Haunted Pickfair, Part l

Pickford, Fairbanks wedding.

When Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. met, they fell madly in love, but there was one snag, they both were married. This meant their courtship had to be done in secrecy for they were both silent-screen film stars at the time.

Mary Pickford became a stage actress at the age of five. She grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As a teen, she conquered Broadway and then Hollywood as “America’s Sweetheart” on the silver screen. Pickford was beloved for both her beauty and charm.

Mary Pickford

In just one year, 1909, she performed in 40 short silent films for D.W. Griffith’s Biograph Company. She often betrayed very young girls even though by this time she was an adult.

Pickford not only was a stage and film actress she also produced films and wrote screenplays. She co-founded United Artists with Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks Sr., whom she married in 1920.

The two film stars became Hollywood’s first super couple—adored by fans and the film industry elite.

Fairbanks born in Denver, Colorado, starred on Broadway and then made his first film with D.W. Griffith in 1915. He later produced and directed several of the movies in which he starred.

Fairbanks as Robin Hood

He became known for a swashbuckler, physically demanding roles, such as Robin Hood and Zorro—where he is credited for inventing the slashed “Z” for the character. Over his twenty-year film career, he also starred in many comedies—he had great comedic timing.

Fairbanks purchased a large mansion in Beverly Hills, originally a hunting lodge from Lee A. Phillips. He bought this 16-acre property, in 1919 before Pickford’s divorce from her first husband was finalized.

Fairbanks and Pickford had the architect Wallace Neff renovate the estate. It took five years.

Their home now was four stories with twenty-five rooms. Stables, tennis courts, servant quarters, a large guest wing and garages surrounded this Tudor style mansion.

It even had Beverly Hill’s first in-ground pool.

It wasn’t long before the press dubbed the newlyweds new home Pickfair—a play on both their names.

Pickfair

Their estate became legendary for the parties that Pickford and Fairbanks hosted. Life Magazine stated that Pickfair was “a gathering place only slightly less important than the White House . . . but much more fun.”

Besides all of Hollywood’s stars, their guest list included: George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, Helen Keller, H. G. Wells, Lord Mountbatten, Amelia Earhart, F. Scott Fitzgerald, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Eleanor Roosevelt, Pearl S. Buck, Thomas Edison, Arthur Conan Doyle, the King of Queen of Siam . . . This is just a brief sampling.

The two actors only starred in one film together, The Taming of the Shrew in 1929, nine years after they married.

With the advent of talking pictures, both Pickford’s and Fairbank’s acting careers declined. The two stars were intensely jealous lovers and with rumors swirling about Fairbanks' womanizing and Pickford's drinking they separated in 1933 and then divorced in 1936.

Mary lived at Pickfair with her third husband Buddy Rodgers until her death in 1979. Douglas retired from acting in 1936, he died of a heart attack in 1939.

In Haunted Pickfair, Part ll here information is shared about the ghost seen at this estate for many years.

Here is a short video about Pickford and Fairbanks.