SILENT FILM DAYS: MARY PICKFORD ( b.1892-d. 1979)-Actress

THE EARLY YEARS

Mary Pickford (Gladys Marie Smith) was born on April 8, 1892, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She had two younger siblings, Sister Lottie, and Brother Jack. By the time Mary was three, her father, an alcoholic, abandoned his family. Three years later he had an accident at his workplace and died shortly after from a cerebral hemorrhage. Her mother, Charlotte Hennessy, encouraged her children to become actors. At seven years old, Mary played a small role for a local theatre company. For a few years, Charlotte Hennessy and her children were engaged by various small theatre companies who ran shows throughout the United States. Overtime, Mary developed her skills and began to play more important roles. Her first Broadway play, was a David Belasco production,” The Warrens of Virginia. She had a supporting role and the play had a long run in New York City. During that time Mary officially changed her name to Mary Pickford. At the end of the play’s run, Mary found herself without work. In 1909, Charlotte advised Mary to try her luck at Biograph Studios, a motion picture company. Mary considered it a disgrace to work in pictures and hesitated venturing in the filmmaking industry. However, her mother insisted and Mary reluctantly obeyed her wishes.

Upon her arrival at Biograph, she was ushered in to see Director, D.W. Griffith who after a short conversation with Mary hired her to play a small role in a movie short. Mary was 16 years old. After a short time, Mary managed to set up an interview for her friend, Lillian Gish, and within a few months, the two women became the most popular actresses of silent films. That year, was a busy one for Mary, she appeared in over 50 movies. She worked for Biograph for the next two years churning out numerous films where she played leading roles as well as bit parts. In those days, it was common for actors to play all level of roles. Mary left Biograph in 1911 to work for the Independent Motion Picture Company, a Studio owned by the great producer, Carl Laemmle. Mary made several movies, but left after a year to return to Biograph where she appeared in over 25 films. In that year, Mary who was now 18 years old secretly married actor, Owen Moore. During the latter part of 1912, Mary took a short break from movies and returned to Broadway. The following year, she made a decision to work exclusively in film and joined, Adolph Zukor’s Famous Players in Famous Plays, later known as, Paramount.

FAME

By 1914 she became a national sensation and was known as “America’s Sweetheart”. From then to 1916, her salary had quadrupled from $500.00 per week to $2,000.00 per week with an additional half of the profits from her films. The audiences loved Mary’s usual parts of the little girl with the long golden curls. The ringlet hairstyle became the rage throughout the country.

In 1916 Mary signed another contract with Famous Players and formed her own production company, Pickford Film Corporation. She had a say in the selection of her roles, directors, cast, and advertisement. The contract was for two years and she was guaranteed an income of $10,000.00 per week and half the profits of her films or half a million dollars which ever was the greater amount. As well, she only had to film 6 movies per year which allowed her to venture into other areas of the movie industry. By 1918, her contract was up and Mary was in a disagreement with, Adolph Zukor, over the contract details. She left Famous Player and joined, First National where Mary was contracted to make just 3 films for revenue of $675,000.00 per movie, total creative control from beginning to end, and her usual fifty percent for profits from all of her films. During those years, Mary had a secret affair with actor stuntman, Douglas Fairbanks who was also married at the time and had a son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who would later become a famous actor in his own right. Mary thought that if her public found out about her affair, she would be termed as a home wrecker and that it would ruin her career. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary continued their affair despite the fears, and prepared plans to divorce their respective spouses.

In 1919, Mary joined in a venture to form a film production company, United Artist, along with Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith. Between 1919 and 1927, the studio produced many great films some of which grossed over a million dollars. Mary was in several of the popular ones including, Pollyanna 1920, Little Lord Fauntleroy 1921, and, Little Annie Rooney 1925.

In March, 1920, Mary and Douglas Fairbanks married. The public welcomed the union, much to the relief of the bride and groom. During their marriage, they purchased a property in Beverly Hills, California, and named it Pickfair. The house of 22 rooms became the entertaining center for the rich and famous including European Royalty. The couple held elaborate dinners often with a guest list to be envied. Some of them were, Albert Einstein, Lord Mountbatten, and F.Scott Fitzgerald. Although Mary and Fairbanks were madly in love with each other, by 1927 the marriage began to experience problems. Douglas Fairbanks became moodier and severely depressed. There was gossip of extra-marital affairs. Mary turned toward alcohol a disease that had taken hold of her brother Jack as well. The marriage would last 15 years.

