Henry Bergman
Acting
Biography
Henry Bergman (February 23, 1868 – October 22, 1946) was an American actor of stage and film, known for his long association with Charlie Chaplin. Born in San Francisco, California, he acted in live theater, appearing in Henrietta in 1888 at the Hollis Street Theater in Boston and in the touring production of The Senator in 1892 and 1893. He made his Broadway debut in 1899. He made his first film appearance was with The L-KO Kompany in 1914 at the age of forty-six. In 1916, Bergman started working with Charlie Chaplin, beginning with The Pawnshop. For the rest of his career, Bergman remained as a character actor for Chaplin and worked as a studio assistant, including Assistant Director. He played in many Chaplin shorts and later features, including The Immigrant, The Gold Rush and The Circus. Bergman's last on-screen appearance was in Modern Times as a restaurant manager, and his final off-screen contribution was for The Great Dictator in 1940. Chaplin helped Bergman finance a restaurant in Hollywood named Henry's, which became a popular spot for celebrities as a precursor to the later Brown Derby restaurant. Henry Bergman continued to be associated with the Chaplin Studios until his death from a heart attack in 1946. He is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Known For
A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time...
Modern Times
A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.
City Lights
A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son.
The Kid
A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.
The Gold Rush
Charlie, a wandering tramp, becomes a circus handyman - soon the star of the show - and falls in love with the circus owner's stepdaughter.
The Circus
A European immigrant endures a challenging voyage only to get into trouble as soon as he arrives in New York.
The Immigrant
When Marie St. Clair believes she has been jilted by her artist fiance Jean, she decides to leave for Paris on her own. After spending a year in the city as a mistress of the wealthy Pierre Revel, she is reunited with Jean by chance. This leaves her with the choice between a glamorous life in Paris, and the true love she left behind.
A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate
The Tramp is an escaped convict who is mistaken as a pastor in a small town church.
The Pilgrim
The Tramp and his dog companion struggle to survive in the inner city.
A Dog's Life
After amusements working in a restaurant, a waiter uses his lunch break to go roller skating.
The Rink
An impecunious customer creates chaos in a department store while the manager and his assistant plot to steal the money kept in the establishment's safe.
The Floorwalker
A bricklayer and his wife clash over his end-of-the-week partying.
Pay Day
A pawnbroker's assistant deals with his grumpy boss, his annoying co-worker and some eccentric customers as he flirts with the pawnbroker's daughter, until a perfidious crook with bad intentions arrives at the pawnshop.
The Pawnshop
A tailor's apprentice burns Count Broko's clothes while ironing them and the tailor fires him. Later, the tailor discovers a note explaining that the count cannot attend a dance party, so he dresses as such to take his place; but the apprentice has also gone to the mansion where the party is celebrated and bumps into the tailor in disguise…
The Count
The daring convict no. 23, known as The Eel, escapes from prison and, after mocking his inept persecutors, saves the lives of three people in peril: a beautiful girl, her mother and an annoying suitor, only to get exhausted and almost drowned. Once he regains his strength at Judge Brown's home, he participates on an upper-class social party where he competes with the suitor for the favors of the charming Miss Brown. But prison guards are still after him…
The Adventurer
An alcoholic checks into a health spa and his antics promptly throw the establishment into chaos.
The Cure
Three Chaplin silent comedies "A Dog's Life", "Shoulder Arms", and "The Pilgrim" are strung together to form a single feature length film. Chaplin provides new music, narration, and a small amount of new connecting material. "Shoulder Arms" is now described as taking place in a time before "the atom bomb".
The Chaplin Revue
A tramp tries to earn money by playing the violin, but he’s soon facing off against the jealous competition.
The Vagabond
An American doughboy, stationed in France during the Great War, goes on a daring mission behind enemy lines and becomes a hero.
Shoulder Arms
A derelict, huddled under the steps of a missionary church, feels enlightened by the sermon of a passionate preacher and infatuated by the beauty of the congregation's pianist, in such a way that he tries to improve his life of poverty by becoming a policeman. His first assignment will be to patrol along Easy Street, the turf of a vicious bully and his criminal gang.