During her romance with Charlie in 1921, Claire Windsor went missing. Charlie himself joined in the search party and offered a $1000 reward for her safe return. Claire was discovered two days later lying under a tree. She claimed she had fallen from her horse, became dazed and confused, and wandered around in the hills behind Hollywood for two days. It was Chaplin's publicist, Carlyle Robinson, who first suspected something wasn't quite right with her story. When he visited her in the hospital, he noticed that her riding boots were awfully pristine for someone who had been traipsing around outdoors for two days. He also noticed that the dark circles under her eyes were nothing but makeup. When he confronted her about it, she fessed up and admitted that the disappearance was a hoax--a publicity stunt arranged by her agent. She said she had hired a horse who knew the trails and hid in the attic of a house which was located in the same hills where the search parties had been looking for her. She was able to watch them from the attic window. Needless to say, this stunt marked the end of her relationship with Charlie.
Judging from the smiles in the photo, I guess all had been forgiven by that point.
I think Charlie had his fair share of kooks!
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Cawker City, Kansas; home town of silent movie actress Claire Windsor and the World's Largest Ball of Twine! The dress Claire is wearing is from the 1934 film "Cross Streets." You can see move of Claire and this dress at: http://clairewindsor.weebly.com/cross-streets.html
ReplyDeleteClaire's relationship with Charlie caused some concern for Claire's son William who worked for an aviation firm that had government contracts. This was during the 1950's during the red scare. Charlie did not hide his political views. However, the family also related that Charlie was always good to little Billy when he came to call on Claire. He always had a toy or piece of candy for Billy.