BIOGRAPH The oldest movie company in America - MARY

This is the unique biography of legendary screen legend, Mary Pickford.

Mary Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith in Toronto, Ontario. By the early 1900s, acting had become a family enterprise. Pickford, her mother and two younger siblings toured the United States by rail in third-rate companies and plays. After six impoverished years, Pickford allowed one more summer to land a leading role on Broadway, planning to quit acting if she failed. She landed a supporting role in a 1907 Broadway play, The Warrens of Virginia. from here mary became involved with many broadway productions, but after a long dry period turned to the new entertainment of motion pictures. In 1909 she went to the Biograph Company in New York to see director D.W. Griffith. This was the start of mary's carrer as a film actress. Pickford appeared in 51 Biograph films being known as "The Biograph Girl". Pickford left Biograph in December 1910, and spent 1911 starring in films at Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP). It was absorbed into Universal Pictures in 1912, and Majestic. Unhappy with their creative standards, she returned to work with Griffith in 1912. In late 1912, Pickford made her last Biograph picture, The New York Hat, to return to Broadway. In 1913 she decided to work ewith Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Pickford was the most famous woman in the world. In 1919, she increased her power by co-founding United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and her soon-to-be husband, Douglas Fairbanks. In 1927 was the ahe arrival of sound. Like most movie stars of the silent era, Pickford found her career fading as talkies became more popular among audiences. In her late thirties, Pickford was unable to play the children, teenage spitfires and feisty young women so adored by her fans, nor could she play the soignée heroines of early sound. Pickford retired from acting in 1933, but continued to produce films for others. Pickford was married three times to actor Owen Moore, Douglas fairbanks, and last Charles "Buddy" Rogers.During her latter years, Pickford became a recluse, remaining almost entirely at Pickfair, allowing visits only from close friends and family. She died of cerebral hemorrhage on May 29, 1979.

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