She was a founder of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers in and she was the last of the original United Artists founders to sell her interest in the mids. Her final film as an actress, Secrets , was released in , the same week that newly elected President Roosevelt declared a bank holiday, closing down all financial institutions at the height of the Depression.
Mary Pickford was also an early leader in the film preservation movement and an ardent supporter of creating a museum devoted to the art of moviemaking. She was a hands-on contributor to organizations supporting the creative community. In , before the creation of the Screen Actors Guild, Mary spearheaded the Payroll Pledge Program which financed the Relief Fund by deducting one half of one percent from the salaries of those making over two hundred dollars a week.
We still have much to learn from both the work and life of Mary Pickford. The thing that most attracted me the day I first saw her was the intelligence that shone in her face. I found she was thirsty for work and information. She died in She often appeared on screen in young girl roles, even when she was an adult. Pickford began performing at the age of five on the stage and was known for a time as "Baby Gladys. Griffith, a director and head of American Biography Company.
At the time, most films were short and she appeared in more than 40 movies in When Griffith moved his operation to California the following year, Pickford went with him. Over the years, her fame grew as well as her salary. She became an international star, beloved for her beauty and charm. She had been married to actor Owen Moore and divorced him to be with Fairbanks. Fans adored the pairing, and the couple were known to host fabulous events at their home, called Pickfair, which were attended by many of the leading figures in film.
In the s, Pickford continued to score more box-office hits with Polyanna and Little Lord Fauntleroy Around this time, the film industry was changing and talking pictures were on the rise.
In , Pickford starred in her first talkie Coquette , which explored the dark side of a wealthy family. Still, Pickford later said these were the happiest years of her life. However, her childhood haunted her. She was always afraid of losing everything she had earned and did not enjoy the money.
Between and , Pickford appeared in higher quality films and was at the peak of her career and popularity. She made some of her best-known movies and was in control of many aspects of production. She could pick and choose her scripts and directors, for example. Pickford also helped develop lighting techniques by insisting that Charles Rosher act as her cameraman for every movie. Pickford similarly furthered film narrative techniques. Despite this savvy, she was still cast as the little moppet girl.
For example, in , Pickford played a year-old in The Little Princess though she was 24 years of age. Pickford continually challenged herself as an actress, playing more than one role in a film or roles that were physically demanding. In , she and her mother formed the Mary Pickford Film Corporation, making her the first female film star to head her own film company. On March 28, , Pickford and Fairbanks married, after a three-year affair. Their marriage was idealized by their adoring fans, and they were considered the first couple of Hollywood.
Publicly, the couple encouraged this. Pickford and Fairbanks were the first stars to imprint their footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. The private reality of their marriage was far from the myth. Fairbanks was jealous and had numerous extramarital affairs. Pickford also had affairs, as well as a problem with alcohol. In the early s, Pickford wanted to cultivate a more adult screen presence.
She appeared in his first American effort, Rosita , though she did not like working with him. Despite this and other efforts to be cast as an adult, Pickford was forced to do juvenile roles, like playing the son and the mother in Little Lord Fauntleroy , to please her audience. While Pickford wanted to take on more creative roles, she wanted to increase her box office receipts even more.
The quality of her films began to decline as Pickford tried to escape her typecast moppet image. She appeared in her first, and most successful, sound picture in Coquette was the subject of controversy for fans because Pickford cut off her curls and bobbed her hair in the style of the flapper that she played.
She won an Academy Award for best actress, although this decision was even more controversial. At the time, voting for the Oscars was done by the Academy's central board of judges. Pickford was a co-founder of the Academy and Fairbanks was its president.
She used Fairbanks' position as leverage in her aggressive campaign to obtain the prize. As a result of this incident, voting for the awards was done by all Academy members from that year forward. Pickford's acting career faltered after her Academy Award victory, although she always tried to give the audience what it wanted.
Pickford retired from acting in , after an appearance in Secrets, her last film and a box office failure. Pickford believed her audience wanted her to always play the young girl and this was no longer possible at the age of
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