Preview
  • Tramp

  • The Life of Charlie Chaplin
  • By: Joyce Milton
  • Narrated by: Clinton Wade
  • Length: 19 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (121 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Tramp

By: Joyce Milton
Narrated by: Clinton Wade
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $29.95

Buy for $29.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Charlie Chaplin made an amazing 71 films by the time he was only 33 years old. He was not only known as the world’s first international movie star, but as a comedian, film director, and a man ripe with scandal, accused of plagiarism, communism, pacifism, liberalism, and anti-Americanism. He seduced young women, marrying four different times, each time to a woman younger than the next.

In this animated biography of Chaplin, Joyce Milton reveals to us a life riddled with gossip and a struggle to rise from an impoverished London childhood to the life of a successful American film star. Milton shows us how the creation of his famous character - The Tramp, the Little Fellow - was both rewarding and then devastating as he became obsolete with the changes of time.

Tramp is a perceptive, clever, and captivating biography of a talented and complicated man whose life was filled with scandal, politics, and art.

©1996 Joyce Milton (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Editorial reviews

Though few discussions on cinema get by without mentioning Charlie Chaplin and his influence, Joyce Milton’s Tramp: The Life of Charlie Chaplin sets out to tell the story of the famed mustache and bowler away from the camera. In a clipped baritone, popular Audible performer Clinton Wade takes listeners from the early and hardworking history of the Chaplin family to Chaplin’s film successes and later to his scandals - both political and social. For those who remember the classic characters of the silent era, and those who just love a captivating look at a complicated life, Milton’s Tramp is an audiobook not to be overlooked.

What listeners say about Tramp

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    46
  • 4 Stars
    46
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    42
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    19
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    10
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    45
  • 4 Stars
    38
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Gah the narrator

The story was great, but good god the narrator was awful. I would have rather listened and a robot.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator ruined what should have been a great book

Charlie Chaplin is an icon. He led a fascinating and often controversial life. You’d never know it based on this narrators monotone voice, which often broke up sentences at the wrong time to take a breath.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Intriguing Life of Charlie Chaplin

I remember him being around when I was an older kid. I remember seeing him on TV, getting an award. He had an amazing life, and SPOILER ** A happy ending for him* I remember his wife and one of his girls. He's definitely made his mark, nobody will forget him. Really good writing and narration. Thank you!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Very interesting life

Very interesting read. I never realized that Luna was quite selfish in her own right compared to the way she’s always been pro she’s always been portrayed as someone who dearly loved him and did her best to protect him as he got older reading the book you get to feeling that she was no less of a person trying to live off of his genius in notoriety and I found that to be a little sad. It certainly changed my outlook on Charlie Chaplin they always call him the little tramp or the little guy and he was but he had so much going against him when he was younger that he made so much of himself as he got older something to be proud of.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Book

Sometimes we get to here thing from family and friends
that the author leaves out due to personal reasons. This is one of those books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Pretty Sweeping Biography of the Hollywood Icon

Chaplin is one of the most controversial figures in all of Hollywood. His legacy towers in the lore of the old Hollywood system and how his persona, glossed up for the 1992 bio-pic, this book definately does not shy away from the shadier side of his life.

The book does a good job of balancing his genius but also his betrayal and abuse of other. The contradictions of the man are fascinating and it's a good crash course in the material.

I feel though it does seem somewhat dated in it's approach. The copyright, I believe, was 1996 and it would be interesting to see how Chaplin would be written in the post #MeToo era.

My biggest gripe is the narration. It's very boring/slow and lacks any passion.

Other then that, I would recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about the details of Chaplin's life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Worst narrator ever!!

I was so excited to listen to this book, but I can't even get past the first chapter! This narrator is so bad, there is no way I can listen to him through this entire book. I'm sorry to say this, but it is true. It's almost like it is computer generated. Maybe it is, I'm really not sure. I wish I could get a refund and try someone else's book! This has taught me to be sure to listen to samples first.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

ODD PHRASING

In addition to having a voice that I personally feel was somewhat grating, the reader’s very frequent tendency to make a full stop (period) in the middle of sentences or at some other point in the sentence other than the end interrupted not only the flow of the sentence, but also the story. Example: “He was his own person [full stop]. Believing he didn’t need to answer to anyone.” (Invented, but representative, sentence.)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Most boring narrator ever

The book seemed to have been written by a disinterested writer, very dry and was just about hitting the chronologically predetermined points. The narrator is what killed this for me though. If it wasn’t actually read by a text-to-speech function on a pre 2000’s Macintosh, it might as well have been and probably would have saved someone a few bucks. There could not have been less emotion expressed or feeling given to an already dry text. I listened to “Charlie Chaplin and His Times” by Kenneth S. Lynn, read by Adams Morgan, and it is miles and leaps and bounds above this book and its narrative performance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Terrible narrator

He sounds like he’s computer generated. He seems to be rushing. His sentences often just run into each other. He doesn’t always pause after a period. Book might be great but I can’t listen to the narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!