Mary Pickford

Silent film legend Mary Pickford in a charming portrait sitting by photographer Nelson Evans (circa 1918). Born Gladys Louise Smith on April 8, 1892 in Toronto Canada, Mary was one of the most popular actresses of the silent era, earning the nicknames "Queen of the Movies", "America's Sweetheart" and the "girl with the curls." She began in the theatre at age seven and she toured with her family in a number of companies. In 1907, she adopted a family name Pickford and joined the David Belasco troupe, appearing in the long-running "The Warrens of Virginia". Mary began in films in 1909 with the American Mutoscope & Biograph, working with director D.W. Griffith and then to Biograph in 1912 and in 1913 joined the Famous Players Film Company under Adolph Zukor. In 1919, she co-founded United Artists with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin and then-future husband, Douglas Fairbanks. Notable film credits include "Tess of the Storm Country" (1914), "Pollyanna" (1920), "The Love Light" (1921), "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1921), "Little Annie Rooney" (1925) and "Sparrows" (1926). After retiring from the screen in the 1930s. she generally withdrew and gradually became a recluse, remaining almost entirely at her home "Pickfair". In 1955, Mary published her memoirs, "Sunshine and Shadows". She had previously published "Why Not Try God" in 1934, an essay on spirituality and personal growth, "My Rendevouz of Life" (1935), an essay on death and her belief in an afterlife and also a novel in 1935, "The Demi-Widow". On May 29, 1979, the film icon passed away of complications from a cerebral haemorrhage she had suffered the week before (aged 87). Her third husband, Buddy Rogers, was at her bedside.

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