12. Pies turned on Charlie Chaplin
British actor Charlie Chaplin was the silent film era’s most famous star, and is one of the most readily recognizable actors of all time. In addition to being a pioneer who revolutionized acting and visual comedy, Chaplin was also a total perv. He is credited with inventing “the casting couch”, whereby powerful Hollywood men extracted explicit favors from aspiring actresses as a condition for getting them desirable roles. Chaplin also liked ‘em young, and that eventually derailed his career, and got him deported from America. He also had a pie fetish. After getting actresses to disrobe during auditions, Chaplin would grope them in exaggerated ways on the couch, then, having worked himself up thus, he would stand them naked against a wall and throw pies at them.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, a pervert himself if ever there was one, disliked Chaplin’s political leanings. In 1944, he had Chaplin prosecuted for violating the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of women across state lines for sexual purposes. Chaplin was acquitted, but his reputation was severely damaged. Then in 1952, while Chaplin was out of the country, his American reentry visa was revoked. Rather than fight it, Chaplin settled in Switzerland for the remainder of his life.