In 1927, Mary was cast alongside a young leading actor in the movie, My Best Girl. The actor was Charles “Buddy” Roger. He had just recently completed the movie” Wings” opposite, Clara Bow. The movie had been a total success and would later on be the first movie ever honored for best picture. When Rogers and Mary first met, they were very smitten with each other. However, Mary who was still in love with Fairbanks, dismissed her feelings and tried to work on her marriage. In the meantime, she continued to work in movies. At this point, Mary grew tired of playing angelic young girl roles and longed to play more mature women parts and considered changing her image. However, there was an unexpected situation that occurred, for within the year, her beloved mother, Charlotte, died. Mary took it very badly. For a couple of months she depicted her sorrow with fits of anger, screaming, and was physically abusive towards others. Then three months after her mother’s death, Mary, walked into a Beauty Salon and cut of her long curls. It was a bold move, one that would not be so favorable for Mary. By the end of that year, 1928, the silent film industry was doomed. Technical advancement evolved with the development of sound, a medium that would eventually destroy silent films permanently. Mary’s last silent film was, The Gaucho, 1928. The movie starred her husband, Fairbanks, and she played the small role The Virgin Mary.

TALKIES

Her first sound film was Coquette, 1929; she played the role of a flirtatious southern belle. Mary received an academy award for her role. . Mary made just a few movies during the next three years. None of them were successful. To make matters worse, her private life was no better, but, Mary still held on to some hope that she and Fairbanks could make their relationship work. Interestingly, her last movie, “Secrets”, 1933, had a scene near the end where her character makes a speech about forgiveness to her husband for his string of affairs. There were rumors that the speech was an indirect plea toward Fairbanks. Unfortunately, their marriage was beyond repair and was headed for divorce.

Between 1929, and 1937, the years were unkind for Mary. In 1933 her brother, Jack, died, he was 36 years old. In early 1936, her divorce from Fairbanks became final. In December, 1936, her 41 year old sister, Lottie, died of a heart attack.

No longer acting in movies, Mary remained active; she produced several movies for United Artist, wrote a book of her life, and appeared at public events. After many years of pursuit from her admirer, Charles “Buddy “Rogers, Mary finally married him on, June 24^th, 1937. During their life together they adopted two children, a boy Ronald, and a girl, Roxanne. Despite the age difference of 12 years, her marriage to Rogers lasted over 40 years until her death in 1979. In 1939, two years after her marriage to Rogers, her second husband, Fairbanks, died of a heart attack.

LATER YEARS

Mary began to spend more time being involved with home life and charity work. In 1956 she sold her shares of United Artist. Mary formed an organization, Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital, which helped retired and former film industry members who were left without insurance, benefits, or enough funds for their health needs and daily expenses.

Mary’s alcoholic dependence played a large part towards her declining health. She stayed in her bedroom for long periods of time, virtually becoming a recluse. Mary’s last public appearance was a live broadcast taped at her home in 1976 for an acceptance speech for a Lifetime Achievement, presented to her by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, an organization she had started years many years earlier. She died of cerebral hemorrhage, in May, 1979, she was 87 years old.

Mary Pickford was a talented performer, producer, and savy business woman, who made over 200 films between the years 1908 to 1935. Mary was quite the opposite of the child like characters she portrayed so often. She was a respected kind hearted woman who used her popularity for charity work and she contributed greatly towards the American Cinema industry and will forever be respected and regarded as one of the most popular celebrities of her time.

LIST OF SOME FILMS

TENDER HEARTS – 1909

IN OLD KENTUCKY -1909 –

AN AFFAIR OF HEARTS – 1910

RAMONA – 1910

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD – 1911

THE NARROW ROAD – 1912

A FEUD IN THE KENTUCKY HILLS – 1912

CINDERELLA – 1914
THE POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL – 1917

STELLA MARIS – 1918

DADDY-LONG-LEGS – 1919

THE HOODLUM – 1919
POLLYANNA – 1920
THROUGH THE BACK DOOR – 1921
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY – 1921