Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks | |
---|---|
Denver, Colorado, U.S. | |
Died | December 12, 1939 Santa Monica, California, U.S. | (aged 56)
Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1899–1934 |
Spouses | Anna Beth Sully
(m. 1907; div. 1919) |
Children | Douglas Fairbanks Jr. |
Signature | |
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr.[1] (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor and filmmaker,[2] best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films. One of the biggest stars of the silent era, Fairbanks was referred to as "The King of Hollywood",.[3] He was also a founding member of United Artists as well as the Motion Picture Academy and hosted the 1st Academy Awards in 1929.
Born in
Fairbanks' career rapidly declined with the advent of the "talkies" in the late 1920s. His final film was The Private Life of Don Juan (1934), after which he retired from acting but continued to be marginally involved in the film industry and United Artists. He died in 1939 at the age of 56.
Early life
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2023) |
Fairbanks was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman (spelled "Ulman" by
His father, known as Charles, was born in
Charles met Ella Adelaide Marsh after she married his friend and client John Fairbanks, a wealthy New Orleans sugar mill and plantation owner. The couple had a son, John, and shortly thereafter John Senior died of tuberculosis. Ella, born into a wealthy southern Roman 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 another son, Norris, she divorced Wilcox, with Charles acting as
Charles purchased several mining interests in the Rocky Mountains and re-established his law practice. After hearing of his wife's philandering, he abandoned the family when Douglas was five years old. Douglas and his older brother Robert were brought up by their mother, who gave them the family name Fairbanks, after her first husband.
Fairbanks was a Freemason, having been initiated at Beverly Hills Lodge No. 528.[5][6]
Career
Early career
Douglas Fairbanks began acting at an early age, in amateur theatre on the Denver stage, performing in
He left school in the spring of 1899, at the age of 15.[7] He variously claimed to have attended Colorado School of Mines and Harvard University, but neither claim is true. He went with the acting troupe of Frederick Warde, beginning a cross-country tour in September 1899. He toured with Warde for two seasons, functioning in dual roles, both as actor and as the assistant stage manager in his second year with the group.[7]
After two years he moved to New York, where he found his first Broadway role in Her Lord and Master, which premiered in February 1902. He worked in a hardware store and as a clerk in a Wall Street office between acting jobs.[8] His Broadway appearances included the popular A Gentleman from Mississippi in 1908–09. On July 11, 1907, Fairbanks married Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist Daniel J. Sully, in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. They had one son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., also a noted actor. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1915.[citation needed]
Hollywood
After moving to Los Angeles, Fairbanks signed a contract with Triangle Pictures in 1915 and began working under the supervision of D. W. Griffith. His first film was titled The Lamb, in which he debuted the athletic abilities that would gain him wide attention among theatre audiences.[9] 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,[10] and would soon get a job at Paramount.[10]
Fairbanks met actress Mary Pickford at a party in 1916, and the couple soon began an affair. In 1917, they joined Fairbanks's friend Charlie Chaplin[9] selling war bonds by train across the United States and delivering pro-war speeches as Four Minute Men. Pickford and Chaplin were the two highest-paid film stars in Hollywood at that time. To curtail these stars' astronomical salaries, the large studios attempted to monopolize distributors and exhibitors. By 1918, Fairbanks was Hollywood's most popular actor,[11] and within three years of his arrival, his popularity and business acumen raised him to the third-highest paid.
In 1917, Fairbanks capitalized on his rising popularity by publishing a self-help book, Laugh and Live, which extolled the power of positive thinking and self-confidence in raising one's health, business and social prospects.[12]
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.
Sully was granted a divorce from Fairbanks in late 1918, the judgment being finalized early the following year. After the divorce, the actor was determined to have Pickford become his wife, but she was still married to actor
By 1920, Fairbanks had completed 29 films (28 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; Fairbanks had been a comic in his previous 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, on April 30, 1927, Fairbanks and Pickford placed their hand and footprints in wet cement at the newly opened Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. (In the classic comedy Blazing Saddles, Harvey Korman's villain character sees Fairbanks's prints at Grauman's and exclaims, "How did he do such fantastic stunts ... with such little feet?")
Fairbanks was elected first President of the
Career decline and retirement
While Fairbanks had flourished in the silent genre, the restrictions of early sound films dulled his enthusiasm for film-making. His athletic abilities and general health also began to decline at this time, in part due to his years of chain-smoking.[14] On March 29, 1928, at Pickford's bungalow, United Artists brought together Pickford, Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Norma Talmadge, Gloria Swanson, John Barrymore, D. W. Griffith and Dolores del Río to speak on the radio show The Dodge Brothers Hour to prove Fairbanks could meet the challenge of talking movies.[15][16]
Fairbanks's last silent film was the lavish
Fairbanks and Pickford separated in 1933, after he began an affair with Sylvia, Lady Ashley. Pickford had also been seen in the company of a high-profile industrialist. They divorced in 1936, with Pickford keeping the Pickfair estate.[17] Fairbanks and Ashley were married in Paris in March 1936.[18]
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. During his final years, he lived at 705 Ocean Front (now Palisades Beach Road) in Santa Monica, California, although much of his time was spent traveling abroad with his third wife, Lady Ashley.
