The First King of Hollywood

“Tracey Goessel has researched Fairbanks's life and work more thoroughly than anyone before her, and her book will undoubtedly become a classic among film biographies.” --Kevin Brownlow, author of The Parade's Gone By
 
Douglas Fairbanks was the greatest male leading man of the silent era—the first and the best of the swashbucklers. With Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, and his wife, film star Mary Pickford, he founded United Artists. Pickford and Fairbanks ruled Hollywood as its first king and queen for a glorious decade.

Now a cache of newly discovered love letters from Fairbanks to Pickford form the centerpiece of the first truly definitive biography of the original Robin Hood, the true Zorro, the man who did his own stunts and built his own studio.

Fairbanks was fun, witty, engaging, creative, athletic, and a force to be reckoned with. He shaped our idea of the Hollywood hero, and it has never been the same since. His story, like his movies, is full of passion, bravado, and romance.