MARY PICKFORD With legions of fans, Mary Pickford became the first woman ever to make a salary of $1 million in a year and gained the freedom to take artistic risks with her roles. (She would famously tell Adolph Zukor in 1915, “No, I really cannot afford to work for only $10,000 a week.”) In 1919 she launched United Artists, a film distributing company, with Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith. No woman since has been as powerful a player in the movie industry. Here she is seen with Buddy Rogers in My Best Girl.
Everett Collection