Death
On December 12, 1939, Fairbanks suffered a
Two years following his death, his body was removed from Forest Lawn by his widow, Sylvia, who commissioned an elaborate marble monument for him featuring a long rectangular reflecting pool, raised tomb, and classic Greek architecture in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.[citation needed] The monument was dedicated in a ceremony held in October 1941, with Fairbanks' close friend Charlie Chaplin reading a remembrance. The remains of his son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., were also interred there upon his death in May 2000.[21]
Legacy
Fairbanks became the very first posthumous recipient of an Academy Honorary Award a few months after his death at the 12th Academy Awards, bestowed to him for his legendary career achievements in the development of motion pictures as the Academy's first president.
In 1992, Fairbanks was portrayed by actor Kevin Kline in the film Chaplin.
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.[22]
In 2002,
On November 6, 2008, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences celebrated the publication of their "Academy Imprints" book on Douglas Fairbanks, authored by film historian Jeffrey Vance, with the screening of a new restoration print of The Gaucho with Vance introducing the film.[24]
The following year, opening on January 24, 2009, AMPAS mounted a major Fairbanks exhibition at its Fourth Floor Gallery, titled "Douglas Fairbanks: The First King of Hollywood". The exhibit featured costumes, props, pictures and documents from his career and personal life.[25] In addition to the exhibit, AMPAS screened The Thief of Bagdad and The Iron Mask in March 2009. Concurrently with the Academy's efforts, the Museum of Modern of Art held their first Fairbanks film retrospective in over six decades, titled "Laugh and Live: The Films of Douglas Fairbanks" which ran from December 17, 2008, to January 12, 2009. Vance opened the retrospective with a lecture and screening of the restoration print of The Gaucho.[26]
Recently, due to his involvement with the
The 2011 film
The Thief of Bagdad was screened at the 2012 edition of the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival. On April 15, 2012, the festival concluded with a sold-out screening of the Fairbanks film held at the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The evening was introduced by Vance and TCM host Ben Mankiewicz.[28]
The nickname for the sports teams of the University of California-Santa Barbara is 'The Gauchos' in honor of Fairbanks's acting in the eponymous film.[29]
Filmography
Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Role | Producer | Writer | Director | |||
1915 | The Lamb | Gerald | ||||
Martyrs of the Alamo | Joe / Texan Soldier | |||||
Double Trouble | Florian Amidon / Eugene Brassfield | |||||
1916 | His Picture in the Papers | Pete Prindle | ||||
The Habit of Happiness | Sunny Wiggins | |||||
The Good Bad-Man | Passin' Through | Yes | ||||
Reggie Mixes In | Reggie Van Deuzen | |||||
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish | Coke Ennyday / Himself | |||||
Flirting with Fate | Augy Holliday | |||||
The Half-Breed | Lo Dorman (Sleeping Water) | |||||
Intolerance | Man on White Horse (French Story) | |||||
Manhattan Madness | Steve O'Dare | |||||
American Aristocracy | Cassius Lee | |||||
The Matrimaniac | Jimmie Conroy | |||||
The Americano | Blaze Derringer | |||||
1917 | All-Star Production of Patriotic Episodes for the Second Liberty Loan |
Himself | ||||
In Again, Out Again | Teddy Rutherford | Yes | ||||
Wild and Woolly | Jeff Hillington | |||||
Down to Earth | Billy Gaynor | Yes | Yes | |||
The Man from Painted Post | "Fancy Jim" Sherwood | Yes | ||||
Reaching for the Moon | Alexis Caesar Napoleon Brown | Yes | ||||
A Modern Musketeer | Ned Thacker/ d'Artagnan
|
Yes | ||||
1918 | Headin' South | Headin' South | Yes | Lost film | ||
Mr. Fix-It
|
Dick Remington | Yes | ||||
Say! Young Fellow | The Young Fellow | Yes | Lost film | |||
Bound in Morocco | George Travelwell | Yes | Yes | Lost film | ||
He Comes Up Smiling | Jerry Martin | Yes | Incomplete film | |||
Sic 'Em, Sam | Democracy | Lost film | ||||
Arizona | Lieutenant Denton | Yes | Yes | Yes | Lost film | |
1919 | The Knickerbocker Buckaroo | Teddy Drake | Yes | Yes | Lost film | |
His Majesty, the American | William Brooks | Yes | Yes | |||
When the Clouds Roll by
|
Daniel Boone Brown | Yes | Yes | |||
1920 | The Mollycoddle | Richard Marshall III, IV and V | Yes | |||
The Mark of Zorro | Don Diego Vega / Señor Zorro | Yes | Yes | |||
1921 | The Nut
|
Charlie Jackson | Yes | Yes | ||
The Three Musketeers | d'Artagnan | Yes | Yes | |||
1922 | Robin Hood | Robin Hood | Yes | Yes | ||
1923 | Hollywood | Himself | Lost film | |||
1924 | The Thief of Bagdad | The Thief of Bagdad | Yes | Yes | ||
1925 | Don Q, Son of Zorro | Don Cesar Vega / Zorro | Yes | |||
Ben-Hur
|
Crowd extra in chariot race | |||||
1926 | The Black Pirate | The Black Pirate | Yes | Yes | ||
1927 | A Kiss From Mary Pickford
|
Himself | ||||
The Gaucho | The Gaucho | Yes | Yes | |||
1928 | Show People | Himself | ||||
1929 | The Iron Mask | d'Artagnan | Yes | Yes | ||
The Taming of the Shrew | Petruchio | |||||
1930 | Reaching for the Moon | Larry Day | Yes | |||
1932 | Mr. Robinson Crusoe | Steve Drexel | Yes | Yes | ||
1934 | The Private Life of Don Juan | Don Juan | ||||
1937 | Ali Baba Goes to Town | Himself – at Fictional Premiere |
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0520256675.
