Entry #2 (Personal + Trivia) Now that you have learned a bit more about my career I think its time for you to get to know some of my personal stories and a few curiosities about myself. In 1908, stage producer David Belasco was the one who gave me my stage name. As mentioned before, my real name is Gladys Marie Smith, but it didn’t quite feel like a famous actress’ name. Belasco used to say that Gladys did not suit the diminutive actress, Smith was too common and Marie was too foreign. Therefore, Marie became Mary and Pickford was my mothers maiden name. I got married three times. The first time was to Owen Moore and we got married January 7th, 1911. In 1916, I met Douglas Fairbanks at a party. I am ashamed to admit it, but we had a secret affair for years before I finally obtained a divorce in March, 1920. Douglas and I got married March 28th, 1920, only twenty-six days after I had divorced Owen. It lasted until January 10th, 1938. My third and final marriage was with Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers. We got married June 26th, 1937 and we adopted two beautiful children together, a son named Ronald Charles Rogers (born 1937) and a daughter named Roxanne Rogers (born 1944) I was the first movie actress to receive a percentage of a films earnings. On February 1956 I sold my shares to United Artists for $3 million, after Chaplin sold his the year before, marking the departure of the last original founder from the company. In that same year I established the Mary Pickford Charitable Trust, which would later become the Mary Pickford Foundation. Few people know, but philanthropy has always played a very important role throughout my life. As the renowned film historian Kevin Brownlow says, “Mary herself did an incredible amount for charity, the full extent of which will probably never be known.” Much of my giving was done discreetly, to friends or friends-of-friends in need. But in 1918, when I was selling war bonds I realized that I could use my influence and fame in order to inspire other people to give as well. I loved to contribute to organizations by supporting the creative community. I had planned to have all of my films destroyed after my death because I worried that no one would care about them. Fortunately, I was convinced not to do so. Ed Stotsenberg was my trusted financial adviser for over thirty years. He was the one who suggested that I form a foundation. I took his advice. So Instead of getting rid of all my archives, I decided to preserve my films by housing them at the Library of Congress, with the hope that they would be of interest and scientific value for future generations in showing the development of the motion picture art and science.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 19:55:45 +0000
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