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(18 August 1896, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada - 3 January 1933, Paris, France)
 Born
John Charles Smith in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, he was the younger
brother of actresses Mary and Lottie Pickford. Like them, Jack
Pickford's mother Charlotte Hennessy had him acting on stage as a
very young boy. In 1910, he was only 14 years old when, with the
help of his sister Mary, he was signed to perform in motion pictures
with Biograph Studios.
After Biograph opened its studios in Hollywood, California, the
Pickford clan moved west. Jack, a small, fragile boy, grew up in the
adult world, one that suddenly became full of money far beyond
anything imaginable for the time when Mary Pickford signed a
contract in 1917 for $1 million with First National Pictures. Jack
got a lucrative contract with First National as part of the deal but
that year, he gained respect and found boy-next-door success as Pip
in Great Expectations (1917) and the title hero Tom Sawyer (1917),
and went on to become a fairly popular star on his own.
He even produced several of his own films. Some of his better films
during this time included The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come
(1920), The Man Who Had Everything (1920) and Waking Up the Town
(1925), but a taste for the high life soon took over. A
ne'er-do-well playboy and carouser, he aroused more public interest
because of his scandalous off-camera life than in the light romantic
films he appeared in.
Jack Pickford has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1523 Vine
Street.
He appeared in 130 films from 1909 to 1928. |