- ^ Obituary, Variety, December 13, 1939, p. 54.
- ^ a b "Douglas Fairbanks Sr. Biography". The Douglas Fairbanks Museum. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008.
- ^ "Full text of "The Film Daily (Oct–Dec 1946)"". Wid's Films and Film Folk. October 1946. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ^ "Famous Freemasons in History | Freemason Information". February 20, 2009. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
- ^ MacKeen, Jason (November 28, 2022). "Famous Freemason – Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman". Fellowship Lodge. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Goessel, Tracey. The First King of Hollywood; The Life of Douglas Fairbanks. Chicago Review Press, 2016.
- ^ "Alexander Street Press Authorization". Asp6new.alexanderstreet.com. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ^ a b "American Experience | Mary Pickford | People & Events". PBS. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ a b "Douglas Fairbanks". Flicker Alley. Archived from the original on August 16, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ Richard Corliss (June 17, 1996). "The King of Hollywood". Time. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved August 10, 2008.
- ^ Douglas Fairbanks, Laugh and Live. New York, Britton, 1917. The work includes an afterword by journalist George Creel profiling Fairbanks as the epitome of American can-do manhood.
- ^ A. C. McDonald Studios
- ^ Vance, Jeffrey (2008). Douglas Fairbanks. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 162–163.
- ISBN 968-6932-35-6.
- ^ "Listen In on the DODGE HOUR". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. March 29, 1928. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mr Douglas Fairbanks weds Lady Ashley in Paris". The Scotsman. No. 28, 948. March 9, 1936. p. 16 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Doug Fairbanks Dies At His Home". Lawrence Journal-World. December 12, 1939. p. 10. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
- ^ Robinson, R. (2003). Famous Last Words. New York: Workman Publishing, p. 1.
- ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2000/05/08/hollywood-star-douglas-fairbanks-jr-dies/41e1a8a3-d5ee-4fbc-a9a4-11105c6ebea6/
- ^ "Drymeout.com blog". Blog.drymeout.com. April 29, 2010. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ "Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". Oscars.org. Archived from the original on October 3, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
- ^ Soares, Andre. "Douglas Fairbanks in THE GAUCHO Academy Screening". Altfg.com. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ^ "Douglas Fairbanks: The First King of Hollywood | Exhibitions Presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". Oscars.org. April 19, 2009. Archived from the original on March 9, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
- ^ "Laugh and Live: The Films of Douglas Fairbanks". MoMA. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ^ "USC Cinematic Arts | School of Cinematic Arts News". cinema.usc.edu.
- ^ "'The Artist' is the buzz at the TCM Classic Film Festival". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. April 16, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ^ "Nickname "Gauchos"". Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
Further reading
- Goessel, Tracey (October 1, 2015). The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-61373-404-9. [1]
- Vance, Jeffrey (December 8, 2008). Douglas Fairbanks. Berkeley, California: Academy Imprints/ISBN 978-0-520-25667-5.
External links
- Douglas Fairbanks at IMDb
- Douglas Fairbanks at the Internet Broadway Database
- Works by Douglas Fairbanks at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Douglas Fairbanks at Internet Archive
- Works by Douglas Fairbanks at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- DouglasFairbanks.org official website, including news from 2005 to 2007; at the Wayback Machine
- DouglasFairbanks.wordpress.com (formerly DouglasFairbanks.org), including news from 2009 to 2012; at the Wayback Machine
- 100 Years of Doug Archived March 30, 2018, at the Wayback Machine tribute website run by a Fairbanks family member
- Image of writer Karl Vollmoeller and Douglas Fairbanks visiting the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, 1927. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.