Born this date in 1883 was Douglas Fairbanks Sr, American actor known for playing the masked vigilante Zorro and other swashbuckling roles in silent films. Here are ten things you might not know about him.
He was born in Denver, Colorado and given the name Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman. His father was Hezekiah Charles Ullman, an attorney who had been a captain for the Union forces during the Civil War. He abandoned the family when Douglas was five. His mother, Ella Adelaide Marsh, then reverted to the surname of her previous husband, John Fairbanks, using his name for herself and her children.
Douglas was interested in acting from an early age and began his career in amateur dramatics in Denver. The first time he appeared on stage he muffed his one and only line. He should have said "Stand back, my lord, and let the coffin pass," but it came out as "and let the passon cough." He left school at 15 and joined an acting troupe.
He was married three times. His first wife was Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist Daniel J. Sully. He married her in 1907 and the actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr was their only child. In 1916 he began an affair with an actress, Mary Pickford, who he married after he and Anna got a divorce. They spent their honeymoon in Europe and were greeted by huge crowds of fans everywhere they went. This has led some to argue that they were the first celebrity couple. They owned a mansion called Pickfair. Fairbanks and Pickford separated in 1933, because he was having an affair with Sylvia, Lady Ashley, who he married in Paris in 1936.
His first film was called The Lamb. In it, he got to show off for the first time his athletic skills. More often than not, he would perform his own stunts, although there were times when the studio decided to call in a stunt man when they deemed a stunt too dangerous for their leading man. He engaged a world champion fencer to coach him in sword play.
He wrote a self help book. It was called Laugh and Live, and was about the power of positive thinking. It was published in 1917.
Both Superman and Batman were based on him. Batman was based on his portrayal of Zorro, and his looks (at the age of 55) were the inspiration for how Superman looked.
He was a founding member of United Artists and the Motion Picture Academy. He was the co-host, along with William C. de Mille, of the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. Two years before that, he and Mary Pickford had been the first stars to ceremoniously place their hands and feet in wet cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
Fairbanks gave President Woodrow Wilson an early film projector, which Wilson used to watch films most afternoons in the White House when he was recuperating from a stroke.
He grew a moustache for the role of D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers in 1921 and kept it for the rest of his life.
He died on 12 December 1939, of a heart attack. His last words were allegedly "I've never felt better." He was 56. Fairbanks became the first posthumous recipient of an Academy Honorary Award a few months later at the 12th Academy Awards, bestowed for his legendary career achievements in the development of motion pictures as the Academy's first president.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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