Heinie Conklin

Conklin was born Charles John Conklin on July 16, 1880, in San Francisco, California. He attended San Francisco's public schools. In vaudeville, Conklin headlined shows on the Keith and Orpheum circuits. He was billed as Charles Conklin until 1927. He began working in films in 1915 after 17 years on stage and in vaudeville.

One of the original Keystone Cops, Conklin wore makeup of heavy eyebrow lining and a thin, upside-down, painted-on variation of Kaiser Wilhelm's mustache.

In areas where anti-German sentiments still ran high during the post-World War I era, Conklin was billed as Charlie Lynn. One of Conklin's first talking pictures was All Quiet on the Western Front as a hospital patient. For the rest of his career in talking pictures, he had small roles in 2-reelers which starred The Three Stooges, Andy Clyde, Hugh Herbert and Harry Langdon. Conklin's last billed movie was Abbott and Costello meet the Keystone Kops.

Conklin's period at Keystone was contemporary with that of Chester Conklin, a more popular Keystone comedian who occasionally played lead roles in Keystone short films. The two Conklins were not related.