![]() ![]() ![]() 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Her motto: “We see a need, and we fill it.” Pickford stayed with the organization (later renamed the Motion Picture Television Fund) until her death at 87 in May 1979 in Santa Monica. In 1942, she dedicated the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills. Two years later, the fund benefited from Pickford’s appearance at the 17th annual Los Angeles Automobile Show, when she emceed an MPRF charity raffle of a front-drive sedan during twin galas held at the Mayfair and Biltmore hotels downtown. In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, Pickford introduced the Payroll Pledge Program, which deducted one-half percent from studio workers’ paychecks (if they earned more than $200 a week, or $4,000 in 2021) and funneled it to the MPRF. Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith in Toronto and began acting on stage in 1900. During the silent film era she became one of the first great celebrities of the cinema and a popular icon known to the public as 'Americas Sweetheart'. Neal Dodd - a real Episcopal priest who played a man of the cloth in more than 300 films and was known as the “Padre of Hollywood” - served as administrator. Mary Pickford (18921979) was a Canadian-American motion picture actress, producer, and writer. She was the founding vice president 20th Century Fox co-chairman Joseph Schenck was president and the Rev. Not long after, using money left over from her work selling Liberty Bonds during World War I, Pickford founded the Motion Picture Relief Fund, providing basic health care and social welfare services for struggling showbiz folk. 13, 1932, THR announced a new short film series to benefit the fund. A concerned Pickford, then 29, set out gathering funds for them in collection boxes. Those from the silent era who could not adapt - hundreds of actors, directors and writers - suddenly found themselves unemployed. In 1921, the film industry was undergoing a seismic upheaval with the arrival of talkies. ![]() Griffith co-founded United Artists - liked to set a good example: Prohibition-era soirees at their Pickfair estate in Beverly Hills served Ovaltine, not gin, and the couple often hosted philanthropic events for everything from war veterans to museums. Unlike many of the hedonists populating Hollywood 100 years ago, Pickford and then-husband Douglas Fairbanks - who together with Charlie Chaplin and D.W. 22, was conceived of by silent film star Mary Pickford. The Motion Picture Television Fund, which celebrates its centennial Sept. ![]()
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