Mary Pickford (1893-1979)

• actress, producer
• born Gladys Marie Smith on April 9,1893, in Toronto, Ontario
• died May 29, 1979
• known as "America's Sweetheart" (and in Europe as "the World's Sweetheart")
• as a child Pickford acted in a Toronto stock company which lead to leading roles in New York productions by David Belasco
• began her film career in Her First Biscuits (1907), followed by The Violin Maker of Cremona (1910), both directed by D. W. Griffith.
• became one of the most popular stars in the history of film
• well-known silent films include:
  • The New York Hat
  • Tess of the Storm Country
  • Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
  • Poor Little Rich Girl
  • M'liss
  • Daddy Long Legs
• in 1919 Pickford and Griffith, together with her husband Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, founded United Artists Corporation
• in 1929 she won an Academy Award for her performance in the sound film Coquette
• autobiography: Sunshine and Shadow (1955)
• books about Mary Pickford:
  • The films of Mary Pickford (1971) by Raymond Lee
  • Sweetheart: the story of Mary Pickford (1974) by Robert Windeler
  • Doug & Mary : a biography of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford (1977) by Gary Carey
  • Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks: the most popular couple the world has ever known (1977) by Booton Herndon
  • Mary Pickford, America's sweetheart (1990) by Scott Eyman
• filmography
• more information

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