MARY PICKFORD - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 03/10/1977 CO-SIGNED BY: CHARLES "BUDDY" ROGERS - HFSID 287636

MARY PICKFORD CO-SIGNED BY: CHARLES "BUDDY" ROGERS
Letter to the friends and members Filmex expressing grief for the death of Henry Langlois and praising his work in the film industry, signed from Pickford's Pickfair mansion two years prior to her death
Typed Letter signed: "Mary Pickford" and "Buddy Rogers", 1 page 5x7½. Beverly Hills, California, 1977 March 10. On letterhead of Pickford's mansion Pickfair. In Full: "Dear Friends and Members of Filmex, Henri Langlois will surely be missed by all of us who love motion pictures and without his tireless effort and dedication there are films we and future generations would never be able to see. Mr. Langlois devoted his entire life caring for films of all languages. He was a great ambassador for our film industry. Most sincerely," Mary Pickford (1893-1979) began working at Biograph Studios in 1909 at $40 a week. By 1912, she was making $500 weekly at Adolph Zukor's Famous Players. Her salary was doubled periodically. In 1916, Pickford signed an astounding contract with Zukor for $10,000 a week plus a $300,000 bonus plus the formation of The Mary Pickford Company, a studio devoted exclusively to the making of her films. Pickford was the first superstar of the movies. In 1919, Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks formed United Artists to distribute their films. In 1920, Pickford and Fairbanks were married. They separated in 1933, which coincided with Pickford retiring from the movies. Pickford and Fairbanks were divorced in January 1936. In 1919 Fairbanks and Pickford purchased the Pickfair mansion in Beverly Hills where Pickford lived until her death in 1979. In 1937, she established the Mary Pickford Cosmetics Company. That same year, she married former co-star Charles "Buddy" Rogers.Charles "Buddy" Rogers (1904-1999) played with a California-based swing band in the 1930s, but was better known for his films. He debuted in the silent film Wings (1927), which won the first-ever Oscar as best picture. That same year the actor who would be known at the peak of his popularity as "America's Boyfriend" was paired with "America's Sweetheart", Mary Pickford, in My Best Girl. Rogers' other films include Abie's Irish Rose (1928), Young Eagles (1930), Golden Hoofs (1941) and his last starring role, An Innocent Affair (1948). In 1937, Rogers became Pickford's third and last husband. In later years he would often act as spokesman for his increasingly reclusive wife. This letter was written from their mansion two years prior to her death. A pioneer of film preservation Henri Langlois (1914-1977) was the co-founder of Cinamatheque Francaise and also a co-founder of the International Federation of Film Archives; in 1974 he received an honorary Academy Award for "his devotion to the art of film" and "his massive contributions in preserving its past". Filmex was an annual Los Angeles film festival held in the seventies and eighties. One horizontal fold across center of document. Two nail head size brown spots: one at top right corner one on right edge near middle. Light white spotting. Signatures in fine condition. Otherwise fine condition.