Pickford, Mary (1893-1979)

Canadian-born US actor. The first star of the silent screen, she was known as ‘America's Sweetheart,’ and played innocent ingenue roles into her thirties. She and her second husband (from 1920), Douglas Fairbanks Sr, were known as ‘the world's sweethearts’. With her husband, Charlie Chaplin, and D W Griffith she founded United Artists studio in 1919. For many years she was the wealthiest and most influential woman in Hollywood.

Pickford was born in Toronto, Canada. She began her film career in 1909. Her films include Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917), Pollyanna (1920), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921), and Coquette (1929), her first talkie (Academy Award).

She published an autobiography, Sunshine and Shadow, in 1955, and was presented with a special Academy Award in 1976.