Mary Pickford (1892-1979)
Born into genteel poverty Mary's mother was widowed by the time she was five. The child began acting in a local stock company. In 1907 producer David Belasco gave her a small role in his Broadway production The Warrens of Virginia. Mary went to the Biograph studio and got $10 a day for appearing in the flickers.
Soon the public were calling her Little Mary and she became the biggest star of silent films bigger even than Chaplin. Mary became the first and most famous example of typecasting when the public wouldn't accept her as anyone else but a young girl with golden curls. This very Victorian view of a young girl was reflected in films like : A Little Princess (1917), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917), Pollyanna (1920), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921) (in this case a young boy) and Little Annie Rooney (1925).
Pickford though played her heroines with
idealism and spunk and if you
can see past a woman in her twenties and thirties dressed as a young
girl these films can still entertain. The films which have survived
best temper the sugar with a harder edge, Pickford also
worked with a
forgotten though very talented director of light comedy/drama Marshall
Neilan who helmed two of her greatest films Stella Maris (1918) and
Daddy Long Legs (1919). Her most lasting work though is probably her
last silent My Best Girl (1927) a delightful comedy. With the coming of sound Pickford chose George Abbot's Coquette (1929) and won the Academy Award for Best Actress but the role made her just another flapper. Her later films weren't successful and she retired from the screen in 1933.
Fairbanks and Pickford had been the king and queen of Hollywood in the 20s but times had changed. Their marriage ended in 1936 and she wed actor Charles "Buddy" Rogers, by all accounts a happy union which lasted until her death.
Voices from Hollywood's Past - Mary
Pickford recalls her first meeting
with one of the great pioneers :
Filmography
1909 THE LITTLE TEACHER performer
1911 THE DREAM performer, screenwriter
1912 FRIENDS performer
1912 THE INFORMER performer
1912 THE OLD ACTOR performer
1914 BEHIND THE SCENES performer
1914 THE EAGLE'S MATE performer
1914 A GOOD LITTLE DEVIL performer
1914 SUCH A LITTLE QUEEN performer
1914 TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY performer
1915
THE DAWN OF A TOMORROW
performer
1915 FANCHON, THE CRICKET performer
1915 THE FOUNDLING performer, producer
1915 LITTLE PAL performer
1915 MADAME BUTTERFLY performer
1915 MISTRESS NELL performer
1915 RAGS performer
1916 THE ETERNAL GRIND performer
1916 THE FOUNDLING performer
1916 HULDA FROM HOLLAND performer
1916 LESS THAN THE DUST performer
1916 POOR LITTLE PEPPINA performer
1917 THE LITTLE AMERICAN performer
1917 A LITTLE PRINCESS performer
1917 THE POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL performer
1917 THE PRIDE OF THE CLAN performer
1917 REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM
performer
1917 A ROMANCE OF THE REDWOODS performer
1918 AMARILLY OF CLOTHES-LINE ALLEY performer
1918 CAPTAIN KIDD, JR. performer
1918 HOW COULD YOU JEAN? performer
1918 JOHANNA ENLISTS performer
1918 M'LISS performer
1918 STELLA MARIS performer
1919 DADDY LONG LEGS performer
1919 HEART O' THE HILLS performer
1919 THE HOODLUM performer
1920 POLLYANNA performer
1920 SUDS performer
1921 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY performer
1921 THE LOVE LIGHT performer
1921 THROUGH THE BACK DOOR performer
1922 TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY performer
1923 ROSITA performer
1924 DOROTHY VERNON OF HADDON HALL performer
1925 LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY performer
1926 SPARROWS performer
1927 MY BEST GIRL performer
1928 THE GAUCHO performer
1929 COQUETTE performer
1929 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW performer
1931 KIKI performer
1933 SECRETS performer
1936 THE GAY DESPERADO producer
1948 SLEEP MY LOVE producer
1909 THE LITTLE TEACHER performer
1911 THE DREAM performer, screenwriter
1912 FRIENDS performer
1912 THE INFORMER performer
1912 THE OLD ACTOR performer
1914 BEHIND THE SCENES performer
1914 THE EAGLE'S MATE performer
1914 A GOOD LITTLE DEVIL performer
1914 SUCH A LITTLE QUEEN performer
1914 TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY performer
1915
THE DAWN OF A TOMORROW
performer1915 FANCHON, THE CRICKET performer
1915 THE FOUNDLING performer, producer
1915 LITTLE PAL performer
1915 MADAME BUTTERFLY performer
1915 MISTRESS NELL performer
1915 RAGS performer
1916 THE ETERNAL GRIND performer
1916 THE FOUNDLING performer
1916 HULDA FROM HOLLAND performer
1916 LESS THAN THE DUST performer
1916 POOR LITTLE PEPPINA performer
1917 THE LITTLE AMERICAN performer
1917 A LITTLE PRINCESS performer
1917 THE POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL performer
1917 THE PRIDE OF THE CLAN performer
1917 REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM
performer
1917 A ROMANCE OF THE REDWOODS performer
1918 AMARILLY OF CLOTHES-LINE ALLEY performer
1918 CAPTAIN KIDD, JR. performer
1918 HOW COULD YOU JEAN? performer
1918 JOHANNA ENLISTS performer
1918 M'LISS performer
1918 STELLA MARIS performer
1919 DADDY LONG LEGS performer
1919 HEART O' THE HILLS performer
1919 THE HOODLUM performer
1920 POLLYANNA performer
1920 SUDS performer
1921 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY performer
1921 THE LOVE LIGHT performer
1921 THROUGH THE BACK DOOR performer
1922 TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY performer
1923 ROSITA performer
1924 DOROTHY VERNON OF HADDON HALL performer
1925 LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY performer
1926 SPARROWS performer
1927 MY BEST GIRL performer
1928 THE GAUCHO performer
1929 COQUETTE performer
1929 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW performer
1931 KIKI performer
1933 SECRETS performer
1936 THE GAY DESPERADO producer
1948 SLEEP MY LOVE producer
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Written content of the Golden Age of Hollywood Website (except where indicated) copyright Derek McLellan, 2007.