You know you're having a bad day, when people don't think you look like yourself. For that's what happened to silent film star Charlie Chaplin. In a contest for who could best imitate his famous alter ego, the little tramp, Chaplin lagged far behind the winner. The contest, which some reports say took place in Monaco or Switzerland, was actually held in San Francisco. (Other undocumented reports say that his brother Sydney won the contest.) Chaplin didn't even make the finals. But in one contest held in Cleveland, a clever young comedian named Bob Hope took home top prize.

The character of the Little Tramp, was inspired by the poverty of Chaplin's early life in London, England. His father and mother, both in show business, divorced when he was quite young, leaving his mother to eke out a living at sewing for him and his half-brother, Sydney. During his mother's periodic bouts in an asylum, the children were sent to the Workhouse, a public charitable institution for the indigent. But at the age of nine, Charlie had the chance to tour with a stage company, where he met an amusing compatriot named Stan Laurel.

From then on, he never looked back. Chaplin's entry into show business was low-key, but would soon take the world by storm, with his creation of the Little Tramp in 1914. As his popularity soared, he began dabbling in other aspects of the movie world, both writing and directing. His last Little Tramp movie came out in 1932, and his last movie ever, in which he had a cameo as a hotel porter, was A Countess in Hong Kong, starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando in 1967. Chaplin was 78 at the time.