Declassified documents show FBI, MI5 spied on Chaplin
2/25/2012MOST VIEWED
Editor's Note: We're taking a look back at the most noteworthy stories from the last week on msnNOW. This was our most viewed story of the week, proving that celebrities don't have to be alive to generate interest from msnNOW fans!
According to declassified documents quoted in The Guardian, the FBI had a 2,000-page file on Charlie Chaplin and reached out across the pond for help spying on him. In 1952, J. Edgar Hoover contacted the UK's MI5 security agency because he was concerned that Chaplin was a Communist sympathizer; meanwhile, the Brits wondered if the actor was actually - quelle horreur! - French.
The MI5 eventually concluded that Chaplin was "not a security risk" but, oddly enough, couldn't find proof of his birth in England or France. Regardless, Chaplin was banned from re-entering the U.S in 1953. Wait, we booted Charlie, but we're OK with Snooki staying here?
