Douglas Fairbanks
Encyclopedia
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling
roles in silent
films such as The Thief of Bagdad
, Robin Hood
, and The Mark of Zorro
.
An astute businessman, Fairbanks was a founding member of United Artists
. Fairbanks was also a founding member of The Motion Picture Academy and hosted the first Oscars Ceremony in 1929. With his marriage to Mary Pickford
in 1920, the couple became Hollywood royalty and Fairbanks was referred to as "The King of Hollywood", a nickname later passed on to actor Clark Gable
. His career rapidly declined with the advent of the "talkies
".
in his memoirs) in Denver, CO, the son of H. Charles Ullman (born September 15, 1833) and Ella Adelaide Marsh (born 1847). He had a half-brother, John Fairbanks, Jr. (born 1873), and a full brother, Robert Payne Ullman (March 13, 1882 – February 22, 1948).
The father of Douglas Fairbanks, Hezekiah Charles Douglas Ullman (1833–1915), was born in Berrysburg, Pa. but raised in Williamsport. He was the fourth child in a relatively well-to-do Jewish family of six sons and four daughters. Charles' parents, Lazarus Ullman and Lydia Abrahams, had immigrated to the U.S. in 1830 from Baden, Germany. When he was 17, Charles started a small publishing business in Philadelphia. Two years later he left for New York to study law. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1856 and began building a substantial practice. At the onset of the Civil War, Charles joined the Union forces. He engaged in several battles, was wounded, and later became a captain of the 5th Pennsylvania Reserves. Charles left the service in 1864 and returned to his law practice. Subsequently he founded the U.S. Law Association, a forerunner of the American Bar Association.
Charles met Ella Adelaide Marsh (1847–1915) after she married his friend and client John Fairbanks, a wealthy New Orleans sugar mill and plantation owner. The Fairbankses had a son, John, and shortly thereafter John Senior died of tuberculosis. Ella, born into a wealthy southern Catholic family, was overprotected and knew little of her husband's business. Consequently, she was swindled out of her fortune by her husband's partners. Even the efforts of Charles Ullman, acting on her behalf, failed to regain any of the family fortune for her. Distraught and lonely, she met and married a courtly Georgian, Edward Wilcox, who turned out to be an alcoholic. After they had a son, Norris, she divorced Wilcox, and Charles acted as her lawyer in the suit. The pretty southern belle soon became romantically involved with Charles and agreed to move to Denver with him to pursue mining investments. They arrived in Denver in 1881 with her son, John. (Norris was left in Georgia with relatives and was never sent for by his mother.) They were married and had a child, Robert, in 1882, and then a second son, Douglas, a year later. Charles purchased several mining interests in the Rocky Mountains
and he re-established his law practice. Charles Ullman abandoned the family when Douglas was five years old, however, and he and his older brother Robert were brought up by their mother, who gave them the family name Fairbanks, after her first husband.
at the Elitch Gardens Theatre, becoming a sensation in his teens. He attended Denver East High School, and was once expelled for dressing up the campus statues on St. Patrick's Day. He left during his senior year. He said he attended Colorado School of Mines
for a term but no record of attendance has been found. An article on the matter recounts a professor once saying Fairbanks was asked to leave because of a prank not long after he began. It is also claimed he attended Harvard University
.
Fairbanks 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.
On July 11, 1907 in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, he married Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist, Daniel J. Sully. They had one son, Douglas Elton Fairbanks
, who later became known as actor "Douglas Fairbanks Jr.". The family moved to Hollywood, California in 1915.
in 1915 and began working under the supervision of D.W. Griffith
. His first film was titled The Lamb, and in the film, he debuted his remarkable athletic abilities that would gain wide attention among theatre audiences.
His athleticism was 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. In 1916, Fairbanks established his own company, the Douglas Fairbanks Film Corporation, and would soon get a job at Paramount
. By 1918, Fairbanks was Hollywood's most popular actor; within eighteen months of his arrival, Fairbanks' popularity and business acumen raised him up to be the third highest paid.
Fairbanks met actress Mary Pickford
at a party in 1916 and they began an affair. In 1917, the couple joined Fairbanks' friend Charlie Chaplin
selling war bond
s by train across the U.S. Pickford and Chaplin were then the two highest paid film stars in Hollywood. To curtail these stars' astronomical salaries, the large studios attempted to monopolise distributors and exhibitors.
Sully was granted a divorce from Fairbanks in late 1918, the judgement being finalized in early 1919.
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 films and the profits generated. The company was kept solvent in the years immediately after its formation largely from the success of Fairbanks' films.
