The silent-screen star who would become famous for his tireless energy and all-American attitude was born Douglas Ulman in Denver, Colorado, in 1883. Commentator Vachel Lindsay described Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.'s on-screen persona in terms of two key concepts: architecture-in-motion and sculpture-in-motion. In the 1910s and 1920s, the star's acrobatic stealth and extroverted performance style appeared to mirror the flickering electricity and seemingly endless possibilities of the newly emerging form of moving pictures. Always known for his insistence on maintaining a good deal of control over his films, Fairbanks was one of the founders of United Artists with Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith.

After leaving his mother and stepfather behind in Colorado when he was a teenager and surviving a brief stay at Harvard, Fairbanks tried his hand on the New York stage and soon made it to Broadway. In...