May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939
Douglas Fairbanks was the original “King of Hollywood.” A silent-era deity on screen, he starred in more than 40 successful and popular silent films and was one of the founding fathers of what we know Hollywood to be today. Fairbanks made a career of playing adventuresome heroes like Zorro and Robin Hood. He did his own, increasingly-complicated and dangerous stunts and was one of the top-earning actors in the world at the time. Off-screen, he became half of the first “Hollywood Royalty” power couple when he married his second wife, actress Mary Pickford. Along with Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and director D.W. Griffith, Fairbanks started United Artists to help these massive stars control their own interests instead of relying on studios. He and Pickford also created the Motion Picture Fund to help struggling artists make ends meet. He served as the first president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and hosted the very first Oscars ceremony. Continue reading
Celebrity Graveland 