Fairbanks was determined to have Pickford become his wife, but she was still married to actor Owen Moore
. He finally gave her an ultimatum. She then obtained a fast divorce in the small Nevada
town of Minden
, Nevada, on March 2, 1920. Fairbanks leased the Beverly Hills mansion Grayhall and was rumoured to have used it during his courtship of Pickford.
The couple married on March 28, 1920. Pickford's divorce from Moore was contested by Nevada legislators, however, and the dispute was not settled until 1922. Even though the lawmakers objected to the marriage, the public went wild over the idea of "Everybody's Hero" marrying "America's Sweetheart". They were greeted by large crowds in London and Paris during their European honeymoon, becoming Hollywood's first celebrity couple.
During the years they were married, Fairbanks and Pickford were regarded as "Hollywood Royalty," famous for entertaining at their Beverly Hills estate, Pickfair
.
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 favour with the public; Fairbanks had previously been a comic in his other films. In The Mark of Zorro
, Fairbanks combined his appealing screen persona with the new adventurous, 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 films, such as The Three Musketeers
(1921), Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood
(1922), The Thief of Bagdad
(1924), The Black Pirate
(1926, the first full-length Technicolor
film), and The Gaucho
(1927). Fairbanks spared no expense and effort in these films, which established the standard for all future swashbuckling
films.
In 1921, he, Pickford, Chaplin, and others, helped to organize the Motion Picture Fund
to assist those in the industry who could not work, or were unable to meet their bills.
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 presented the first Academy Awards
at the Roosevelt Hotel. Fairbanks also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 7020 Hollywood Boulevard
.
His last silent film was the lavish The Iron Mask
(1929), a sequel to 1921's The Three Musketeers which included an introductory prologue spoken by Fairbanks. While Fairbanks had flourished in the silent genre, the restrictions of early sound films dulled his enthusiasm for film-making. Also, his athletic abilities and general health began to decline, 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 Depression era audiences. The last film he acted in was the British production The Private Life of Don Juan
(1934), after which he retired from acting.
Fairbanks and Pickford separated in 1933, after he began an affair with Sylvia, Lady Ashley
. They divorced in 1936, with Pickford keeping the Pickfair estate. Within months Fairbanks and Ashley were married in Paris.
He continued to be marginally involved in the film industry and United Artists
, but his later years lacked the intense focus of his film years. His health continued to decline, and in his final years he lived at 705 Ocean Front (now Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica, California, although much of his time was spent traveling abroad with Sylvia.
In December 1939, at 56, Fairbanks had a heart attack in his sleep and died a day later at his home in Santa Monica. By some accounts, he had been obsessively working out against medical advice, trying to regain his once-trim waistline. Fairbanks's famous last words were, "I've never felt better." His funeral service was held at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather Church in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
where he was placed in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum. He was deeply mourned and honored by his colleagues and fans for his contributions to the film industry and Hollywood.
Two years following his death, he was removed from Forest Lawn by his widow, who commissioned an elaborate marble monument for him featuring a long rectangular reflecting pool, raised tomb, and classic Greek architecture in Hollywood Forever Cemetery
. The monument was dedicated in a ceremony held in October 1941, with Fairbanks' close friend Charles Chaplin reading a remembrance. The remains of his son, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
, were also interred here upon his death in 2000.
In 2002, AMPAS opened the "Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study" located at 333 S. La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The building houses the Margaret Herrick Library.
On January 24, 2009, AMPAS opened an exhibition at their Fourth Floor Gallery dedicated to Fairbanks titled, "Douglas Fairbanks: The First King of Hollywood". The exhibit featured costumes, props, pictures, and documents from his career and personal life. The exhibit ran until April 2009. In addition to the exhibit, AMPAS screened Thief of Bagdad and The Iron Mask in March 2009. Recently, due to his involvement with the USC Fencing Club
, a bronze statue of Fairbanks was erected in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Courtyard of the new School of Cinematic Arts building on the University of Southern California campus. Fairbanks was a key figure in the film school's founding in 1929, and in its curriculum development.
Swashbuckler films
Swashbuckler films are an action-adventure subgenre often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, often set in Renaissance Western Europe with appropriately lavish costumes. Morality is often clear-cut, heroic characters are clearly heroic and even villains tend to have a...
roles in silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
films such as The Thief of Bagdad
The Thief of Bagdad (1924 film)
The Thief of Bagdad is a 1924 American swashbuckler film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Douglas Fairbanks. Freely adapted from One Thousand and One Nights, it tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Bagdad...
, Robin Hood
Robin Hood (1922 film)
Robin Hood is the first motion picture ever to have a Hollywood premiere, held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on October 18, 1922. The movie's full title, under which it was copyrighted, is Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood, as shown in the illustration at right...
