The Silent Majority: Tragedy and Triumph with the Pickford Kids and Co.

Mary Pickford is one of the best known stars that the silent film era produced.  What many fans don't realize is that she was not the only Pickford to make it in pictures; she was simply the one who lasted.  Her brother, Jack, was, for a time, a juvenile heartthrob and might have been a matinee idol of the first caliber had personal problems and alcoholism not derailed him.  Sister Lottie was rated the weakest of the siblings talent-wise, but she still managed an output of around 25 films over the course of several years.  Of course, all three had made names for themselves on the stage before that, touring their native Canada and the U.S. with a number of companies.

Here then, some pictures of Mary, Lottie, Jack, along with Olive Thomas, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Marilyn Miller, and others.




Born Gladys Marie Smith, this lovely lady took the name Mary Pickford when she began performing on stage at the tender age of 8 years.  Her father had died just two years earlier, leaving the family in dire straits.

Charlotte 'Lottie' Smith, later Lottie Pickford, was named after her mother.  She was nearly as successful as her sister onstage, but was not to have the same success in films.  She died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 41 in 1936.

The youngest of the siblings was born John Smith.  As Jack Pickford, he achieved a fame that was, at one point, almost on a par with sister Mary's, though that was probably due to his personal life and wild behavior being splashed all over the tabloids.  He was introduced to a fast lifestyle early, being taken to brothels by members of film crews when he was such a young teenager that a merkin, or pubic wig, was required so that he wouldn't be embarrassed by his "underdevelopment".  He passed away, a victim of alcoholism and hard living, in 1933, aged just 36.

Olive Thomas, born Oliva Duffy, was one of the true beauties of early Hollywood.  She was also a bit of a party girl, not afraid to do whom or whatever she had to in order to get parts.  She married Jack Pickford in 1916 (his first marriage and her second) and died tragically at age 25 in 1920, having ingested mercury bichloride (a topical treatment for Jack's syphillis) in a Paris hotel room during the couple's belated honeymoon.  Whether the dose was intentional on Olive's part or just an accident as she would claim on her deathbed is still a matter of debate.  Her last words, upon being asked by Jack how she felt, were reportedly "Pretty weak, but I'll be all right in a little while, don't worry, darling."

Marilyn Miller, star of Broadway and the Ziegfeld Follies, was born Mary Ellen Reynolds and was married to Jack Pickford from 1922 to 1927.  She descended into a life of booze and hard living much as Jack had.  She died in 1936, at the age of 27, due to complications following sinus surgery.

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., born Douglas Ullman, was one of Hollywood's first action stars.  His name meant box office, and it also meant that you could expect the film to contain plenty of excitement and death-defying stunts, most of which he performed himself.  From 1920 to 1936 Douglas was married to Mary Pickford.  Their estate, Pickfair, was a focal point of the elite Hollywood social scene.  After the couple's divorce (following a three year separation) married Sylvia Ashley, his third wife (his first, Anna Beth Sully, was the mother of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who would follow his father into acting).  Douglas Sr. died in 1939 at the age of 56, having suffered a major heart attack.  His last words?  "I've never felt better."

A still from a 1914 film adaptation of Cinderella, starring Mary Pickford.  Her prince is played by Owen Moore, to whom she was married between 1911 and 1920.  It was during that marriage that Mary was convinced by her mother and the studio to undergo an abortion, a procedure which likely prevented her from having children later (though she adopted a son and a daughter with third husband Charles Rogers).  Moore would also later be at the bedside of the dying Olive Thomas, along with Jack Pickford.

Olive Thomas dressed as a young man in a portrait from her days on Broadway.  Like the Pickfords and most other stars of the silent film era, she got her start on the legitimate stage.

Robert Gordon (left) plays Huckleberry Finn to Jack Pickford's Tom Sawyer in the 1918 film Huck and Tom.

If a picture is worth 1000 words, then this one is particularly telling.  Mary Pickford was one of the first women in Hollywood to take true control of her career, owning a controlling interest in most of her films and taking charge of many aspects of production, from lighting to lining up camera shots.  And all of that before she struck out with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith to form United Artists in the hope of really controlling "the product."

A portrait of Lottie Pickford toward the end of her film career.  She was perhaps better known as a socialite.

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. with Enid Bennett in a 1922 adaptation of Robin Hood.  This film was the first to have a Hollywood premiere, held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre.  Robin Hood was to become a signature role for Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. in The Thief of Baghdad (1924), another one of his signature roles.

Olive Thomas as portrayed on one of Photoplay Magazine's classic illustrated covers.

The 1922 wedding of Jack Pickford to Marilyn Miller.  Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. kneels at the front, with Mart Pickford resting a hand on his back.

Marilyn Miller (center) with Adele and Fred Astaire in a publicity shot for the musical Smiles.

Mary Pickford and...Mary Pickford!  In 1918 Mary starred in the film Stella Maris, in which she played both the wealthy Stella and the impoverished Unity Blake.  The double exposure effects used to allow Mary to act opposite herself are amazing for the time.  The process would be repeated in 1921 for Little Lord Fauntleroy, in which Mary would play both the boy of the title and his mother.

Mary and Douglas clown around with a film camera in the 1920s.  Even after their separation in 1933 and divorce in 1936, the two remained close.  Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. stated several times that both regretted their inability to repair the marriage.