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(May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939)
 He
was born Douglas Elton Ullman in Denver, Colorado, the son of
Hezekiah Charles Ullman (born September 1833) and Ella Adelaide
Marsh (born 1850).
Douglas Fairbanks began acting on the Denver stage at an early age,
doing amateur theatre. He was in summer stock at the Elitch Gardens
Theatre, becoming a sensation in his teens.
He moved to New York in the early 1900s to pursue an acting career,
joining the acting troupe of British actor Frederick Warde who had
discovered Fairbanks performing in Denver. He worked in a hardware
store and as a clerk in a Wall Street office before his Broadway
debut in 1902.
Fairbanks signed a contract with Triangle Pictures in 1915 and began
working under the supervision of D.W. Griffith. His athletic
abilities were not appreciated by Griffith, however, and he was
brought to the attention of Anita Loos and John Emerson, who wrote
and directed many of his early romantic comedies.
He met actress and businesswoman Mary Pickford at a party in 1916
and they began having an affair. In 1917, they, along with Charlie
Chaplin, traveled across the U.S. by train selling war bonds.
Pickford and Chaplin were then the two highest paid movie stars in
Hollywood. Fairbanks set up his own production company, the Douglas
Fairbanks Film Corporation. Within eighteen months of his arrival,
Fairbanks' popularity and business acumen raised him up to be the
third highest paid. To curtail these stars' astronomical salaries,
the large studios attempted to monopolize the distributors and
exhibitors.
To avoid being controlled by the studios and to protect their
independence, Fairbanks, Pickford, Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith
formed United Artists in 1919, which created their own
distributorships and gave them complete artistic control over their
movies and the profits generated. The company was kept solvent in
the years immediately after its formation largely from the success
of Fairbanks' films.
By 1920, Fairbanks had completed twenty-nine films (twenty-eight
features and one two-reel short), which showcased his ebullient
screen persona and athletic ability. By 1920, he had the inspiration
of staging a new type of adventure-costume picture, a genre that was
then out of favor with the public. In the The Mark of Zorro,
Fairbanks combined his appealing screen persona with the new
adventureous, costume element. It was a smash success and parlayed
the actor into the rank of superstar. For the remainder of his
career in silent films, he continued to produce and star in ever
more elaborate, impressive costume movies. Fairbanks spared no
expense and effort in these films, which established the standard
for all future swashbucking films.
During the first ceremony of its type, he and Pickford placed their
hand and foot prints in wet cement at the newly opened Grauman's
Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on April 30, 1927. Fairbanks was
elected first President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and
Sciences that same year, and he hosted the first Academy Awards
presentation (then held as a banquet, rather than today's big
ceremony). Fairbanks' also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 7020 Hollywood Boulevard.
His last silent film was The Iron Mask (1929). Although Fairbanks
flourished in the silent film genre, the restrictions of early sound
films dulled his enthusiasm for movie-making. Also, his althletic
abilities and general health began to decline at this time, in part
due to years of heavy chain-smoking. He and Pickford chose to make
their first talkie as a joint venture, playing Petruchio and Kate in
Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew (1929). This film, and his
subsequent sound films, were poorly received by the public. The last
movie he acted in was the British production The Private Life of Don
Juan (1934), after which he retired from acting. |