, and The Mark of Zorro
The Mark of Zorro (1920 film)
The Mark of Zorro is a 1920 silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Noah Beery. This genre-defining swashbuckler adventure was the first movie version of The Mark of Zorro...
.
An astute businessman, Fairbanks was a founding member of United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
. Fairbanks was also a founding member of The Motion Picture Academy and hosted the first Oscars Ceremony in 1929. With his marriage to Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
in 1920, the couple became Hollywood royalty and Fairbanks was referred to as "The King of Hollywood", a nickname later passed on to actor Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
. His career rapidly declined with the advent of the "talkies
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
".
Early life
The future screen actor was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman (spelled "Ulman" by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
in his memoirs) in Denver, CO, the son of H. Charles Ullman (born September 15, 1833) and Ella Adelaide Marsh (born 1847). He had a half-brother, John Fairbanks, Jr. (born 1873), and a full brother, Robert Payne Ullman (March 13, 1882 – February 22, 1948).
The father of Douglas Fairbanks, Hezekiah Charles Douglas Ullman (1833–1915), was born in Berrysburg, Pa. but raised in Williamsport. He was the fourth child in a relatively well-to-do Jewish family of six sons and four daughters. Charles' parents, Lazarus Ullman and Lydia Abrahams, had immigrated to the U.S. in 1830 from Baden, Germany. When he was 17, Charles started a small publishing business in Philadelphia. Two years later he left for New York to study law. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1856 and began building a substantial practice. At the onset of the Civil War, Charles joined the Union forces. He engaged in several battles, was wounded, and later became a captain of the 5th Pennsylvania Reserves. Charles left the service in 1864 and returned to his law practice. Subsequently he founded the U.S. Law Association, a forerunner of the American Bar Association.
Charles met Ella Adelaide Marsh (1847–1915) after she married his friend and client John Fairbanks, a wealthy New Orleans sugar mill and plantation owner. The Fairbankses had a son, John, and shortly thereafter John Senior died of tuberculosis. Ella, born into a wealthy southern Catholic family, was overprotected and knew little of her husband's business. Consequently, she was swindled out of her fortune by her husband's partners. Even the efforts of Charles Ullman, acting on her behalf, failed to regain any of the family fortune for her. Distraught and lonely, she met and married a courtly Georgian, Edward Wilcox, who turned out to be an alcoholic. After they had a son, Norris, she divorced Wilcox, and Charles acted as her lawyer in the suit. The pretty southern belle soon became romantically involved with Charles and agreed to move to Denver with him to pursue mining investments. They arrived in Denver in 1881 with her son, John. (Norris was left in Georgia with relatives and was never sent for by his mother.) They were married and had a child, Robert, in 1882, and then a second son, Douglas, a year later. Charles purchased several mining interests in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
and he re-established his law practice. Charles Ullman abandoned the family when Douglas was five years old, however, and he and his older brother Robert were brought up by their mother, who gave them the family name Fairbanks, after her first husband.
Early career
Douglas Fairbanks began acting on the Denver stage at an early age, doing amateur theatre. He was in summer stockSummer Stock
For the article about the theatre genre, see Summer stock theatre.Summer Stock is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters and stars Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers...
at the Elitch Gardens Theatre, becoming a sensation in his teens. He attended Denver East High School, and was once expelled for dressing up the campus statues on St. Patrick's Day. He left during his senior year. He said he attended Colorado School of Mines
Colorado School of Mines
The Colorado School of Mines is a small public teaching and research university devoted to engineering and applied science, with special expertise in the development and stewardship of the Earth's natural resources. Located in Golden, Colorado, CSM was ranked 29th, in America among national...
for a term but no record of attendance has been found. An article on the matter recounts a professor once saying Fairbanks was asked to leave because of a prank not long after he began. It is also claimed he attended Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Fairbanks moved to New York in the early 1900s to pursue an acting career, joining the acting troupe of British actor Frederick Warde
Frederick Warde
Frederick Barkham Warde was an English Shakesperian actor who relocated to the United States in the late 19th century.In the late 1870s he partnered with actor Maurice Barrymore and the two agreed to tour plays around the United States. Warde would have one section of the country while Barrymore...
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.
On July 11, 1907 in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, he married Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist, Daniel J. Sully. They had one son, Douglas Elton Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
, who later became known as actor "Douglas Fairbanks Jr.". The family moved to Hollywood, California in 1915.
