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01
One of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences AMPAS.
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02
She had intended to have all of her films destroyed after her death, fearing that no one would care about them. She was convinced not to do this.
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03
She was the first movie actress to receive a percentage of a film’s earnings.
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04
First star along with husband Douglas Fairbanks to officially place hand and footprints in the cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on April 30, 1927. Hollywood legend has it that the unofficial first was Norma Talmadge when she accidentally walked onto wet cement prior to the theatre’s opening.
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05
Was Joan Crawford’s mother-in-law while Crawford was married to Pickford’s son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
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06
She left her children $50,000 and her grandchildren trust funds.
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07
When she presented producer Cecil B. DeMille with the Best Picture Oscar for The Greatest Show on Earth 1952 on March 19, 1953, it was the first televised Academy Awards ceremony and her first television appearance.
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08
Stage producer David Belasco gave Mary her stage name in 1908. Her real name, Gladys Marie Smith, was not right for an actress on his stage. Gladys did not suit the diminutive actress, Smith was too common, Marie was too foreign. Marie became Mary. Pickford was her mother’s maiden name. A fan later found that Mary Pickford occurred several times in her mother’s family going back to the 12th century.
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09
Was the subject of the first cinematic close-up shot, in Friends 1912.
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10
The house in which she lived in Hollywood for most of her life was nicknamed Pickfair.
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11
Became a United States citizen on her marriage to Douglas Fairbanks, but later reclaimed her Canadian citizenship and died an American and Canadian citizen.
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12
When her mother Charlotte Smith died in 1928, she bequeathed $200,000 each in trust to her two younger children Jack Pickford and Lottie Pickford and to Lottie’s daughter Gwynne. But she left the bulk of her estate to Mary, $1 million, recognizing that Mary had sacrificed her childhood to become the family’s breadwinner at age 5.
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13
Had two adopted children with her third husband Charles Buddy Rogers: a son named Ronald Charles Rogers 1936-2010 and a daughter named Roxanne Rogers 1942-2001; died from osteoporosis.
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14
She paid for her grandchildren to go to school, provided they showed proof of registration.
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15
Mary Pickford revealed in her autobiography Sunshine and Shadow that as a young girl in Toronto she would buy a single rose and eat the petals, believing the beauty, color and perfume would somehow get inside her.
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16
In the 1920s, when prominent Hollywood columnist Herbert Howe asked his banker for advice about Los Angeles real estate, the banker responded, Go ask Mary Pickford. She knows more about local real estate than anybody I know.
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17
Her mansion Pickfair was sold ten months after her death for $5,362,000; later sold to Pia Zadora in January 1988 for just under $7 million.
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18
She was posthumously awarded a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario in 1999.
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19
Turned down the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard 1950, which went to Gloria Swanson.
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20
Formed United Artists company with Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith and Charles Chaplin. She was the first artist to have her name in marquee lights and the first international star.
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21
Introduced Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish to D.W. Griffith in 1912. The Gishes had lost contact with the Smith family until they saw Gladys Smith in the Biograph film Lena and the Geese 1912. They visited the studio, asked for Gladys Smith, were redirected to Little Mary, and reunited.
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22
Son Ronnie has three children: daughter Jamie born 1954, son Tommy born 1955, and son Douglas Pickford born 1966. Daughter Roxanne gave birth to a daughter, Katina, in the early 1960s.
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23
She and husband Douglas Fairbanks were friends with Edsel Ford and his wife. In the Edsel and Eleanor Ford home in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan, there hangs an autographed photo signed Mary Pick-A-Ford, circa 1932.
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24
In December 1910, she left the Biograph Company to work for Carl Laemmle at Independent Moving Picture Company for $175 a week.
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25
She was posthumously awarded a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars on November 16, 1993.
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26
The romance drama Coquette 1929 was her first talkie.
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27
In October 1911, a court voided her contract with IMP because she was a minor when she signed it. As a result, she left IMP for the Majestic Company for $275/week.
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28
She became estranged from daughter Roxanne for a time when she, at age 18, ran off to marry a man her parents disapproved of.
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29
She was the second actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for Coquette 1929 at the 2nd Academy Awards on April 3, 1930.
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30
Was named #24 on the American Film Institute’s 50 Greatest Screen Legends.
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31
She was the first of three consecutive Canadian actresses to win the Best Actress Oscar. The others were Norma Shearer and Marie Dressler.
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32
Colonel Ralph J. Phaneuf and the soldiers of the 143rd Field Artillery of Camp Kearny, California, officially made Mary their Honorary Colonel during World War I.
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33
Her likeness is included in the Canadians in Hollywood stamp series released by Canada Post in 2006, alongside Fay Wray, Lorne Greene, and John Candy.
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34
Her last silent movie was the romance comedy My Best Girl 1927.
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35
In the same stage company as Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish in the early 1900s.
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36
Film historian Ethan Katz called her the most popular star in screen history. She was the silent era’s most famous female star.
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37
She started her film career at Biograph Company in 1909, when D.W. Griffith hired her. Her first film was Pippa Passes; or, the Song of Conscience 1909 as a face in the crowd, launching her illustrious career.
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38
She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6280 Hollywood Boulevard on February 8, 1960.
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39
Founder and President of Mary Pickford Company formed 1919 and the Mary Pickford Film Corporation formed 1916. The former produced Pickford films; the latter produced non-Pickford films.
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40
Was a founding member of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers SIMPP.
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41
She died of complications from cerebral hemorrhage at Santa Monica Hospital, CA. Her third husband Buddy was at her bedside. She was interred in the Garden of Memory at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA.
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42
Made her Broadway debut in The Warrens of Virginia on December 3, 1907, billed sixth as Betty Warren. During pre-production she met Cecil B. DeMille, who was billed fourth as Arthur Warren.
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43
She was first hired for the movies by director D.W. Griffith.
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44
She was to have made her big-screen comeback as Vinnie in Life with Father 1947, but the role went to Irene Dunne due to Dunne’s box-office appeal.
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45
One of her happiest childhood memories was renting a bicycle for ten cents and riding up and down University Avenue in Toronto. On her eighth birthday, her mother surprised her with a bicycle.
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46
Her first starring appearance in a film was in Her First Biscuits 1909 for Biograph Company.
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47
Had English and Irish ancestry.
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48
Ernst Lubitsch came to America at Mary’s invitation to direct Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall 1924, but upon arrival changed his mind. Instead, he and Mary made Rosita 1923 together.
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49
Stepmother of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and aunt of Alice Moore.
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50
Singer Katie Melua wrote a song titled Mary Pickford in homage, featured on her 2007 album Pictures.
