The great-granddaughter of Nobel Prize winning playwright Eugene O’Neill, who is also the granddaughter of film legend Charlie Chaplin, visited the Tao House in Danville to discover her roots last week.
Kiera Chaplin, a 23-year-old blonde-haired, blue-eyed model from Switzerland and chairman of Limelight Films, toured her great-grandfather’s estate last Friday to connect with her past and understand her heritage.
“It’s great to revisit the past,” Chaplin said. “I’m curious to know more.”
As reporters and photographers flocked around her, Park Ranger and Tao House aficionado Margaret Styles guided Chaplin through her great-grandfather’s home, where O’Neill created “A Long’s Day Journey Into Night” and “A Moon for the Misbegotten.”
Chaplin saw pictures of O’Neill’s wives and visited his prized study, where O’Neill didn’t want to be disturbed when he wrote his plays.
“I’m taking it all in,” Chaplin said.
Her arrival accentuated the preview of Ric Burns’ documentary of O’Neill, which was screened for about 200 people that night at the AT&T Complex Center in San Ramon. Barbara and Arthur Gelb, O’Neill biographers and the documentary’s main collaborators, also flew from New York to visit the Tao House and promote the event.
Arthur Gelb said the reason he and his wife studied O’Neill was to “unravel a genius’ vision.” He said they are constantly discovering new facts about the great playwright.
Gelb was managing editor for the New York Times and author of “City Room,” which chronicles his adventures from being a copy boy to his rise as a reporter then as Times editor.
Burns, the Gelbs and Chaplin attended the screening and spoke at the event. Burns wrote the two-hour film in collaboration with the Gelbs; it documents the story of O’Neill’s bitter relations with his family, his failed marriages, and drinking problems during his youth – as well as his highly acclaimed plays.
“All of us marveled at the high quality of the film,” said Bob Rezak, public relations director of the Eugene O’Neill Foundation. “We felt it was a masterpiece in its own right. I sat there wondering how Kiera Chaplin felt about seeing baby pictures of Oona.” PBS will broadcast the feature on its American Experience program on Monday, March 27.
Eugene O’Neill was born Oct. 16, 1888, in a New York hotel in what later became known as Times Square, according to the PBS Web site. His mother, Ella O’Neill, became addicted to morphine. His father James O’Neill was an affluent professional but a somewhat disappointing stage actor.
The future playwright enrolled in Princeton University but was kicked out because of his poor academics and heavy drinking. Nonetheless, despite his struggles, O’Neill wrote prolifically. After leaving Princeton, he wrote numerous plays such as “The Emperor Jones,” “The Hairy Ape,” “Desire Under the Elms,” “Mourning Becomes Electra,” and Pulitzer Prize-winners “Strange Interlude” and “Anna Christie.”
His first two marriages failed, to Kathleen Jenkins and Agnes Boulton. But his marriage to his third wife Carlotta Monterey, who lived with him in Danville, lasted until his death in 1953.
O’Neill had one child with Jenkins and two with Boulton.
Kiera Chaplin’s grandmother was Oona O’Neill, the daughter of Agnes Boulton O’Neill. At 18, Oona married Charlie Chaplin, who was 54 at the time. Her father alienated her from his family after hearing the news. Nevertheless, Oona and Charlie enjoyed a long and happy marriage. She died of pancreatic cancer in 1991.
Chaplin has had a modeling career in Paris when she was 16 and is now focusing on her efforts in the film business. She was installed as chairman of Limelight Films Inc., a family-owned film distribution and production company, when she was 20.
“I have a few projects I’m working on,” she said.
Now, Kiera Chaplin hopes to take her legacy to the next level.
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