Gladys Smith, born in Toronto, Canada, on the 8th of April 1893, may not have looked so good in lights as the chosen name of Mary Pickford.
Her father died when she was four-years-old and she went into summer stock, saving the family from poverty. Moving to New York, she went onto Broadway, and from there arrived in Hollywood in 1909. She later earned the title, thanks to studio advertising, America's Sweetheart.
Her small frame and childlike beauty made it difficult for her to break into the more serious roles of romantic leads. She was a founder member of United Artists with Douglas Fairbanks, who she married that same year. Sixteen years later they were divorced and Mary kept their beloved family home of Pickfair, later marrying Charles Rogers.
She made her last film in 1948, preferring Broadway, though there was many attempts to entice her back into films.
She is said to haunt her former home of Pickfair. Seen wearing a white ruffled dress in the den.
She and her husband, Douglas Fairbanks, claimed they had seen the ghost of a woman walking up the stairs carrying sheet music.
