BLUE PLAQUES - ACTORS WHO'VE LIVED IN LAMBETH OR SOUTHWARK

The first blue plaque was erected in London in 1867, and since then, many, many more have been placed throughout the UK in order to commemorate a link between said location and a famous person, event, or former building that existed within the vicinity. Today, we've come to two different parts of Greater London, Lambeth and Southwark, where we can discover a blue plaque for each of the following celebrities.

Charlie Chaplin
(Actor / Filmmaker / Composer)

Born: April 16, 1889, in London, England
Died: December 25, 1977, in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland (aged 88)
Some of their notable films: Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), and Limelight (1952)
Address: 15 Glenshaw Mansions, Brixton Road, London, SW9 6BH, London Borough of Lambeth
Lived here from 1908 to 1910
Trivia: Charlie Chaplin and his brother, Sydney, lived together in a third-floor flat at 15 Glenshaw Mansions for roughly two years. At the time, they worked for the Fred Karno Company, where they managed to earn enough money to furnish their 'cherished haven' with £40 worth of furnishings from a second-hand furniture shop located in Newington Butts. This included a couch, two armchairs, a fretwork Moorish screen, and a tasteful female nude portrait.

Leslie Howard
(Actor / Director / Producer)

Born: April 3, 1893, in Upper Norwood, London, England
Died: June 1, 1943, in Galicia, Spain (aged 50)
Some of their notable films: Of Human Bondage (1934), The Petrified Forest (1936), and Gone with the Wind (1939)
Address: 45 Farquhar Road, Upper Norwood, London, SE19 1SS, London Borough of Southwark
Lived here from 1907 to 1911
Trivia: When he was living in Farquhar Road, Upper Norwood, Leslie Howard attended a school in the neighboring borough of Dulwich, named, Alleyn's School, and happily performed in plays at the Stanley Halls in nearby South Norwood. In fact, he was so happy performing on stage, that after leaving school, Leslie eventually went back to the stage, following a short career as a bank clerk in Whitehall.

Margaret Lockwood
(Actress)

Born: September 15, 1916, in Karachi, India
Died: July 15, 1990, in London, England (aged 73)
Some of their notable films: The Lady Vanishes (1938), Night Train to Munich (1940), and The Man in Grey (1943)
Address: 14 Highland Road, Upper Norwood, London, SE19 1DP, London Borough of Lambeth
Lived here from 1922 to 1923
Trivia: Within a sixteen-year period, Margaret Lockwood and her family lived in three different houses located on Highland Road, Upper Norwood. Number 14 was the first of these addresses and the only one that survived a devastating V1 strike during the Blitz (unlike 18a Highland Road, where they moved to in 1923, and 30 Highland Road, where they moved to in 1934). In her autobiography, Margaret said that number 14 was 'a large upstairs maisonette, from the windows of which we could still see grey plains of the city stretching endlessly'.

Boris Karloff
(Actor)

Born: November 23, 1887, in Dulwich, Surrey, England
Died: February 2, 1969, in Midhurst, Sussex, England (aged 81)
Some of their notable films: Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Address: 36 Forest Hill Road, Peckham Rye, London, SE22 0RR, London Borough of Southwark
Lived here from 1887 to 1894
Trivia: Boris Karloff spent the first seven years of his life living in a house with his family at 36 Forest Hill Road, next to the lawns and sloping gardens of Peckham Rye. His birth was registered in Dulwich, however, and his early years are often attributed to being spent in Surrey, due to this part of London still technically being part of that county (in the era he was born).

For further information, please feel free to visit the English Heritage Website, Instagram, and Twitter pages. Or if you prefer, click here to see some of the other celebrities who've been commemorated with a blue plaque.