Hollywood
Fairbanks signed a contract with Triangle PicturesTriangle Film Corporation
Triangle Film Corporation was a major American motion-picture studio, founded in the summer of 1915 in Culver City, California, and envisioned as a prestige studio based on the producing abilities of filmmakers D. W. Griffith, Thomas Ince and Mack Sennett...
in 1915 and began working under the supervision of D.W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
. His first film was titled The Lamb, and in the film, he debuted his remarkable athletic abilities that would gain wide attention among theatre audiences.
His athleticism was not appreciated by Griffith, however, and he was brought to the attention of Anita Loos
Anita Loos
Anita Loos was an American screenwriter, playwright and author.-Early life:Born Corinne Anita Loos in Sisson, California , where her father, R. Beers Loos, had opened a tabloid newspaper for which her mother, Minerva "Minnie" Smith did most of the work of a newspaper publisher...
and John Emerson
John Emerson
John Emerson was the 15th mayor of Calgary, Alberta. He was the mayor at the time that Alberta became a province of Canada, which was on September 1, 1905....
, who wrote and directed many of his early romantic comedies. In 1916, Fairbanks established his own company, the Douglas Fairbanks Film Corporation, and would soon get a job at Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. By 1918, Fairbanks was Hollywood's most popular actor; within eighteen months of his arrival, Fairbanks' popularity and business acumen raised him up to be the third highest paid.
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
at a party in 1916 and they began an affair. In 1917, the couple joined Fairbanks' friend Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
selling war bond
War bond
War bonds are debt securities issued by a government for the purpose of financing military operations during times of war. War bonds generate capital for the government and make civilians feel involved in their national militaries...
s by train across the U.S. Pickford and Chaplin were then the two highest paid film stars in Hollywood. To curtail these stars' astronomical salaries, the large studios attempted to monopolise distributors and exhibitors.
Sully was granted a divorce from Fairbanks in late 1918, the judgement being finalized in early 1919.
To avoid being controlled by the studios and to protect their independence, Fairbanks, Pickford, Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
formed United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
in 1919, which created their own distributorships and gave them complete artistic control over their films and the profits generated. The company was kept solvent in the years immediately after its formation largely from the success of Fairbanks' films.
Owen Moore
Owen Moore was an Irish-born actor in American films, appearing in more than 279 movies spanning from 1908 to 1937.-Life and career:...
. He finally gave her an ultimatum. She then obtained a fast divorce in the small Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
town of Minden
Minden, Nevada
Minden is a census-designated place in Douglas County, Nevada, United States. The population was 2,836 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Douglas County and is adjacent to the city of Gardnerville. It is named after the town of Minden, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It...
, Nevada, on March 2, 1920. Fairbanks leased the Beverly Hills mansion Grayhall and was rumoured to have used it during his courtship of Pickford.
The couple married on March 28, 1920. Pickford's divorce from Moore was contested by Nevada legislators, however, and the dispute was not settled until 1922. Even though the lawmakers objected to the marriage, the public went wild over the idea of "Everybody's Hero" marrying "America's Sweetheart". They were greeted by large crowds in London and Paris during their European honeymoon, becoming Hollywood's first celebrity couple.
During the years they were married, Fairbanks and Pickford were regarded as "Hollywood Royalty," famous for entertaining at their Beverly Hills estate, Pickfair
Pickfair
Pickfair was a 56 acre estate in the city of Beverly Hills, California designed by architect Wallace Neff for silent film actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Coined "Pickfair" by the press, it was once one of the most celebrated homes in the world...
.
The Mark of Zorro (1920 film)
The Mark of Zorro is a 1920 silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Noah Beery. This genre-defining swashbuckler adventure was the first movie version of The Mark of Zorro...
, Fairbanks combined his appealing screen persona with the new adventurous, costume element. It was a smash success and parlayed the actor into the rank of superstar
Superstar
A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity.Superstar or superstars may also refer to:-People:* Warhol Superstar, associates of Andy Warhol* WWE Superstar, the term used to refer to entertainers from the WWE...
. For the remainder of his career in silent films, he continued to produce and star in ever more elaborate, impressive costume films, such as The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers (1921 film)
__notoc__The Three Musketeers is an American silent film based on the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père. It was directed by Fred Niblo and starred Douglas Fairbanks as d'Artagnan. The film originally had scenes filmed in the Handschiegl Color Process...
(1921), Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood
Robin Hood (1922 film)
Robin Hood is the first motion picture ever to have a Hollywood premiere, held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on October 18, 1922. The movie's full title, under which it was copyrighted, is Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood, as shown in the illustration at right...
(1922), The Thief of Bagdad
The Thief of Bagdad (1924 film)
The Thief of Bagdad is a 1924 American swashbuckler film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Douglas Fairbanks. Freely adapted from One Thousand and One Nights, it tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Bagdad...
