DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS SR. - AUTOGRAPHED INSCRIBED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 43957

DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, SR.
Sepia-toned publicity photo of a smiling and clean-shaven Fairbanks  in a three-piece suit, inscribed to screenwriter Frances Agnew
Photograph inscribed and signed "To Frances Agnew/Best wishes always/Very Sincerely/Douglas Fairbanks". B/w sepia-toned, 7¾x9¾ overall, 3½x5¼ image, one surface, printed on cardstock. Photo by Apeda of New York. In 1902, Fairbanks (1883-1939, born Douglas Elton Ulman in Denver, Colorado) made his Broadway debut in Her Lord and Master. He married Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of an industrialist, in 1907, and left acting to work for her father's soap company. When his father-in-law lost his fortune in 1908, Fairbanks Sr. returned to the theatre. His son and namesake, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., was born the following year, and in 1915, the family moved to Hollywood. During a World War I Liberty Bond tour with Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, Fairbanks fell in love with "America's Sweetheart." Having divorced Anna in 1918, Fairbanks Sr. married Pickford in 1920, and the couple settled in their Hollywood mansion, Pickfair. They reached the peaks of their careers in the 1920s. Pickford and Fairbanks separated in 1933, the year Pickford retired from acting. After their divorce in 1936, Fairbanks Sr. also retired. Frances Agnew who contributed to at least a dozen films of the late 1920s. Lightly toned, soiled, stained and bowed. Signature has low contrast but is legible. Pinholes in all corners near upper and lower edge and tackheads in both upper and lower right corners. Small pieces missing from top corners. Pencil notations (unknown hand) on verso. Otherwise in fine condition.