Perhaps no subsonic actress has been as popular as Pickford Mary. Theater and film actress, the first business woman in Hollywood, the founder of a number of acting nominations, and so on and so forth. It is difficult to say what her amazing popularity was. Beauty, talent and we alth are far from rare in her homeland. But the unique combination of these qualities made Mary Pickford the banner of silent cinema and the symbol of an entire era.
Biography
The future movie star was born in 1892 in a family of Irish settlers. Her real name was Gladys Mary Louise Smith, the pseudonym "Mary Pickford" appeared much later. The girl was not the only child - her sister Lottie was born after her, and then her brother Jack was born. The father of the future actress never stayed long at one job, and children from an early age got used to moving from place to place in search of a cheaper city to live in. The father could not feed the family and soon left his wife with small children in her arms. Charlotte moved to Toronto and declared herself a widow, making it easier for a respectable woman with three children to find a job.
To make ends meet, the mother had to givetheir girls to the theater, where they played small roles in various children's performances.
When Jack grew up, the close-knit family declared themselves a stage troupe, but Mary was still the main breadwinner of the family.
Relationship with mother
Constant touring and a stressful life did not provide Gladys Smith with the opportunity to get an education. She studied at schools for only a couple of months a year, her mother taught her basic literacy and arithmetic. Mary had a special, trusting relationship with her, which the future actress cherished very much.
Aspiring actress
In those days, family melodramas and short children's tales enjoyed particular success among the audience of provincial theaters. The play "Silver King" was a typical performance that appeared on the stage for several years. But the seven-year-old actress, who played the main role in it, caused a storm of delight among the audience. It was then that her stage talent clearly manifested itself. Later there were roles in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and in "East Lynn". Mary was noticed and invited on a permanent basis to a professional troupe.
Tour America
The actress received her first professional theatrical experience in the vans of the Valentine Company troupe. The harsh life in cold, unfurnished vans, the eternal lack of money, constant traveling would break the life of an adult actor. But Mary Pickford was tough. She learned new roles, got the right reaction from the audience and studied, studied, studied.
Desperate move
Mary has worked in several troupes andtraveled around the country in search of a small income and great luck. In the fall of 1907, she received a permanent engagement from producer David Belasco with a salary of $25 a week. At the urging of the producer, she changed her name to Mary Pickford. She made her Broadway debut on December 3rd.
Out of work again
The Warrens of Virginia family play was shown 308 times. But at the end of the performance, Belasco did not renew the contract with Mary. The need to support her beloved family pushed the actress to a desperate act - she and her mother went to New York to try their luck in cinema. By hook or by crook, she made her way through a series of secretaries, advisers and theatrical agents and ensured that the famous David Griffith assigned her samples. To demonstrate her acting skills, Mary chose a monologue of a little boy who begs the policeman not to arrest him. The role of the policeman in this monologue was played by a chair.
Movie debut
Griffith was so impressed with the actress' performance that he signed her to a contract with a weekly salary of $10 a week, although he usually paid novice actors much less. As the film director later admitted, he could not refuse the actress “because of her outrageously beautiful eyes.”
In those days, short films were filmed for several hours, and lasted about 12 minutes. Her first film, The Lonely Villa, was only 8 minutes long. There were no special scenarios, there were not evencredits with the names of the actors. But the audience remembered the actress - for the audience she became a little girl with golden curls, who played her role not with expressive gestures, but with her indescribable eyes.
Serious roles
After a short period during which she returned to the stage, Mary Pickford became heavily involved in cinema. Director A. Zukor invited her to play a major role in the film adaptation of the play. The success of Tess of the Stormland was overwhelming - newspapers asked viewers to take their seats early in theaters to avoid crowds.
So Mary Pickford took place in the movies. Working with this producer turned out to be very successful: in four years of filming, the little woman turned into an idol worshiped by all of America. One of the first sensational tapes of that time was "Poor Little Rich Girl". Mary Pickford played the title role in it. The actress perfectly took advantage of her role, presenting to the audience all the feelings of the daughter of we althy parents. The finale of the tape made many rethink their attitude towards children.
The success of the films with her participation was so great that the actress decided to create her own rental studio with the fees received. Its co-founders were Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin. The newspapers nicknamed her "Pioneer Mary Pickford" because she became the first actress in the world with her own studio. Mary also assigned a large role to public work - during the First World War, she made offers to buy war bonds, visited the wounded, donated large sums tocharity. It is surprising that at the same time she found the strength in herself to act in films. Films with her participation went around the world and made Mary a star of the first magnitude in silent cinema. And active social activities only ignited a few more rays in her halo of glory.
So actress Mary Pickford has become one of the most powerful women in the film industry. Her popularity was greatly facilitated by the fact that she married one of the most attractive men in America.
Brilliant marriage
Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford met at a Hollywood party. Mary at the time was married to Owen Moore, an actor, and Fairbanks had been married to his wife, Gladys, for over 10 years. But that didn't stop them from falling in love with each other. Both Mary and Douglas carefully concealed their feelings, but in the end they broke off previous ties and got married.
Rise of fame
The early 20s saw Douglas and Mary Pickford at the top of their game. They were worshiped, they were deified. The appearance of a couple could stop the movement of cars in any city. Their fame spread far beyond the borders of the country - after all, silent films did not know language barriers. In 1927, she and her husband came to the Soviet Union, where she played the title role in the film The Kiss of Mary Pickford. 1927 - the time of recognition on the world stage of the young Land of Soviets. In the tape, the American movie star starred together with Soviet actors Igor Ilyinsky and VeraMalinovskaya. “The Kiss of Mary Pickford” is a comedy about how a simple Soviet guy Vasya Palkin was kissed by a world star. Many shots were filmed in Ukraine, and then they were skillfully edited. The Kiss of Mary Pickford was released in 1927 and a copy was solemnly presented to the actress herself.
Sound Film
The era of sound films began in America in the late 20's. Mary Pickford's silent film was coming to an end. Film roles were still easy for her, but the reason for the decline in popularity was the age of the actress. After all, she was no longer a girl, but the public did not want to see her in more adult images. One of the first roles in sound films was Norma in the film "Flirty". For this tape, Mary Pickford received an Oscar, but still the film was not accepted by the audience with the same enthusiasm as previous tapes with the participation of the first business woman in Hollywood. Problems suddenly piled up - the mother of the actress, who had been her best friend for many years, died, the brilliant Fairbanks began to walk, trying to behave like in his youth. Mary Pickford's marriage fell apart, and she no longer had the strength to continue her stage career.
Third marriage
After the divorce, Mary was not alone for long. She married one of her film partners. Pickford's chosen one, jazz musician Buddy Rogers, was 15 years younger than the actress.
Buddy and Mary were an exemplary American couple. Since they had no children of their own, they adopted a boy, Ronald, and a girl, Roxanne. Thisthe marriage lasted over forty years and ended only with the death of Buddy from a heart attack.
Recent years
Mary spent her old age alone. Her brother and sister died before her, the adopted children took on a life of their own. But society did not forget the contribution of a little woman to cinema - in her declining days, in 1976 she receives an honorary Oscar for her invaluable role in the film industry. At the end of her life, she asked Canada - her home country - to restore her citizenship. Her request was granted.
In 1979, at the age of 89, Mary Pickford died - the owner of two Oscars, an honorary citizen of two countries, a little woman who fell in love with the whole world..
