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Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. biography

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  • PLACE OF DEATH: Santa Monica, California
  • Originally: Douglas Elton Ulman
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Silent movie star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (1883–1939) teamed up with Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and his wife Mary Pickford to launch United Artists in 1919.


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Silent movie star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. was born in 1883 in Denver. A popular Broadway actor, he made his first film for D.W. Griffith in 1915 (The Lamb). In the 1920s, he played swashbucklers from Robin Hood to Zorro, and won the heart and hand of fellow screen idol Mary Pickford. Along with Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith, the couple launched the independent studio United Artists in 1919.

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