Douglas
Fairbanks
was born in Denver on 23rd May, 1883.
After graduating from Harvard he became an actor. He became a major
Broadway star in plays such as He
Comes Up Smiling
and The
Show Shop.
In 1915 Fairbanks signed with Triangle
Films on a salary of $2,000 per week.
Early successes included His
Picture in the Papers
(1916), Down
to Earth
(1917) and Arizona
(1918).
In 1919 Fairbanks joined with D.W. Griffith,
Charlie Chaplin and his wife, Mary
Pickford, to form United
Artists,
a company that enabled the stars to distribute their films without
studio interference.
Over the next few years Fairbanks wrote, produced and starred in a
series of films that established him as a swashbuckling hero. This
included The
Mark of Zorro
(1920), The
Three Musketeers
(1921), Robin
Hood
(1922), The
Thief of Bagdad
(1924), Son
of Zorro
(1925) and The
Black Pirate
(1926). Douglas
Fairbanks died on 12th December, 1939.
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