Douglas Fairbanks - The First Swashbuckler

Douglas Fairbanks was the laughing daredevil of the silent screen in swashbuckling roles in adventure movies such as 'The Thief of Bagdad', 'Robin Hood', and 'The Mark of Zorro'. He invented the slyly self-parodic action hero, setting the tone for a line of successors from Errol Flynn to Bruce Willis.

Fairbanks was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman in Denver, Colorado on May 23, 1883. He moved to New York in the early 1900s intent on pursuing an acting career and he made his Broadway debut in 1902.

Initially a comedian, he played the drug-crazed detective Coke Ennyday in 'The Mystery of the Leaping Fish' in 1916. Fairbank's athleticism - he loved doing his own stunts - trademark moustache, and cheerful air suited him to swashbuckling, with serious swordplay leavened by graceful slapstick.'The Mark of Zorro' in 1920, in which he is both macho outlaw and comedy fop, was the first of the increasingly elaborate star vehicles, such as 'The Three Musketeers' in 1921, that he wrote and produced annually for a decade.

In the talkies, Fairbanks's star shone less brightly after teaming with his second wife, Mary Pickford, for a creaky 'The Taming of the Shrew' in 1929, but his farewell role was wryly dignified as a middle-aged great lover in 'The Private of Don Juan' in 1934.

Fairbanks's legacy is not just confined to the screen. Ever financially savvy, he started his own production company, the Douglas Fairbanks Film Corporation, in 1917, which helped propel him to become one of Hollywood's top earners. Such independence proved to be a thorn in the side of the studios, who attempted to monopolize film distribution. Undeterred, his business acumen led him to found the United Artists studio in 1919 together with Charles Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford. They created their own disttributorships, took artistic control over their output, and reaped a greater share of the profits. Fairbanks was also one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and co-hosted (with director William C. de Mille) the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.
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