Lured once again to the stage, Fairbanks reestablished himself in short order and became a Broadway favorite in such plays as "The New Henrietta" and "Officer 666." He was nearly signed for films by the Lasky Feature Play Company in 1914, but ultimately made his film debut in The Lamb for Triangle-Fine Arts in 1915. Pictures like The Habit of Happiness (1915), The Americano and American Aristocracy (both 1916) quickly established the Fairbanks persona: good-natured, chivalrous, supremely self-confident-in short, a go-getter. His athletic ability was regularly put to use, and nearly every one of his films sported elaborate, exuberant stunt sequences in which he bounded all over the screen, cheerfully vanquishing his enemies and always getting the girl.
Fairbanks signed with Artcraft in 1917, becoming his own producer and appearing in Reaching for the Moon (1917), He Comes Up Smiling and Say! Young Fellow (both 1918), as well as the Westerns Wild and Woolly, The Man From Painted Post (both 1917), and Arizona (1918). He romanced (and reportedly lived with) the also-married Mary Pickford in the late teens, but they sidestepped potential scandal by divorcing their respective spouses and marrying in 1920, after which they were hailed around the world as the virtual king and queen of Hollywood. Their palatial residence in Beverly Hills was dubbed Pickfair, and it became the unofficial social capital of movieland.
With Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith, Fairbanks founded United Artists Corporation in 1919, and his own His Majesty, the American was the company's first release. But Fairbanks' popularity was slipping due to the sameness of his vehicles. In 1920 he experimented with a period swashbuckler, The Mark of Zorro which essentially grafted the Fairbanks persona onto a romantic adventure story with delightful results. It was a tremendous hit. After one more modern picture, The Nut (1921), confirmed the declining appeal of his modern-dress comedies, Fairbanks devoted the remainder of his silent-screen career to lavish costume pictures. He immersed himself in the crafting of these films, writing many of them himself, and supervising production of sets and design of costumes. The Three Musketeers (1921) was a lavish adaptation of the Dumas classic, while Robin Hood (1922) nearly dwarfed the lively star with its gigantic sets and ornate production values.
The actor-producer's greatest achievement was probably The Thief of Bagdad (1924), a high point of Hollywood production style in the silent era. Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925), a sequel to his 1920 hit, wasn't nearly as remarkable as its predecessor. The Black Pirate (1926), however, was a deft swashbuckler enhanced by the pastel hues of two-color Technicolor, and enlivened by some of Fairbanks' most famous stunts, including a spectacular slide down the huge sail of a massive ship. The Gaucho (1927), an odd blend of spectacle and religious mysticism, seemed to be a misstep for Fairbanks, but he was back in form with The Iron Mask (1929), a sequel to The Three Musketeers that sported two brief "talkie" scenes.
The all-talking The Taming of the Shrew (1929) costarred Fairbanks with Pickford in a Shakespearean romp, but the superstar combination didn't click at box of fices, and Fairbanks, already unnerved by the burgeoning success of talkies, again shifted gears, returning to more modest, contemporary comedies. Reaching for the Moon (1931), Mr. Robinson Crusoe and a home-movie-like travelogue, Around the World in 80 Minutes (1932), all had their moments but clearly showed the star in decline, as 1930s audiences found new heroes to worship. Fairbanks retired from the screen on a grace note, appearing as the aging lover in Alexander Korda's British production of The Private Life of Don Juan (1934). In the late 1930s, he and his son discussed the possibility of a joint screen vehicle that never came to fruition. Ever restless in his later years, Fairbanks was divorced by Pickford in 1936 and married Lady Sylvia Ashley, a chorus girl by training and a lady by marriage. He died in his sleep of a heart attack at age 56.
Taken from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia
Here are pictures of Fairbanks and Pickford.
