Women's Health November 9, 2025 0 Comments

Uncover the Untold Power Duo: How Mary Pickford and Frances Marion secretly Built the Hollywood Empire We Know Today!

When we think about the glitz and glamour of 1920s Hollywood, names like Charlie Chaplin, Louise Brooks, and Lillian Gish often pop into our heads right away. But, have you ever stopped to wonder who actually paved the way for women in the film industry and changed the game behind the scenes? Well, it wasn’t just about flashing smiles and dazzling stars on the silver screen. Two powerhouse women, Mary Pickford and Frances Marion, broke barriers not only in front of the camera but also behind it, reshaping Hollywood’s very foundations. Their story — a captivating blend of fierce ambition, groundbreaking talent, and a friendship as complicated as any blockbuster script — deserves the spotlight. So, buckle up, because we’re diving deep into their lives and the legacy they left that still echoes through Hollywood today. LEARN MORE

When it comes to 1920s Hollywood, we often think of stars like Charlie Chaplin, Louise Brooks and Lillian Gish. However, two others paved the way for not only women in Hollywood but also filmmaking in general. Their names are Mary Pickford and Frances Marion, and we dive deep into their lives and complicated friendships below.

Who is Mary Pickford?

Mary Pickford was born Gladys Louisa Smith in 1892, but didn’t begin acting on the silver screen until 1909. Once she did, though, she quickly rose to fame and became one of the most well-known silent film stars of all time. She was also the first millionaire in Hollywood, beating out other popular stars like Chaplin.

A large part of Pickford’s success came from her ability to negotiate. In 1916, she successfully talked producer Adolph Zukor into giving her $10,000 a week for her film work, which was almost unheard of at the time. She also negotiated that she would receive half of her films’ total profits, earning her a little over $1 million and solidifying her as the first actress to ever sign a million-dollar deal.

Mary Pickford in 1922Bettmann/Contributor/Getty

Acting and negotiation weren’t Pickford’s only talents, though. She also had quite a knack for business and was the creative force behind the Pickford Film Corporation, the Hollywood Studio Club, the Motion Picture Relief Fund, and United Artists, an independent film production company which she started with D.W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks and Chaplin in 1919.

Pickford was also one of the founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927.

The personal life of Mary Pickford

Since Pickford was often referred to as “America’s Sweetheart,” it’s no surprise that people were fascinated with her personal life. Over the years, the actress was married three times. First to actor Owen Moore, from 1911 to 1920, but Moore reportedly cheated on Pickford quite a bit and the two were rarely seen together. Pickford then left Moore for Fairbanks in 1920.

Prior to their marriage, Pickford and Fairbanks had known each other for quite some time, being that both were quite famous actors. It’s believed that the two fell in love while on the road, campaigning for the sale of liberty bonds during World War 1. They then reportedly left their spouses at the time and got married in 1920.

Given their popularity, fans and reporters followed Pickford and Fairbanks around for quite some time. It is widely believed that the two adored the spotlight and the attention they received while together.

“They were more beloved and better known than anybody in the world,” Tracey Goessel, author of The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks, said. “The fact that these two adored people were in love with each other made everybody feel good.”

Mary Pickford and Actor Douglas Fairbanks in 1920Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty

A large part of the couple’s income went their home, “Pickfair,” a hunting lodge in Beverly Hills that they turned into a 25-bedroom mansion with a home theater and Los Angeles’ first-ever in-ground swimming pool.

Pickford and Fairbanks’s downfall came when the two realized that the film industry was transitioning from silent films to “talkies.” Pickford herself made the change quite flawlessly and even won her first Academy Award for her work in a “talkie” entitled Coquette (1930, but Fairbanks reportedly didn’t adjust as well and began cheating on her quite frequently.

“Fairbanks was pathologically jealous, so he assumed she had strayed,” Goessel says. “Each thought the other had sinned first, so Douglas became a discreet rake. And Mary did begin an affair with her co-star.”

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in 1930eystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty

“After trying to get Mary to take him back, Douglas rebounded and married his lover. He regretted it every day for the rest of his life.”

The couple officially divorced in 1936.

