Mary Pickford was born
Gladys Marie Smith on April 8, 1892, in Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, though in later years she would try to shave a year
off her age. Her father was an alcoholic who could not hold a
job, and he died when Gladys was a child. Gladys' mother
pushed her children into show business for financial reasons,
and Gladys was soon a success on Broadway, first known as
"Baby Gladys Smith," until the producer
David Belasco christened her "Mary Pickford."
Her film
career began in 1908, when she met D.W. Griffith, head of
Biograph Studios. She began working at Biograph with her
friends, Lillian and Dorothy Gish. Griffith specialized in
films featuring the damsel in distress stereotype, and
both
Gish sisters played it to perfection. When Mary felt Griffith
was paying more attention to the Gishes than to her, she left
Biograph.
By this time,
1910, Mary showed that she was already a savvy businesswoman
by hopping from studio to studio - wherever the most money
was. By 1916 she was already making $16,000 a week. Now
known throughout the world as "America's
Sweetheart," (abroad Mary was called "The World's
Sweetheart") she continued playing little girl roles in
films such as New York Hat (1912) and Daddy Long
Legs (1919.) At this time she also married actor
Owen Moore. The marriage didn't last too long, however,
because on a war bond tour during World War I, Mary met a man
who was to have a profound affect on both her personal and
professional life.
Douglas
Fairbanks was the biggest male star in Hollywood. He was the
first "action" star, thrilling audiences by swinging
on ropes, jumping across high buildings, and engaging in sword
fights. Mary found him irresistible, and after divorcing their
respective spouses, they married in 1920. They named their
Hollywood estate PickFair, and were renowned for their
glittering parties.
It was at
around this time that Mary formed United Artists with
Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and her former boss D.W. Griffith.
United Artists was a revolutionary concept: allowing
filmmakers to have total artistic control over their films
from conception through post production. It also meant that
artists and writers could control their own financial future,
rather than having to kowtow to exploitative studio bosses.
Her decision to help found United Artist would eventually make
Mary Pickford a millionaire several times over. She was not as
lucky in her personal life, however, and she and Fairbanks
divorced in 1929.
Though Mary won an Oscar
that same year for a "grown-up" role in Coquette,
audiences never really accepted her as an adult, and she
retired in 1933. She married Charles Buddy Rogers, an actor
and musician, in 1937. She devoted much of her time to
charity, and also helped to incorporate Beverly Hills. In
1976, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded
Mary its lifetime achievement award. She was known to drink to
excess in her later years, and on May 29, 1979, Mary Pickford
died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 87.