Stop, the story isn't quite over yet! Charlie Chaplin in front of his house in Corsier-sur-Vevey, circa 1965.
Stop, the story isn't quite over yet! Charlie Chaplin in front of his house in Corsier-sur-Vevey, circa 1965. Swiss National Museum / ASL

When Chaplin's corpse was kidnapped

Celebrated actor-director Charlie Chaplin died in 1977 and was buried in the cemetery at Corsier-sur-Vevey. But then, grave robbers dug up his body and demanded large sums of money from the family for its return. A macabre story that could have come straight from one of Chaplin's films, but did in fact happen.

Michael van Orsouw

Michael van Orsouw

Michael van Orsouw has a PhD in history and is a performance poet and author. He regularly publishes historical books.

Website: geschichte-texte.ch
The comic actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin may only have been 1.65 metres tall, but he was one of the greats. He died on Christmas Day 1977 at the age of 88, having lived an eventful life. Chaplin was laid to rest in the cemetery at Corsier-sur-Vevey, close to the mansion that had been his home for several decades. But this was only the beginning of a bizarre story that could have come straight out of one of Chaplin's many films.
Charlie Chaplin is laid to rest at Corsier-sur-Vevey in December 1977.
Charlie Chaplin is laid to rest at Corsier-sur-Vevey in December 1977. Swiss National Museum / ASL
Chaplin's 'eternal rest' following his burial did not last long. On the night of 1 to 2 March 1978, two men dressed in black and armed with torches and shovels scurried across the graveyard in Corsier. Both were out-of-work car mechanics, one 24, the other 38. They dreamed of setting up their own car repair shop, complete with vehicle lift and a large clientele. It was this dream that led them to seek out the world-famous funny man's grave in the dead of night and get to work with their shovels, digging incessantly until they had uncovered Chaplin's coffin. The two men, one from Bulgaria, the other from Poland, heaved the 135-kilogram oak coffin out of the ground and carried it across the cemetery, where they loaded it into a waiting estate car. They were convinced their scheme was soon going to make them very rich indeed – but what should they do with the heavy oak casket and the famous body inside in the meantime?
The theft of the corpse attracts a great deal of media interest.
The theft of the corpse attracts a great deal of media interest. e-newspaperarchives
The body snatchers found a quiet cornfield outside the nearby village of Noville, not far from where the Rhone river enters Lake Geneva. They dug a large hole and hid the coffin containing the dead man in it. Then they waited before making their next move. The rumour mill subsequently went into overdrive as soon as the empty grave was discovered. Was it the work of souvenir hunters? Was Chaplin to be buried in England, as had once been his wish? Others even went so far as to speculate that Chaplin had actually been Jewish and should therefore have been buried in a Jewish cemetery.
Even in death he continued to keep the police on their toes: Charlie Chaplin in 'The Kid'.
Even in death he continued to keep the police on their toes: Charlie Chaplin in 'The Kid'. Wikimedia
But then the kidnappers broke their silence and attempted to extort USD 600,000 from Chaplin's family for the coffin's return. Meantime, word had got around that the great man's grave in Corsier had been desecrated. Suddenly, the grave robbers were not the only ones demanding money: Chaplin's widow and children also received ransom demands from free riders eager to get in on the act. This forced the actual kidnappers to prove that Chaplin's coffin was in their possession. Which they did by taking a photo showing the casket next to a hole in the cornfield.
In doing so they gave the local police, who were working flat out on the case, their first clue. Chaplin's widow Oona pretended to go along with the ransom demand, and the family's lawyer exchanged a number of telephone calls with the kidnappers, supposedly to try and negotiate a somewhat lower ransom. But the police had tapped the Chaplins’ phone and were able to trace where the calls were coming from. The grave robbers used a different telephone box in the Lausanne area each time, causing the investigators to keep tabs on some 200 telephone boxes. On 16 May, exactly 76 days after the body was stolen, the police were finally able to close in and arrest the two men.
Charlie Chaplin's wife Oona, pictured in 1965: she pretended to go along with the ransom demands.
Charlie Chaplin's wife Oona, pictured in 1965: she pretended to go along with the ransom demands. Wikimedia / Dutch National Archives
Somewhat stupidly, the kidnappers couldn't remember the exact spot in the field outside Noville where they had hidden the coffin. The police were forced to resort to metal detectors, and found Chaplin's remains thanks to the metal handles on the casket. It really does call to mind a scene from a movie... Charlie Chaplin's body then received its second proper burial ‒ although this time the coffin was encased in two metres of concrete, and a slab of concrete was placed over the grave to secure it. As Chaplin himself may well have appreciated, this macabre episode was immortalised on celluloid: French director Xavier Beauvois retold the story in his 2014 release 'The Price of Fame' (La rançon de la gloire), starring Benoît Poelvoorde, Roschdy Zem and Chiara Mastroianni. In the film Chaplin's daughter feels some sympathy with the kidnappers, showing both leniency and generosity.
The robbing of the grave became the subject of a film: the trailer for the 2014 cinematic release. YouTube
In real life, the two grave robbers did not get away so lightly: they appeared in court charged with desecration and extortion, and were duly sentenced. The ringleader was sent to prison for four-and-a-half years while his accomplice received an 18-month suspended sentence.

Published on: 13.06.2023

URL: https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2023/06/when-chaplins-corpse-was-kidnapped/

More of: 20th / 21st centuryCultureFilmArticle

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