10 Actors Who Became Awesome Directors

It's absolutely impossible to over-estimate the importance of Charlie Chaplin when considering the history of cinema, transitioning from stage comedy to the screen in 1914 where he developed his iconic Tramp persona and quickly became a sensation.

Many of Chaplin's 1914 shorts were directed by others, though after creative clashes with several of these filmmakers, he was granted the opportunity to self-direct, and the rest is history.

The likes of The Kid, The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator are among the greatest films of their eras, representing the wittiest and most heartfelt storytelling in Chaplin's entire cachet.

Between his shorts and features, Chaplin directed 72 films throughout a Hollywood career spanning more than 50 years, and in exhibiting total control over his projects, is perhaps the prime example of an actor knowing they're the best person to steer the entire ship.

Inexplicably, though, Chaplin was never even nominated for a directing Oscar throughout his life - due to his original nomination for 1928's The Circus being turned into an honorary award instead - though did receive a career-celebrating second honorary Oscar in 1972 for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century."