Winston Churchill with Charlie Chaplin, outside Churchill's home, Chartwell, in 1931. These two figures first met in 1929, in strange circumstances. William Randolph Hearst organized an evening full of stars for Churchill and his three children in Ocean House, the mansion of the actress Marion Davis in Santa Monica. During the hubbub of that meeting, Chaplin noticed that the British politician felt outside his atmosphere, slightly removed from the group "like a Napoleon with his hands in his jacket." Hearst encouraged him to meet such a unique character and between them there was a curious conversation about politics. The conversation between them lasted until three in the morning and it was then that they discovered that both were particularly interested in the figure of Napoleon. During his lifetime, Chaplin dreamed of playing three historical figures (Napoleon, Jesus Christ and Hitler), of which he only brought a parody of the latter. The idea of bringing the Corsican emperor to life came almost from childhood -his mother excused her husband's absences from Napoleon's exits during his military campaigns- and it was not uncommon to see him in Napoleonic disguise at Hollywood parties. As the tune seemed increasingly over, Churchill, who was accumulating books and books about the brilliant strategist, launched himself into a spontaneous proposal: Chaplin would play Napoleon in a film scripted by Churchill. That film about Napoleon never came to fruition, even though the politician had to involve producer Alexander Korda. But the sympathy between Chaplin and Churchill was cemented forever. Moreover, according to the novelist Michael Köhlmeier, in that evening both sealed a pact of knights to assist in their most depressing moments, near suicide, what they called "black dogs."

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