In this article, we will talk about the American actor, a star from the era of silent films and the founder of the first American Academy of Motion Picture Arts Douglas Fairbanks. We will discuss the biography of this wonderful person, and also take time for his career and filmography.
Biography
Douglas Fairbanks was born May 23, 1883 in the city of Denver, Colorado, United States. A boy was brought up in the family of a famous businessman and lawyer. From the age of five, Douglas lived with his mother, but his parents were not divorced, they just parted and lived separately.
As a child, Douglas Fairbanks was fond of fencing, athletics, horseback riding. But most of all he was drawn to the theater. After the young man graduated from high school, he entered Harvard University.
After telling his father about his intentions to become an actor in the future, Douglas was deprived of any financial support and was forced to go to Europe with his own money. In Paris, the future actor got a job as a digger and participated in the construction of the metro. Then he went to England, where he worked as a loader in a port of London, after which he got a job as a sailor on a cargo ship.
At the beginning of 1900, Douglas returned to America. There, he got a job as a salesman, and after that he was an employee of the company, which was located on Wall Street. But the guy did not forget about the dream of the theater, all the time he tried to find an opportunity to get there.
Career and personal life
In 1902, Douglas Fairbanks fulfilled his dream and made his debut as a theater actor on Broadway. Five years will pass, the actor will leave the theater stage and marry Anna Beth Sally, who will be the heiress of her family’s big business. In marriage, they will have a son - Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
After the birth of a son, the company of the actor’s wife will go bankrupt. Douglas was forced to return to his acting career. In 1905, he will be one of the invited actors to shoot in films from the studio Triangle Pictures. In the same year, Fairbanks will play the lead role in the film “Lamb” directed by William Christie Kabann. The film was well received by the public, and our actor was considered a hero of romantic comedies.
In 1916, the actor starred in the movie "American", according to the script of which Douglas is trying to suppress an armed uprising in South America with complacency. And in February of next year, Fairbanks ceases cooperation with Triangle and creates its own under the name Douglas Fairbanks Film Corporation.
In 1919, the actor divorces his wife and soon begins a relationship with actress Mary Pickford, in the future the couple gets married. After his first marriage, Douglas is trying to get out of the influence of large Hollywood studios and establish his own studio called United Artists, which allowed him to distribute his own films.
In the early 1920s, Douglas Fairbanks released his own film, The Sign of Zorro, and then films like The Three Musketeers, The Black Pirate, Robin Hood, and The Baghdad Thief appeared on the screen. The actor is at the peak of his popularity.
In 1927, Fairbanks Douglas, whose photo at that time was known to all people who connected his life with cinema, founded the first American Academy of Motion Picture Arts. The last film of the silent era with the participation of Douglas will be Iron Mask.
In 1936, the actor divorced his current wife and marries British model Sylvia Ashley. The couple will settle in Santa Monica.
Filmography
Films with Douglas Fairbanks are listed below (the year of publication on the screen is indicated in brackets):
- "Martyrs of the Alamo, or Birth of Texas" - played by Joe (1915);
- "The Modern Musketeer" - a double role, played by Ned Thacker and d'Artagnan (1917);
- “The Sign of Zorro” - performed by Don Diego Vega and old Zorro (1920);
- "Three Musketeers" - one of the main characters - d'Artagnan (1921);
- "Robin Hood" - the main character Robin Hood (1922);
- "Airmail" - performed by Sandy (1925);
- “Son of Zorro” - Don Diego Vega and old Zorro (1925);
- "Black Pirate" - a hero nicknamed the Black Pirate (1927);
- “The Iron Mask” - d'Artagnan (1929);
- "Mr. Robinson Crusoe" - played by Steve Drexel (1932);
- "The personal life of Don Juan" - performed by don Juan (1934).
In addition to the above, the actor appeared in such films as “The Lamb”, “His photograph in the newspapers”, “The mystery of the flying fish”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “Baghdad Thief”.
