It was the golden age of silent film, and she was the world's most celebrated actress. Known as "America's Sweetheart," Mary Pickford was famous for playing darling girls and feisty young women in wildly popular films seen around the globe. she created a totally new way of acting that entranced audiences and left them spell-bound. A shrewd businessperson, Pickford was also the first star to have her own production company and, in a tough business run by tough men, the first woman to take control of her career. In a daring and risky move, she teamed up with Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith to create United Artists.
As her career soared, Mary Pickford fell in love with Douglas Fairbanks. The public was ecstatic and hailed it as "the marriage of the century." From their spectacular Beverly Hills Estate, Pickfair, they appeared to be living the Hollywood dream. But, as Pickford would learn in the most painful and public way, fame is fickle and life at the top precarious.
This powerful and moving American Experience production uses archival footage, stills, original audio interviews with Pickford and clips from her movies to tell a story that is full of joy and power, loneliness and despair.
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