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 ...

On April 2, 1910, filming of D.W. Griffith’s “Ramona,” starring Mary Pickford, the first known movie shot in the Santa Clarita Valley, wrapped up filming after two days at the historic Rancho Camulos. The film industry was still in its infancy at the time, household names like Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and even the star of “Ramona,” Mary Pickford herself, ...

On April 2, 1910, filming of D.W. Griffith’s “Ramona,” starring Mary Pickford, the first known movie shot in the Santa Clarita Valley, wrapped up filming after two days at the historic Rancho Camulos. The film industry was still in its infancy at the time, household names like Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and even the star of “Ramona,” Mary Pickford herself, ...