Douglas Fairbanks

Douglas Fairbanks in the title role in Robin Hood (1922).

Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman Fairbanks, Sr., (May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer, 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 with Fairbanks constantly referred to as "The King of Hollywood".

Early life

Fairbanks was born Douglas Elton Ullman (spelled "Ulman" by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in his memoirs) in Denver, Colorado, the son of Hezekiah Charles Ullman (born September 1833) and Ella Adelaide Marsh (born 1850). He had a half-brother, John Fairbanks (born 1873), and a full brother, Robert Payne Ullman (March 13, 1882-February 22, 1948).

Fairbanks' father, who was born in Pennsylvania to a Jewish family, was a prominent New York City attorney. His mother, a Roman Catholic, was born in New York, and had previously been married to a man named John Fairbanks until his death. She then married a man named Wilcox, who turned out to be abusive. Her divorce was handled by Ullman, who later became her third husband.

In about 1881, Charles Ullman purchased several mining interests in the Rocky Mountains and moved the family to Denver, where he re-established his law practice. Ullman abandoned the family when Douglas was five years old, and he and 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 stock at the Elitch Gardens Theatre, becoming a sensation in his teens. He attended East Denver 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.

Hollywood

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, and in the film, he debuted his remarkable athletic abilities that would gain wide attention among theatre audiences. 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. 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 began an affair. In 1917, the couple joined Fairbanks' friend Charlie Chaplin selling war bonds 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 order 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". The couple were greeted by large crowds in London and Paris during their European honeymoon, becoming Hollywood's first celebrity marriage.

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 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 films, such as The Three Musketeers (1921), Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood (1922), The Thief of Baghdad (1924), The Black Pirate (1926, the first full 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 organise 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 in his studio office. 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.

Final Years

After he began an affair with Lady Sylvia Ashley, Fairbanks and Pickford separated in 1933. Fairbanks, Sr. and Mary Pickford divorced in 1936, with her keeping Pickfair. Within months he 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 travelling 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, with long rectangular reflecting pool, raised tomb, and classic Greek architecture in Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The remains of his son, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., were also interred here upon his death in 2000.

Legacy

In 1991, 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.

In 1998 a group of fans opened "The Douglas Fairbanks Sr. Museum" in Austin, Texas. The museum had to close due to flood damage in 2007 but expects to reopen in 2009.. The museum also offers a virtual tour of their holdings. In 2006 the Museum released a book of Fairbanks interviews and writings titled "Douglas Fairbanks: In His Own Words".

There has been a renewed interest in Fairbanks in recent years. Several of his films have been released on DVD including a box set, "Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer" from Flicker Alley. In 2008, AMPAS commissioned and released a biography on Fairbanks, written by Jeffery Vance and Tony Maietta.

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 features costumes, props, pictures, and documents from his career and personal life. The exhibit will run until April 2009. In addition to the exhibit AMPAS will screen Thief of Bagdad and The Iron Mask in March 2009. Recently, 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.

“Swashbucklers do it with panache,” says film historian Sparrow Morgan, founder of The Fairbanks Memorial. She proves her point every year on May 23 (May 22 in 2009 due to scheduling difficulties) by celebrating classic film star Douglas Fairbanks’ birthday with a free screening of one of his classic films at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. More information is at http://www.fairbanksmemorial.org

Filmography

1915
The Lamb
Martyrs of the Alamo
Double Trouble

1916
His Picture in the Papers
The Habit of Happiness
The Good Bad Man
Reggie Mixes In
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish
Flirting with Fate
The Half-Breed
Intolerance
Manhattan Madness
American Aristocracy
The Matrimaniac
The Americano

1917
All-Star Production of Patriotic Episodes for the Second Liberty Loan
In Again, Out Again
Wild and Woolly
Down to Earth
The Man from Painted Post
Reaching for the Moon
A Modern Musketeer

1918
Headin' South
Mr. Fix-It
Say! Young Fellow
Bound in Morocco
He Comes Up Smiling
Sic 'Em Sam
Arizona

1919
The Knickerbocker Buckaroo
His Majesty, the American
When the Clouds Roll by

1920
The Mollycoddle
The Mark of Zorro

1921 The Nut
The Three Musketeers

1922
Robin Hood

1923
Hollywood (as himself)

1924
The Thief of Bagdad

1925
Don Q, The Son of Zorro
Ben-Hur (bit part)

1926
The Black Pirate

1927
A Kiss From Mary Pickford (as himself)
The Gaucho

1928
Show People

1929
The Iron Mask
The Taming of the Shrew

1930
Reaching for the Moon

1931
Around the World in 80 Minutes with Douglas Fairbanks

1932
Mr. Robinson Crusoe

1934
The Private Life of Don Juan

External links

• Douglas Fairbanks at IMDB
• The Douglas Fairbanks at Project Gutenberg
• AFI Catalog Silent Films entry for Douglas Fairbanks
• The Douglas Fairbanks Sr. Museum
• The Douglas Fairbanks Sr. Museum Virtual Tour
• Douglas Fairbanks photos at Silent Ladies & Gents
• Did Douglas Fairbanks Attend Mines?
• Article about Grayhall, Beverly Hills mansion leased by Fairbanks
• Photographs of Douglas Fairbanks
• Douglas Fairbanks photo gallery NYP Library
• Douglas Fairbanks: The First King of Hollywood Exhibit
• The Douglas Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study
• The Silent Superstar Robert Gottlieb on Fairbanks from The New York Review of Books