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John Charles Smith (August 18, 1896 - January 3,
1933) was a Canada|Canadian-born American actor. 
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, he was the
brother of Mary Pickford.  Like her, Jack
Pickford's mother had him acting on stage as a
very young boy. In 1910, he was only 14 years old
when, with the help of his sister, he was signed
to perform in motion pictures with Biograph
Studios. 

After Biograph opened its studios in Hollywood,
California, the Pickford clan moved west. Jack, a
small, fragile boy, grew up in an adult world, one
that suddenly became full of money far beyond
anything imaginable for the time when Mary
Pickford signed a contract in 1917 for $1 million
with First National Pictures. Jack got a lucrative
contract with First National as part of the deal
but that year, he gained respect for his acting
abilities after starring as Pip in the adaptation
of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and in the
same year for playing the title role in Mark
Twain|Mark Twain' s Tom Sawyer.

Despite his on-screen image as the winsome
boy-next-door, Jack Pickford's private life was
one of alcohol, drugs, and womanizing, culminating
in the severe alcoholism and syphilis that would
eventually kill him. In those days, the movie
studios were able to cover up almost all of their
stars' misbehavior, but within the Hollywood crowd
Jack Pickford's behind-the scenes antics made him
a legend in his own time. He spent money
frivolously and frequently had to suffer the
humiliation of asking his mother or sister for
help. As his reckless lifestyle worsened, the
number of movies he made declined and therefore
his income.

In early 1918, after the United States joined
World War I, Jack Pickford joined the United
States Navy. Using the famous Pickford name, he
soon became involved in a scheme that allowed rich
young men to pay bribes to avoid military service,
as well as reportedly procuring young women for
officers. For his involvement, Jack Pickford came
close to being dishonorably discharged but
speculation has it that his sister stepped in and
arranged for him to give evidence to the
authorities in exchange for a medical discharge.

His first marriage, in 1916, to Olive Thomas (né
Duffy, ex-Mrs. Bernhard Krugh Thomas, 1894-1920),
a beautiful Pennsylvania-born model turned
showgirl turned film actress and reputed heroin
addict, was stormy from the start but she was the
love of his life. However, while filming in Paris,
France, they went out for a night of entertainment
at the famous bistros in Montparnasse. Returning
to their room in the Hôtel Ritz Paris|Hôtel Ritz
at around 3:00 in the morning, his wife died after
ingesting a large dose of the mercury biochloride
which had been prescribed for her husband's
ongoing venereal disease; infected in 1917, he had
passed the disease onto Thomas, as well as the
medicine used to treat it. The police
investigation into her death centered on Pickford
but no charges were ever laid. On the return trip
home to America, film director Allan Dwan had to
talk the distraught Pickford out of committing
suicide.

Married two more times unsuccessfully, including a
1922-1927 marriage to celebrated tap dancer
Marilyn Miller, by 1932 Jack Pickford was alone
again, his health deteriorating from the ravages
of syphilis and the toll that years of alcohol and
drug abuse had taken. Pickford died in the
American Hospital in Paris, at age 36.  His sister
Mary arranged for his body to be brought back to
Los Angeles, California, where he was interred in
the private Pickford plot in the Forest Lawn
Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Pickford has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 1523 Vine Street.

During his career, Jack Pickford appeared in more
than 70 films some of which are:



1910:
*The Kid
*The Newlyweds
*The Smoker
*The Modern Prodigal
*Muggsy Becomes a Hero
*In Life's Cycle
*The Oath and the Man
*Examination Day at School
*The Iconoclast
*Two Little Waifs
*A Plain Song
*A Child's Stratagem
*The Lesson


1911:
*The Poor Sick Men
*White Roses
*A Decree of Destiny
*The Stuff Heroes are Made Of


1912:
*The Massacre
*Kate Katchem
*A Dash Through the Clouds
*The School Teacher and the Waif
*An Indian Summer
*What the Doctor Ordered
*A Child's Remorse
*The Inner Circle
*Mr. Grouch at the Seashore
*A Pueblo Legend
*A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
*The Musketeers of Pig Alley
*Heredity
*The Informer
*The New York Hat


1913:
*The Unwelcome Guest


1914:
*The Mysterious Shot
*Liberty Belles
*The Gangsters of New York
*Home Sweet Home
*The Eagle's Mate
*Wildflower
*His Last Dollar


1915:
*The Love Route
*The Commanding Officer
*Fanchon the Cricket
*The Pretty Sister of Jose
*A Girl of Yesterday



1916:
*Seventeen
*Poor Little Peppina


1917:
*What Money Can't Buy
*Great Expectations (movie)|Great Expectations 
*The Dummy
*The Varmint
*Ghost House
*Jack and Jill
*Tom Sawyer


1918:
*Spirit of '17
*Huck and Tom
*His Majesty, Bunker Bean
*Mr. Fix-It
*Sandy


1919:
*In The Wrong
*Bill Apperson's Boy
*Burglar by Proxy  -  (Jack Pickford Productions)



1920:
*The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come


1921:
*The Man Who Had Everything
*Just Out of College


1923:
*Hollywood
*Garrison's Finish

1924:
*The Hill Billy

1925:
*Waking Up the Town
*My Son
*The Goose Woman

1926:
*The Bat
*Brown of Harvard
*Exit Smiling

1928:
*Gang War
*Exit Smiling

1930:
*All Square  (his final film)








See also: Canadian pioneers in early
Hollywood|Other Canadian pioneers in early
Hollywood