(1924), The Black Pirate
The Black Pirate
The Black Pirate is a 1926 silent adventure film shot entirely in two-strip Technicolor about an adventurer and a "company" of pirates. It stars Douglas Fairbanks, Donald Crisp, Sam De Grasse, and Billie Dove.-Plot:...
(1926, the first full-length Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
film), and The Gaucho
The Gaucho
The Gaucho is a 1927 movie starring Douglas Fairbanks and Lupe Vélez set in Argentina. The lavish adventure extravaganza, filmed at the height of Fairbanks' box office clout, was directed by F...
(1927). Fairbanks spared no expense and effort in these films, which established the standard for all future swashbuckling
Swashbuckler
Swashbuckler or swasher is a term that emerged in the 16th century and has been used for rough, noisy and boastful swordsmen ever since. A possible explanation for this term is that it derives from a fighting style using a side-sword with a buckler in the off-hand, which was applied with much...
films.
In 1921, he, Pickford, Chaplin, and others, helped to organize the Motion Picture Fund
Motion Picture & Television Fund
The Motion Picture & Television Fund is a charitable organization that offers assistance and care to those in the motion picture and television industries with limited or no resources...
to assist those in the industry who could not work, or were unable to meet their bills.
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
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Grauman's Chinese Theatre is a movie theater at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. It is on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame.The Chinese Theatre was commissioned following the success of the nearby Grauman's Egyptian Theatre which opened in 1922...
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 presented the first Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
at the Roosevelt Hotel. Fairbanks also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 7020 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard
-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
.
His last silent film was the lavish The Iron Mask
The Iron Mask
The Iron Mask is a part-talkie film adaptation of the last section of the novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père, which is itself based on the French legend of The Man in the Iron Mask...
(1929), a sequel to 1921's The Three Musketeers which included an introductory prologue spoken by Fairbanks. While Fairbanks had flourished in the silent genre, the restrictions of early sound films dulled his enthusiasm for film-making. Also, his athletic abilities and general health began to decline, in part due to years of heavy chain-smoking. He and Pickford chose to make their first talkie
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
as a joint venture, playing Petruchio
Petruchio
Petruchio is the male romantic lead in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew . Petruchio is a fortune seeker who enters into a marriage with a strong-willed young woman named Kate and then proceeds to "tame" her temperamental spirit...
and Kate
Kate
Kate is a feminine given name. It is sometimes a short form of Katherine, which is Greek meaning pure, blessed, virginal and popularity. It may refer to:People with the given name Kate:*Kate In meteorology:...
in Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew (1929 film)
The Taming of the Shrew is the first sound film adaptation of the Shakespearean play of the same name. It stars Mary Pickford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks.-Cast:*Mary Pickford as Katherine*Douglas Fairbanks as Petruchio...
(1929). This film, and his subsequent sound films, were poorly received by Depression era audiences. The last film he acted in was the British production The Private Life of Don Juan
The Private Life of Don Juan
The Private Life of Don Juan is a 1934 British comedy-drama film about the life of an aging Don Juan, based on the 1920 play L'homme à la Rose by Henry Bataille. The movie stars Douglas Fairbanks and Merle Oberon.-Plot:...
(1934), after which he retired from acting.
Final years
Sylvia Ashley
Sylvia Ashley was an English model, actress and socialite, who was best known for her marriages to British aristocrats and American movie stars.-Personal life:...
. They divorced in 1936, with Pickford keeping the Pickfair estate. Within months Fairbanks and Ashley were married in Paris.
He continued to be marginally involved in the film industry and United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, but his later years lacked the intense focus of his film years. His health continued to decline, and in his final years he lived at 705 Ocean Front (now Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica, California, although much of his time was spent traveling abroad with Sylvia.
In December 1939, at 56, Fairbanks had a heart attack in his sleep and died a day later at his home in Santa Monica. By some accounts, he had been obsessively working out against medical advice, trying to regain his once-trim waistline. Fairbanks's famous last words were, "I've never felt better." His funeral service was held at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather Church in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original location of Forest Lawn, a chain of cemeteries in Southern California. The land was formerly part of Providencia Ranch.-History:...
where he was placed in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum. He was deeply mourned and honored by his colleagues and fans for his contributions to the film industry and Hollywood.
Two years following his death, he was removed from Forest Lawn by his widow, who commissioned an elaborate marble monument for him featuring a long rectangular reflecting pool, raised tomb, and classic Greek architecture in Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
. The monument was dedicated in a ceremony held in October 1941, with Fairbanks' close friend Charles Chaplin reading a remembrance. The remains of his son, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
, were also interred here upon his death in 2000.
