, commented that she was "happy to stay in the background" and help Chaplin where needed.
17.
Oona O'Neill acted as a stand-in for lead actress Claire Bloom in Limelight, when a scene had to be reshot after filming had wrapped, and Bloom was already working on another project.
18.
The family soon decided to move permanently to Europe, and in November 1952, Oona O'Neill flew back to the US to transfer Chaplin's assets to European bank accounts and to close up their house and the studio.
19.
Oona O'Neill died of a stroke at age 88 on 25 December 1977, and was buried two days later.
20.
In March 1978, Oona O'Neill became the victim of an extortion plot.
21.
Oona O'Neill appeared in the supporting role of an alcoholic mother in the film Broken English as a favor to the film's producer, Bert Schneider, but otherwise avoided publicity.
22.
Oona O'Neill died on 27 September 1991 at the age of 66 of pancreatic cancer in Corsier-sur-Vevey, and was buried next to her husband in the village cemetery.
23.
In film, Oona O'Neill has been portrayed by Moira Kelly in Richard Attenborough's biographical film of Charlie Chaplin's life, Chaplin, and by Zoey Deutch in the film Rebel in the Rye, based on the young life of JD Salinger.