Douglas Fairbanks Sr

Silent film star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in publicity for the 1927 film THE GAUCHO. He was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman in Denver, Colorado, on May 23, 1883. He began amateur theatre at age 12 and continued while attending the Colorado School of Mines. He made his Broadway debut in 1902 and five years later left theatre to marry an industrialist's daughter. In 1915, he went to Hollywood and worked under director D.W. Griffith. The following year he formed his own production company. During a Liberty Bond tour with Charles Chaplin he fell in love with Mary Pickford with whom he, Chaplin and Griffith formed United Artists in 1919. Fairbanks made very successful early social comedies, then highly popular swashbucklers, including “The Mark of Zorro” (1920), “The Three Musketeers” (1921), “Robin Hood” (1922), “The Thief of Bagdad” (1924) and “The Black Pirate” (1926). His last silent film was the lavish “The Iron Mask” (1929), a sequel to the 1921 release “The Three Musketeers”. While Fairbanks had flourished in the silent genre, the restrictions of early sound films dulled his enthusiasm for film-making. His athletic abilities and general health also began to decline at this time, in part due to his years of chain-smoking. He and Mary Pickford chose to make their first talkie as a joint venture, playing Petruchio and Kate in Shakespeare's “The Taming of the Shrew” (1929). This film, and his subsequent sound films, were poorly received by Depression-era audiences. The last film in which he acted was the British production “The Private Life of Don Juan” (1934), after which he retired from acting. Fairbanks and Pickford separated in 1933, after he began an affair with Lady Sylvia Ashley. He continued to be marginally involved in the film industry and United Artists, but his later years lacked the intense focus of his film years. His health continued to decline. On December 12, 1939, Fairbanks suffered a heart attack, passing away later that day at his home in Santa Monica at age 56.

(www.hollywoodpinups.com)