Chaplin hired him as a driver. In return, he saved Chaplin.
March 3, 1885: Toraichi Kōno, chauffeur, secretary, and confidant to Charlie Chaplin for decades, was born in Hiroshima.
Toraichi Kōno grew up in Japan, the younger son of a samurai family. Around 1904, he immigrated to California. He pursued training in aviation and studied law, navigating a country fascinated by modernity but increasingly hostile to Asian immigrants.
In 1916, he answered an advertisement seeking a chauffeur for Charlie Chaplin. He applied and got the job. By then, Chaplin was already one of the most famous men in the world.
At the same time, another Japanese star, Sessue Hayakawa, was among the highest-paid and most recognizable actors in silent film.
What began as employment became trust. Kōno spoke excellent English, understood American business culture, and possessed a calm competence Chaplin relied on. He appeared in three Chaplin films playing a driver on screen while serving as one in real life.
Toraichi Kōno as a high school student in Japan. Born into a samurai family in 1885, he later immigrated to the U.S. and become Chaplin’s trusted chauffeur and secretary.
Toraichi Kōno during his aviation training in the early 1900s. Before working for Charlie Chaplin, Kōno studied both aviation and law after immigrating to California.
Charlie Chaplin as the “Little Tramp,” the iconic character that made him one of the most famous figures in the world by 1916, the year Toraichi Kōno became his chauffeur.
Toraichi Kōno and Edna Purviance in “The Adventurer” (1917). Kōno worked as Charlie Chaplin’s chauffeur in real life and appeared on screen as a driver as well.
Photography by Albert Witzel
In 1924, Thomas H. Ince died mysteriously aboard William Randolph Hearst’s yacht. Kōno reportedly moved quickly to escort Chaplin away as rumors began to spread.
A Driver Who Ran Chaplin’s World
Over time, Kōno became more than an employee. He became valet, private secretary, and gatekeeper. He handled appointments, correspondence, finances, and access. In an industry fueled by scandal and ego, discretion was priceless.
Chaplin trusted him completely.
By the early 1920s, Kōno was effectively managing Chaplin’s household. He recruited Japanese maids, butlers, gardeners, and chefs to staff the estate. Chaplin often praised the precision of his Japanese staff, saying they swept into the corners while others merely pushed dirt in circles.
There was also another quality Chaplin valued: loyalty.
The Day Chaplin Was Supposed to Die
In 1932, Chaplin traveled to Japan for three weeks with his brother Sydney and Toraichi Kōno.
Japan was politically volatile. Ultra-nationalist factions were agitating against Western influence. Foreign dignitaries were symbolic targets. Kōno, who acted as translator and guide, was acutely aware of the tension. He later described himself as “worried and harassed every hour.” Chaplin was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi at his residence.
Instead, the Prime Minister’s son invited Chaplin to attend a sumo match and join him for dinner afterward. The change in plans aligned with Kōno’s repeated adjustments to Chaplin’s itinerary, which he had been shifting frequently to avoid predictable patterns.
While Chaplin and the Prime Minister’s son watched sumo wrestling, assassins entered the Prime Minister’s home and shot him.
Courtesy of Hiroshima Prefectural Archives
Charlie Chaplin and Toraichi Kōno during their 1932 visit to Japan. Sensing growing danger around Chaplin, Kōno quietly changed their itinerary again and again.
Courtesy of Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi. On May 15, 1932, Charlie Chaplin was scheduled to visit him. That night, Inukai was assassinated in what became known as the May 15 Incident.
From Rekishi Shashin July 1932 issue
Charlie Chaplin and Toraichi Kōno with sumo wrestlers in 1932. Kōno redirected Chaplin to a sumo match that day, avoiding a scheduled visit to Prime Minister Inukai.
From Asahi Shimbun 1932
Japanese newspaper coverage following the assassination of Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi on May 15, 1932. Charlie Chaplin had been expected to visit him that evening.
The May 15 Incident
The attack became known as the “Gōichigo Jiken” (May 15 Incident). During the subsequent trial, one of the plotters explained that Chaplin had also been considered a target. Killing him, they believed, could provoke war between Japan and the United States.
“Chaplin is a popular figure in the United States and the darling of the capitalist class,” one conspirator testified. “We believed that killing him would cause a war with America.”
Chaplin survived.
When news of the assassination broke, it was Kōno who grasped immediately how dangerous their position had become. He ensured their safe return to the Imperial Hotel.
A simple change in plans kept him alive.
Fame Ended. Suspicion Began.
Kōno returned to the United States with Chaplin. The danger in Tokyo faded into memory. Hollywood resumed its rhythm.
He continued working for Chaplin for years, meeting world leaders, managing business affairs, and navigating the strange intersection of celebrity and politics. But that arrangement ended when actress Paulette Goddard entered Chaplin’s orbit and demanded control over Kōno’s dealings. He resigned.
In the late 1930s, as relations between the United States and Japan deteriorated, suspicion fell heavily on Japanese immigrants, especially those with international ties. Kōno was arrested by the FBI on allegations that he had social connections to individuals suspected of espionage.
The case was never cleanly proven. While federal authorities attempted to deport him, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He was briefly released, then arrested again on December 19, 1941.
Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard. As Goddard became central in Chaplin’s personal and professional life, Toraichi Kōno’s long-standing role began to diminish.
After Pearl Harbor, over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned in the United States. Toraichi Kōno was among those swept into detention.
Courtesy of Merrill H. Scott family
Just miles from ordinary neighborhoods, schools, and homes, thousands were detained at Tuna Canyon before being sent deeper into the incarceration system, including Kōno.
Wayne Collins and Tex Nakamura. After the war, Kōno assisted efforts to defend and restore the rights of Japanese Americans entangled in detention and expatriation cases.
Enemy Alien
Kōno was sent to the Tuna Canyon Detention Station in California. From there he was transferred to Fort Missoula in Montana, then to Santa Fe, and later to Kooskia, Idaho — a Department of Justice camp where prisoners performed labor under harsh conditions. Eventually, he was reunited with his family at Crystal City in Texas.
Most incarcerated Japanese Americans were released before the end of the war. Kōno was not. Because he lacked U.S. citizenship and had been implicated in alleged intelligence connections, he remained imprisoned until 1948.
After his release, he assisted attorneys Wayne Collins and Tetsujiro “Tex” Nakamura in defending Nisei and Kibei who had renounced their citizenship under duress in Little Tokyo. He became involved with the Tule Lake Defense Committee and continued to help those stranded in Japan regain their legal status in the United States.
All said and done, it turned out, Toraichi Kōno wasn’t just a driver.