On this day in 1979, silent film star Mary Pickford, known as the first “queen of Hollywood,” died at age 87.

Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith on April 8, 1892, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Her father died from a blood clot caused by a workplace accident when she was 5 years old. Pickford later claimed that her mother’s screams upon hearing the news traumatized her so deeply that she was unable to attend school or learn to read until adulthood.

After her father’s death, Pickford’s mother took in boarders to support the family, including theatrical stage manager Mr. Murphy of the Cummings Stock Company.

He suggested that Pickford and her younger sister, Charlotte, become child actors. Their younger brother, Jack, later followed in their footsteps. The children found success onstage, and by 1901, the family had moved to the United States to pursue theater careers.

At age 15, Pickford convinced Broadway producer David Belasco to audition her for a child role in the 1907 play “The Warrens of Virginia.” Belasco hired her at $25 per week, but decided “Gladys Smith” was not an ideal stage name and instead gave her the name “Mary Pickford,” which she would use for the rest of her career.

In 1909, 16-year-old Pickford entered the newborn film industry, impressing Biograph Company director D.W. Griffith so much that he agreed to pay her $10 a day on a $40-a-week guarantee, at a time when most actors at the studio earned only $5 a day.

Pickford made her film debut the very next day in “Her First Biscuits,” a seven-minute short film. Throughout 1909, she appeared in 51 films — nearly one every week — including her first starring role in “The Violin Maker of Cremona” opposite future husband Owen Moore.

In 1910, Pickford’s life intersected with the Santa Clarita Valley for the first time. She traveled with a Biograph crew to Los Angeles to take advantage of the warm weather and steady winter lighting on the West Coast.

During that trip, D.W. Griffith’s “Ramona,” starring Pickford, became the first known movie filmed in the Santa Clarita Valley. Production took place at the historic Rancho Camulos, one of the locations believed to be a core inspiration for the novel.

The film was based on Helen Hunt Jackson’s wildly popular 1884 novel “Ramona,” which Griffith considered perfect material for the many films his crew was producing during their California stay. The story follows a mixed-race Scottish-Native American orphan girl living in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War and California’s annexation into the United States.

Griffith was reportedly so determined to adapt the novel that he secured the film rights at considerable expense. In her biography, Griffith’s wife, Linda Arvidson, wrote:

“They asked one hundred dollars for the motion picture rights and the Biograph Company came across like good sports and paid it, and ‘Ramona’ went on record. It was conceded to be the most expensive picture put out by any manufacturer up to that time,” wrote Arvidson.

Pickford quickly became one of the biggest stars of the silent film era. After beginning her film career in 1909, she became Hollywood’s first millionaire by 1916. At the height of her fame, she maintained complete creative control over her films and became one of the most recognizable women in the world.

In 1919, Pickford co-founded United Artists alongside Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith. She was also one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927.

Like many silent film stars, Pickford’s career declined as “talkies” became more popular. She retired from film acting in 1933, though she remained involved in theater before eventually moving behind the camera. In 1936, she became vice president of United Artists.

Pickford married actor Owen Moore on Jan. 7, 1911. Moore’s struggles with alcoholism and physical abuse ultimately led to their divorce in 1920. Just days after the settlement, Pickford married actor Douglas Fairbanks, famous for portraying Zorro. The pair divorced on Jan. 10, 1936. On June 24, 1937, Pickford married actor and bandleader Charles Rogers, and the couple later adopted two children.

On May 29, 1979, Pickford died at a hospital in Santa Monica from complications related to a cerebral hemorrhage she had suffered the week before. She was 87 years old.

Pickford was laid to rest in the Garden of Memory at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

To read yesterday’s Today in SCV History, click here.

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