Not to be confused with writer Sid Chaplin. For Sydney Chaplin's nephew, son of Charlie Chaplin, see Sydney Chaplin (actor).

Sydney John "Syd" Chaplin (16 March 1885 — 16 April 1965) was an English actor. He was the elder half-brother of Sir Charlie Chaplin and served as his business manager, and a half-uncle of the actor Sydney Chaplin (1926–2009), who was named after him.

Biography

In addition to his importance in launching and promoting brother Charlie's career over the years, perhaps Chaplin's most important contribution to history is in the field of aviation. In May 1919, he, along with pilot Emery Rogers, formulated the first privately owned domestic American airline, the Syd Chaplin Airline Company, based in Santa Monica, California. Even though the corporation lasted only a year, in that time it accumulated many "firsts." Syd and partners had the first ever aeroplane showroom for their Curtiss aeroplanes. Emery Rogers conducted the first roundtrip Los Angeles to San Francisco flight in one 24-hour period. Charlie Chaplin took his first-ever aeroplane flight in one of Syd's planes, as did many other notable personages of the period. Chaplin got out of the aviation business right after legislation began to pass regarding pilot licensing and the taxation of planes and flights.

Chaplin married twice and had no children. His first wife, Minnie, died in France in September 1936 following surgery for breast cancer. After World War II, Sydney lived most of his final years in Europe. His second wife, Henriette (called Gypsy) survived him. After a long illness, he died childless one month after his 80th birthday, on Good Friday, 16 April 1965, in Nice, France, on his brother Charlie's 76th birthday.
Chaplin is buried beside his wife Gypsy in Clarens-Montreux Cemetery, near Vevey.