Legacy
In 1998, a group of Fairbanks fans started the Douglas Fairbanks Museum in Austin, Texas. The museum building was temporarily closed for mold remediation and repairs in February 2010. Plans and fundraising efforts are underway to re-open the museum to the public. In the meantime an online virtual museum project makes parts of the collections and past exhibits available for viewing on the museum's website.In 2002, AMPAS opened the "Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study" located at 333 S. La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The building houses the Margaret Herrick Library.
On January 24, 2009, AMPAS opened an exhibition at their Fourth Floor Gallery dedicated to Fairbanks titled, "Douglas Fairbanks: The First King of Hollywood". The exhibit featured costumes, props, pictures, and documents from his career and personal life. The exhibit ran until April 2009. In addition to the exhibit, AMPAS screened Thief of Bagdad and The Iron Mask in March 2009. Recently, due to his involvement with the USC Fencing Club
USC Fencing Club
The University of Southern California Fencing Club has a long and colorful history. Founded in 1926, the Club has been home to a number of world class fencers and has won multiple championships. The USC Fencing Club is one of many U.S...
, a bronze statue of Fairbanks was erected in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Courtyard of the new School of Cinematic Arts building on the University of Southern California campus. Fairbanks was a key figure in the film school's founding in 1929, and in its curriculum development.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Credited as | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Role | Producer | Writer | Director | ||
| 1915 | The Lamb The Lamb (1915 film) The Lamb is a 1915 silent film that was Douglas Fairbanks's first starring role in a film. Fairbanks apparently played an extra or warm up part in Martyrs of the Alamo before releasing The Lamb. Surviving stills of The Lamb show Fairbanks at one point as an Indian brave in a near state of nudity... |
Gerald | |||
| Martyrs of the Alamo Martyrs of the Alamo Martyrs of the Alamo is an American film directed by Christy Cabanne.- Cast :*Sam De Grasse as Silent Smith*Allan Sears as David Crockett*Walter Long as Santa Anna*Alfred Paget as James Bowie*Fred Burns as Captain Dickinson... |
Bit part | ||||
| Double Trouble | Florian Amidon / Eugene Brassfield | ||||
| 1916 | His Picture in the Papers His Picture in the Papers His Picture in the Papers is a 1916 American silent film directed by John Emerson. It was made when many of the early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based in Fort Lee, New Jersey at the beginning of the 20th century.... |
Pete Prindle | |||
| The Habit of Happiness | Sunny Wiggins | ||||
| The Good Bad Man The Good Bad Man The Good Bad Man is a 1916 silent Western film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Bessie Love. It was directed by Allan Dwan and released through the Triangle Film Corporation. The film was edited, shortened and rereleased in 1923... |
Passin' Through | ||||
| Reggie Mixes In Reggie Mixes In Reggie Mixes In is a 1916 comedy-drama produced by Fine Arts and distributed by Triangle Film Corporation. It starred Douglas Fairbanks and was directed by Christy Cabanne... |
Reggie Van Deuzen | ||||
| The Mystery of the Leaping Fish The Mystery of the Leaping Fish The Mystery of the Leaping Fish is a short film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Bessie Love. In this unusually broad comedy for Fairbanks, the acrobatic leading man plays "Coke Ennyday," a cocaine-shooting detective parody of Sherlock Holmes given to injecting himself with cocaine from a bandolier... |
Coke Ennyday | ||||
| Flirting with Fate | Augy Holliday | ||||
| The Half-Breed | Lo Dorman | ||||
| Intolerance Intolerance (film) Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a... |
Man on White Horse (French Story) | ||||
| Manhattan Madness | Steve O'Dare | ||||
| American Aristocracy American Aristocracy American Aristocracy is a 1916 American silent film directed by Lloyd Ingraham and starring Douglas Fairbanks. - Cast :*Douglas Fairbanks as Cassius Lee*Jewel Carmen as Geraldine Hicks*C.A. de Lima as Leander Hicks*Albert Parker as Percy Horton... |
Cassius Lee | ||||
| The Matrimaniac | Jimmie Conroy | ||||
| The Americano The Americano The Americano is a 1916 film directed by John Emerson and starring Douglas Fairbanks. This was Fairbanks' last film for Triangle Film Corporation.-Cast:*Douglas Fairbanks as Blaze Derringer*Alma Rubens as Juana deCastalar... |
Blaze Derringer | ||||
| 1917 | All-Star Production of Patriotic Episodes for the Second Liberty Loan |
Himself | |||
| In Again, Out Again | Teddy Rutherford | ||||
| Wild and Woolly Wild and Woolly Wild and Woolly is a 1917 silent film which tells the story of one man's personal odyssey from sophisticated Easterner to Western tough guy. It stars Douglas Fairbanks, Eileen Percy, Walter Bytell and Sam De Grasse.... |
