November 20, 2012

Charlie with his friend, writer Konrad Bercovici, c. 1922

In 1947, Bercovici brought a 5 million dollar plagiarism suit against Charlie. He claimed that both the idea and the script for The Great Dictator were his own. Although Charlie initially wanted to contest the suit, it came at a troubling period in his life, and instead he settled out of court for $95,000. Needless to say, the suit marked the end of their friendship.

3 comments:

  1. Well, that guy looked p.o.'d in 1915, so just think--he had over 30 years to get even angrier! Sad.

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    Replies
    1. Ha! He does look like a bit of a crank. What's with the 'stache?

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  2. I think Bercovici was mean to choose the year 1947 to brought the suit against Charlie. Perhaps he knew he would have had few chance to win otherwise.

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