1892-1979
Movie Actress

America's Sweetheart.

By the time she was voted the most popular actress in America by the readers of a fan magazine in 1917, Mary Pickford was famous for the juvenile heroines she had played in movies such as The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917). Despite her childlike appearance she was an astute businesswoman amassing a fortune, the most powerful woman in the film industry.

Background.

Pickford's business sense was born of necessity during childhood. The girl dubbed "America's Sweetheart" was a Canadian, born Gladys Louise Smith on 8 April 1892 in Toronto. Her father, who had held various low-paying jobs, died in 1898, leaving his wife and their three children under the age of six — Gladys, Lottie, and Jack— on the verge of poverty. At a friend's suggestion, Charlotte Smith took her daughters to audition for a show that was looking for child...