Jeff Hillington | ||||
| Down to Earth | Billy Gaynor | ||||
| The Man from Painted Post The Man from Painted Post The Man from Painted Post is a 1917 Western Drama produced by and starring Douglas Fairbanks. The scenario by Fairbanks is based on a short story Silver Slippers by Jackson Gregory. Joseph Henabery is the official director, with probably a lot of input by Fairbanks himself, and future director... |
"Fancy Jim" Sherwood | ||||
| Reaching for the Moon | Alexis Caesar Napoleon Brown | ||||
| A Modern Musketeer | Ned Thacker | ||||
| 1918 | Headin' South Headin' South Headin' South is a comedy film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Douglas Fairbanks. A lost film.-Cast:* Douglas Fairbanks - Headin' South* Frank Campeau - Spanish Joe* Katherine MacDonald - The Girl* Jim Mason - His Aide... |
Headin' South | |||
| Mr. Fix-It Mr. Fix-It (1918 film) Mr. Fix-It is a silent film comedy starring Douglas Fairbanks, Marjorie Daw, and Wanda Hawley, directed by Allan Dwan at Artcraft Pictures, and released by Paramount Pictures.-Preservation status:... |
Dick Remington | ||||
| Say! Young Fellow | The Young Fellow | ||||
| Bound in Morocco Bound in Morocco Bound in Morocco is a silent film comedy/drama starring Douglas Fairbanks. Fairbanks produced the picture with Allan Dwan directing. Production was by Artcraft Pictures, an associated company of Famous Players-Lasky, and distributed by Paramount Pictures... |
George Travelwell | ||||
| He Comes Up Smiling He Comes Up Smiling He Comes Up Smiling a 1918 comedy produced by and starring Douglas Fairbanks and directed by Allan Dwan. This film was based on a novel by Charles Sherman He Comes Up Smiling which was adapted into a 1914 play of the same name by Byron Ongley and Emil Nyitray. Fairbanks starred in the play with... |
Jerry Martin | ||||
| Sic 'Em, Sam | Democracy | ||||
| Arizona | Lt. Denton | ||||
| 1919 | The Knickerbocker Buckaroo The Knickerbocker Buckaroo The Knickerbocker Buckaroo is a 1919 silent Western directed by Albert Parker and starring Douglas Fairbanks, who also wrote and produced the film. Fairbanks plays a hedonistic New York City aristocrat who tries to change his selfish ways by heading to Sonora, Texas to carry out a campaign of... |
Teddy Drake | |||
| His Majesty, the American His Majesty, the American His Majesty, the American is a 1919 comedy film directed by Joseph Henabery and starring Douglas Fairbanks. It was the first film released by United Artists.-Cast:* Douglas Fairbanks - William Brooks* Marjorie Daw - Felice, Countess of Montenac... |
William Brooks | ||||
| When the Clouds Roll by When the Clouds Roll by When the Clouds Roll by is a 1919 comedy film starring Douglas Fairbanks and directed by Victor Fleming and Theodore Reed. The plot involves a man following the advice of a psychiatrist as he romances a woman in Greenwich Village.-Cast:... |
Daniel Boone Brown | ||||
| 1920 | The Mollycoddle The Mollycoddle The Mollycoddle is a 1920 film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery, and directed by Victor Fleming.- Cast :*Douglas Fairbanks ... Richard Marshall III, IV and V*Ruth Renick ... Virginia Hale... |
Richard Marshall III, IV and V | |||
| The Mark of Zorro The Mark of Zorro (1920 film) The Mark of Zorro is a 1920 silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Noah Beery. This genre-defining swashbuckler adventure was the first movie version of The Mark of Zorro... |
Don Diego Vega / Señor Zorro Zorro Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media.... |
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| 1921 | The Nut The Nut (1921 film directed by Theodore Reed) The Nut is a 1921 American silent film comedy directed by Theodore Reed. - Cast :*Douglas Fairbanks as Charlie Jackson*Marguerite De La Motte as Estrell Wynn*William Lowery as Philip Feeney*Gerald Pring as Gentleman George... |
Charlie Jackson | |||
| The Three Musketeers The Three Musketeers (1921 film) __notoc__The Three Musketeers is an American silent film based on the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père. It was directed by Fred Niblo and starred Douglas Fairbanks as d'Artagnan. The film originally had scenes filmed in the Handschiegl Color Process... |
d'Artagnan D'Artagnan Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard and died at the Siege of Maastricht in the Franco-Dutch War. A fictionalized account of his life by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras formed the basis for the d'Artagnan Romances of... |
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| 1922 | Robin Hood Robin Hood (1922 film) Robin Hood is the first motion picture ever to have a Hollywood premiere, held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on October 18, 1922. The movie's full title, under which it was copyrighted, is Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood, as shown in the illustration at right... |
