 Charles Chaplin (qv) got the idea when a friend,  Alexander Korda (qv), noted that his screen persona and  Adolf Hitler (qv) looked somewhat similar. Chaplin later learned  they were both born within a week of each other, were roughly the  same height and weight and both struggled in poverty until they  reached great success in their respective fields. When Chaplin  learned of Hitlers policies of racial oppression and nationalist  aggression, he used their similarities as an inspiration to attack  Hitler on film.