Following Fairbanks, Pickford married actor and musician Charles “Buddy” Rogers in 1937 and remained with him until her death in 1979. The pair adopted two children together during their marriage.

“I miss my mother,” Pickford’s son Ron said in 2003.”I’ll never forget her. I think that she was a good woman.”

The downfall of Mary Pickford

Pickford retired from acting in 1933, and between that and her impending divorce from Fairbanks, the actress reportedly became quite depressed, began drinking a lot and hardly left her her “Pickfair” home.

She did publish quite a few books during that time, though, including an essay entitled My Rendezvous with Life (1935), a novel entitled The Demi-Widow (1935) and the memoir Sunshine and Shadows in 1955. She also won an honorary Academy Award in 1976, but she did not go to the award show and instead offered her thanks via video.

Mary Pickford in 1965Keystone-FranceGamma-Rapho via Getty

Pickford died on May 29, 1979, from complications from a cerebral hemorrhage she had suffered a week before.

Who is Frances Marion?

Frances Marion was born on November 19, 1888, under the name Marion Benson Owens. From a young age, Marion had a passion for storytelling and began selling her poems and stories to magazines as a teenager. She then attended the Mark Hopkins Art Institute in San Francisco, where she met her first husband, Wesley de Lappe. They were married from 1906 until 1911.

After that, Marion married Robert Pike, a wealthy businessman, who moved her to Los Angeles in 1912. After her arrival, she worked with several stars doing odd jobs, but it wasn’t until she met director Lois Weber that her life changed for the better.

Frances Marion in 1926Bettmann/Contributor/Getty

Weber cast Marion in several films and even allowed her to write press releases and edit films, which helped ignite her love for screenwriting. Weber was also the one who helped Marion change her name from Marion Benson Owens to Francis Marion.

It wasn’t all great, though, because while her professional life was thriving, Marion’s personal life was hanging by a thread. She and Pike were on the outs and eventually divorced in 1917, right before Marion decided to leave Hollywood behind and join the war.

Frances Marion’s war contributions

In 1918, Marion became a war correspondent for the United States government, leaving behind her $50,000 yearly salary and Hollywood lifestyle.

While overseas, Marion wrote about and even filmed women’s contributions to the war. She was also the first correspondent from the Allied nations to cross the Rhine River after the Armistice truce had been called.

A year later, Marion returned home and married Fred Thompson, an Army chaplain turned actor. They were together from 1919 until he died from tetanus on Christmas day, 1928. They had two children together, and Marion often wrote scripts for her late husband under the name Frank M. Clifton.

The lasting legacy of Frances Marion

Frances Marion in 1931Bettmann/Contributor/Getty

Marion wrote 130 silent and “talkie” films during her time in Hollywood. She was also the first female writer to win an Oscar, which she got for her 1920 film The Big House. That film also introduced her to her fourth and final husband, George Hill, but they were only married for less than a year.

Additionally, she became the first-ever vice president of the Screen Writers Guild, which was formed in 1933. However, as time went on, Marion began to feel like Hollywood had less and less to offer her, and so she slowly began to distance herself from that world until she was let go by MGM Studios in 1946.

Following that, she began to paint, sculpt and author several novels before passing away in 1973 at age 84.

The decade-spanning friendship between Francis Marion and Mary Pickford

Pickford and Marion had quite a friendship. In fact, it was Pickford who gave Marion the chance to become a screenwriter and then went on to hire her to do so exclusively for her. Some of their most well-known films include Poor Little Rich Girl (1917), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917), The Little Princess (1917) and Stella Maris (1918.)

It was widely believed that because Mation understood Pickford so well, she was able to write roles that featured her more childlike qualities.

Pickfords Pollyanna — United Artists/Archive Photos/Getty

Sadly, though, like any friendship, the pair had issues. Many people believe Pickford loved Marion’s attention too much, whereas others think Marion began to dislike Pickford after she married Fairbanks. However, none of this has ever been confirmed.

What we do know, though, is that after they collaborated on the film Secrets (1933), Marion and Pickford never worked together again. This was also the last film that Pickford ever starred in. We also know that before Marion died in 1973, she and Pickford exchanged several letters, revealing that they still remained friends despite their rocky work relationship.