Robin Hood Robin Hood Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes.... |
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| 1923 | Hollywood Hollywood (1923 film) Hollywood was a silent comedy film directed by James Cruze, co-written by Frank Condon and Thomas J. Geraghty, and released by Paramount Pictures.The film has become famous as having featured cameos of more than thirty famous Hollywood stars... |
Himself | |||
| 1924 | The Thief of Bagdad The Thief of Bagdad (1924 film) The Thief of Bagdad is a 1924 American swashbuckler film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Douglas Fairbanks. Freely adapted from One Thousand and One Nights, it tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Bagdad... |
The Thief of Bagdad | |||
| 1925 | Don Q, Son of Zorro Don Q, Son of Zorro Don Q, Son of Zorro is the 1925 sequel to the 1920 silent film The Mark of Zorro. It was loosely based upon the 1909 novel Don Q.'s Love Story, written by the mother-and-son duo Kate and Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard. The story was reworked in 1925 into a vehicle for the Johnston McCulley character Zorro... |
Don Cesar Vega / Zorro | |||
| Ben-Hur Ben-Hur (1925 film) Ben-Hur is a 1925 silent film directed by Fred Niblo. It was a blockbuster hit for newly merged Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was the second film based on the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace... |
Crowd extra in chariot race | ||||
| 1926 | The Black Pirate The Black Pirate The Black Pirate is a 1926 silent adventure film shot entirely in two-strip Technicolor about an adventurer and a "company" of pirates. It stars Douglas Fairbanks, Donald Crisp, Sam De Grasse, and Billie Dove.-Plot:... |
The Black Pirate | |||
| 1927 | A Kiss From Mary Pickford A Kiss From Mary Pickford A Kiss From Mary Pickford is a comedy film made in the Soviet Union, directed by Sergei Komarov and co-written by Komarov and Vadim Shershenevich. The film, starring Igor Ilyinsky, is mostly known today because of a cameo by the popular film couple Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks... |
Himself | |||
| The Gaucho The Gaucho The Gaucho is a 1927 movie starring Douglas Fairbanks and Lupe Vélez set in Argentina. The lavish adventure extravaganza, filmed at the height of Fairbanks' box office clout, was directed by F... |
The Gaucho | ||||
| 1928 | Show People Show People Show People is a 1928 comedy silent film directed by King Vidor. The movie was a starring vehicle for actress Marion Davies and actor William Haines and included notable cameo appearances by many of the film personalities of the day, including stars Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, William S.... |
Himself | |||
| 1929 | The Iron Mask The Iron Mask The Iron Mask is a part-talkie film adaptation of the last section of the novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père, which is itself based on the French legend of The Man in the Iron Mask... |
d'Artagnan | |||
| The Taming of the Shrew The Taming of the Shrew (1929 film) The Taming of the Shrew is the first sound film adaptation of the Shakespearean play of the same name. It stars Mary Pickford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks.-Cast:*Mary Pickford as Katherine*Douglas Fairbanks as Petruchio... |
Petruchio Petruchio Petruchio is the male romantic lead in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew . Petruchio is a fortune seeker who enters into a marriage with a strong-willed young woman named Kate and then proceeds to "tame" her temperamental spirit... |
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| 1930 | Reaching for the Moon (film) Reaching for the Moon (film) Reaching for the Moon is an American 1930 black and white musical film. Originally released at 91 minutes; surviving versions are usually cut to 62 minutes. A 74-minute version aired in 1998 on USA cable channel AMC. The DVD version runs just under 72 minutes. The film's workingtitle was Lucky... |
Larry Day | |||
| 1931 | Around the World in 80 Minutes with Douglas Fairbanks | Himself | |||
| 1932 | Mr. Robinson Crusoe Mr. Robinson Crusoe Mr. Robinson Crusoe is a 1932 American film. It is one of the few "talkie" films starring Douglas Fairbanks in his penultimate film role, who also produced the film and provided the story. The film was directed by A. Edward Sutherland, a veteran silent film director, for Fairbanks's Elton... |
Steve Drexel | |||
| 1934 | The Private Life of Don Juan The Private Life of Don Juan The Private Life of Don Juan is a 1934 British comedy-drama film about the life of an aging Don Juan, based on the 1920 play L'homme à la Rose by Henry Bataille. The movie stars Douglas Fairbanks and Merle Oberon.-Plot:... |
Don Juan Don Juan Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630... |
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