(FORTUNE Magazine) – Hard times may have taught Big Blue a lesson in humility. Actor Billy Scudder, 51, is reprising his role as the Charlie Chaplin character in TV and print ads for IBM's PCs. While the thespian's view of the part he plays -- ''vulnerable, a clown, a fool'' -- doesn't seem to be the kind of image that any company would want to project, hey, it worked before. Scudder played the same part from 1981 to 1987, the years when IBM introduced its first PC and went on to win over 80% of the U.S. market for the machines. IBM's share has since dropped to 16%. Whatever IBM's travails, Scudder has turned his Chaplin imitations into a profitable career. The onetime torch singer and Shakespearean actor is currently appearing at Harrah's in Reno, Nevada, where he's paid to mill around the casino and bar in Chaplin costume, twirling his cane and taking pratfalls -- much the same script he was following at the Knott's Berry Farm theme park in Buena Park, California, back in 1981. That's when he beat out some 100 other faux Chaplins for the role, the brainchild of Tom Mabley, a copywriter at the Lord Geller ad agency. Scudder's take from the commercials? He's mute. While playing Chaplin has won him notoriety and other advertising work, the actor warns those contemplating a similar career in Chaplin get-up: ''It doesn't get you a seat in a restaurant. Nobody knows what you look like.''