I would’ve voted Eagles. Her performance in The Letter is one of those raw, slightly unhinged, gritty performances that I LIVE for. God rest her soul.

Ironically, "America's sweetheart" was born in Toronto.

This is incredible. Please don't stop doing these kind of videos 😆

Making mental note NEVER to see Coquette. 🤣🤣 Brian, this one was terrific... just like all of the others.

He deserved that Oscar and 100 more!!!!!

In hindsight, as they say, if you look at Pickfords long career (and I'm talking about her long career in front of the camera) prior to her win, and it's decline soon after, (but still very very relevant presence long after she did retire from acting) it's fitting that she should win when she did. And for the role she played in the picture she won for. And let's not forget that many actors have won Oscars for other reasons than just their performances, does the word "Constellation Prize" sound familiar? The most famous being that of the 1960 Best Actress Win by Elizabeth Taylor who in a matter of just 24 months & only 26-27 yo old becoming a widow during her 2nd marriage, a wife stealer (stealing the husband of the then America's Sweetheart & close friend, Debbie Reynolds), the first actress in the history of film to sign a 1 picture deal with a million dollar salary (Cleopatra; her expenses and over time salary of $50,000 A WEEK when the picture long passed it's completion date), was sick for most of it's production finally ending up in a London hotel room in a coma, actually did die but was revived after a tracheatomy saved her life making a full recovery in time for Richard Burton to take the place of Peter Finch as Marc Anthony allowing for the beginnings of a relationship that is beyond legendary, divorcing husband #3 to marry husband # 4, and 5. Basically, in the voice of fellow nominee that year for The Apartment, Shirley McClain's, "I lost to a tracheatomy!". Taylor won her first Academy Award as Best Actress for 'Butterfield 8'. A film Taylor referred to, per the comment she left on the bathroom mirror of the ladies room in the theater the film premiered in, with red lipstick "Piece of shit". Anyway I think the point here is that Mary Pickford was a force, she was a legend in her own time, she was the most beloved and powerful star on the planet when she made 'Coquette', and it was a daring role for her to take because she she'd her little girl image, at the age of 38 I might add, so it was about time. And I like to think she won because of the risk she took to finally shed that image. And for her contribution to film making itself as well as her body of work. I think the idea of Mary Pickford, without her stature and significance, without an Oscar would be like a statue of the Virgin Mary with out a baby Jesus. So she may not have won because of her performance, but she did win because of what it represented.

Thank you for taking the time to create these videos! 👌

A sidebar comment and a secondary point compared to the main one in this video, but Mary Pickford’s achievements in the industry, apart from being the first global female star, far exceeded being a charter member of the Academy and one of the four founders of United Artists. Not only Adolph Zukor, who essentially founded the industry, and D.W. Griffith, the pioneer director and United Artists co-founder, but also Joseph M. Schenck, whom Pickford helped persuade to join and restructure United Artists, said that her mastery of every detail of film-making, coupled with her extraordinary business acumen, gave her a singular importance in the growth, development, and success of the medium. Whether she “bought” the Oscar for “Coquette” is arguable, but her innumerable achievements are not.

These are good! Keep up the good work!

Jeanne Eagel’s performance as way over the top. My choice for the Oscar would have been the wonderful Bessie Love. The very early sound films were often static. Your video as great, while it’s true Mary may not have deserved the Oscar for Coquette, she certainly did deserve her lifetime achievement award. Mary Pickford’s best films were all silents and modern critics have a very favourable view of her silent screen work. So many Oscar wins have been generous and many great stars never won one. My personal view is that Oscars are a totally irrelevant ego trip. Mary Pickford contributed far more to cinema than most so does it really matter if the win wasn’t really fair

Jeanne Eagles should definitely have won for The Letter!

The great irony of this is that Pia Zadora, bought Mary Pickford’s LA mansion “Pickfair” and had it demolished. Some say it was out of spite being that Mary Pickford is the most successful Hollywood actress to live.

