"Derek Gee" wrote >
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/feb/17/charlie-chaplin-gypsy-heritage
The Guardian article about the letter stuffed in the back of a drawer does
not amount to much. Probably embroidery to make a good story.
Chaplin said he was born eight o'clock at night on April 16th 1889 in East
Lane Walworth.
In 1854, Chaplin's grandfather Spencer, had married a seventeen year old
gypsy girl Ellen Elizabeth Smith in the parish church of St Margarets
Ipswich.
Chaplin describes his grandmother as "half gypsy," and the fact "was the
skeleton in our family cupboard."
Incidentally, Chaplin's half-brother Sydney's second wife was named Gypsy.
From the evidence the answer seems to be no, he wasn't.