From “divine doll” to honorary colonel: how a silent movie star became a national symbol

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

38 years ago, on May 29, 1979, the actress passed away, who in the first half of the twentieth century. was one of the most influential people in Hollywood and the most famous in the whole world silent movie star - Mary Pickford … She managed not only to win the love of hundreds of thousands of viewers in the USA and even in the USSR, but also to become a real national symbol for Americans.

Gladys Mary Smith was born into a poor Canadian family in 1893. She made her debut at the local theater at the age of 8, and even then firmly decided to become an actress. In 1907, Mary won an audition for the famous director and entrepreneur, playwright David Belasco. On his recommendation, she got a job at the Broadway theater, where she began performing under the pseudonym Mary Pickford.

After her success on stage, the actress decided to try her hand at cinema. After the very first casting, she signed a contract with director David Griffith and starred in more than 50 films with him in a year. After 2 years, leading directors were already fighting for her, and her fees were growing rapidly.

Mary Pickford became one of the first Hollywood movie stars. The premiere of each of her paintings was accompanied by the audience's excitement. Journalists called her "the girl with golden curls" and "divine doll". Most often, she played girls from poor families, naive Cinderellas who have to win their place in the sun. She evoked not only sympathy, but also sympathy, a desire to help her. It is thanks to this image that the actress has become the favorite of hundreds of thousands of viewers.

But over time, the actress grew out of the roles of defenseless teenage girls - both literally and figuratively. After 30 she wanted to try herself in a new role, and in her first sound film - "Coquette" - she succeeded. For this role, the actress even received an Oscar. But with the beginning of the era of sound films, her career began to decline. The audience still wanted to see her in the image of a golden-haired sweet girl and did not perceive her in new roles. Their 4 sound films by Mary Pickford 2 flopped at the box office. The change of role unexpectedly led not to a new round, but to the finale of her film career.

However, thanks to her business acumen, the actress did not remain out of work. Together with Chaplin, Griffith and Fairbanks, she founded United Artists, which competed with the movie moguls. This company lasted until 1981. Mary Pickford was also one of the founders of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts. She managed to become one of the most influential women in the history of world cinema.

The actress continued to conquer the public, but now not on the screen, but as a public figure. She became chairman of the National Polio Endowment Fund and founder of the Film Actors in Need Fund. And during the First World War, she traveled to American cities, spoke at rallies, urging citizens to contribute to the victory - to buy war bonds. She took part in the filming of the propaganda film "100% Americans" and promoted love for the homeland so ardently that she soon became a real national symbol and received the title of honorary colonel.

Mary Pickford managed to win the hearts of not only the American, but also the Soviet public. In 1926, she and her husband, actor Douglas Fairbanks, visited the USSR, in honor of which postcards with their images were issued and the film "The Kiss of Mary Pickford" was shot. The director explained his idea in the following way: “This is a satire of that abnormal fascination with the arrival of celebrities, which was observed in the days when Pickford and Fairbanks appeared in Moscow. A psychopathic crowd was filmed, uncontrollably pushing to meet world names. " Their arrival really became a sensation. Actor M. Zharov recalled: “It is impossible to describe what was happening at the Belorussky railway station. Excited fans of "Little Mary" and "The Baghdad Thief" filled the whole of Tverskaya. Balconies, windows and even lanterns were studded with "Maryins", as tongue-tied Moscow dubbed them."

The actress, who was called one of the most famous women in Hollywood, spent the last 15 years of her life in oblivion. She became addicted to whiskey, and soon could not do without alcohol for a day. Mary Pickford passed away in 1979 at the age of 86.

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