Mary Pickford

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Queen of the Movies
Mary Pickford
8th April 1892 - 29th May 1979

There aren't many people who know who she was, even though she was the biggest star of her time and her legacy would shape Hollywood for ever.

She was a co-founder of United Artists, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was the second recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actress, a receiver of an Academy Honorary Award, and the American Film Institute named her the 24th greatest female star of Classical Hollywood Cinema.

Her personal life was tumultuous and unfortunately overshadowed by alcoholism. She lived as a recluse in her late years.

According to Sid Grauman, the founder of the Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, it was Mary Pickford putting her foot onto new concrete, that inspired the tradition of displaying hand- and footprints at the Chinese Theatre.

Pickford defined the ingénue type in cinema. This being a stock character in literature, film, and theatre, who is an innocent and naive young girl or woman.

This persona also earned her the nickname of America's Sweetheart, an unofficial title used by American media to describe a public, mostly female figure, who is widely admired and beloved by the public.

She was the first one to receive this title.