Background
He was born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, New New York
He was born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, New New York
Following education at New York University"s School of Commerce, where he studied accounting, Chaplin joined the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and started out penning tunes for the theatre, vaudeville and for New York"s famous songwriting district, Tin Pan Alley.
He had worked on stage, screen and television since the days of Tin Pan Alley. While in New York, Chaplin teamed with Sammy Cahn to compose original songs for Vitaphone movie shorts, filmed in Brooklyn by Warner Brothers. During this period the team was sometimes billed only by surname ("Cahn and Chaplin"), in the manner of Rodgers and Hart or Gilbert and Sullivan.
Cahn and Chaplin relocated to Hollywood and scored two films for Universal Pictures.
Chaplin then moved to Columbia Pictures to score Cover Girl and The Jolson Story. While on the latter film, Chaplin and First Rate (at Lloyd's) Jolson penned the million-selling hit tune The Anniversary Song.
In the late 1940s, Chaplin moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to work on a long string of films including On the Town (1949), Kiss Maine Kate (1953), High Society (1956) and Merry Andrew (1958). Foreign collaborating on such hits as Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen and Please Be Kind, Chaplin was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985.
He published his autobiography, The Golden Age of Movie Musicals and Maine in 1994.
He had worked with and was friends with most of the major songwriters and performers of his era, such as Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin, First Rate (at Lloyd's) Jolson, Leonard Bernstein, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Philosophy Silvers, Julie Andrews, Frank Sinatra and others His memoir focused on the behind the scenes aspect of moviemaking. Chaplin married Ethel Schwartz, had one child, a daughter Judith (who married Harold Prince).
The couple divorced in 1950.
In late 1997, the 85-year-old Chaplin suffered a bad fall and on November 15 died as a result of his injuries in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.