I don't think she bought the Oscar just because she served on the Board of Directors. How many actors are on the Board of Directors for their branch over time who didn't buy theirs? Laura Dern serves on the Board of Directors for the Actor's branch of the Academy, and she had to wait three times before getting her respective Oscar. I can't fault Mary Pickford for innovating the Academy Awards season with a campaign. She set the standard that is still being followed. Sure, yes, it SHOULD be about the performance and the performance alone. But Hollywood is a business tied closely to publicity and appearances. It is more structured now than Mary's time. For good business and good security, Mary may have just did what she had to make her mark before the industry changed and pushed her out. Also, while I saw Coquette ages ago, she may have broke ground by using the story to move her public image into the direction she wanted to get out of it and succeed. Transitioning to sound was a challenge for many. Finding excellence within that transition is harder, I think. So, maybe this Oscar was just a bookend to an amazing career. Compared to today's standards, the movie is melodramatic and soapy, but I cannot imagine at the time there being fresh enough ground to explore all of what could be explored back then, pre-Hays Code. The courtroom scene alone is worth the Oscar she received.

Her Best Actress Oscar is on display at the Academy Museum.

New subscriber here...Very well put together..please make others..these kind of videos are rare gems..love from Indonesia

Well, I was almost about to write: Pickford wouldn't be the first to get an Academy Award for a performance that didn't deserve it, but of course, so you tell us, she actually was the first. That's an interesting distinction! Now if you can find a few people actually willing to watch 6 movies from 1929 to confirm the judgement - easier said than done, 'cause it sounds like a chore. So I'll just have to take your word for it. That said, I sometimes wonder whether audiences a hundred years from now will have any interest in the films being made today, or if our films will seem as quaint and distant - in a phrase, "Clara Bow" - as the early films from the teens and twenties seem to us now (and which few people watch). For what its worth, I do watch some silent films, though rarely do I have much interest in the early talkies era, at least the stuff produced in the US. The films from that era coming out of Europe, especially Germany, are far more interesting to me .

To be fair, the Oscar wasn’t such a big deal back then. Also we could hardly say that Irving Thalberg had nothing to with Norma Shearer’s win. I personally believe Oscar’s are phoney baloney, acting is an art not a science and can’t really be totally accurately assessed. I watched some of Coquette and the Letter and I thought Mary Pickford was better than Jean Eagels who was much too stagey for cinema. Probably Bessie Love gave the best performance of all but I like Ruth Chatterton too. At least, as you said Mary Pickford was a major player in Hollywood and I think she did deserve recognition whereas in most controversies it really is only a matter of opinion. There are so many great performers who never won an Oscar for a single performance but still left behind incredible bodies of work and many films that can still be enjoyed, ultimately that’s worth far more because great performances tend to be remembered

Great work!

From everything I have read, she was the consummate actress, notwithstanding that in "Coquette", she was awful. However, she did convince the whole world that her marriage to Fairbanks Sr. was as innocent as the world believed her to be...what the heck, we are all flawed!

Eternal rest grant unto Mary oh Lord , and let perpetual light shine upon her may she rest in peace. Amen.

Pickford is way over the top in Coquette, but she had been a major star for previous 20 years, dominating many films, so if you look at like that you can understand why she won. At least it is better than in recent years where you win by how diverse & woke you are.

I want Oscar's to give an Honorary Oscar to Florence Lawrence. She was the first North American Movie Star

@bekindrewind is one of my favorite KZfaqrs and your videos are as educational as hers. I'm glad you came across my recommendations 😁

Pickford's win was a lifetime achievement award. She didn't by it.

Didn’t Best Actress winner Norma Shearer have a big advantage as well, due to her marraige to Irving Thalberg? She was Oscar’s first five time nominee.

These are great

It hurts me to say this because I love many if not most of the films from the pre-code era, but Coquette was almost unwatchable and boring. Mary Pickford was great in her silent movies. My favorite Mary Pickford movie is "My Best Girl" with Buddy Rogers, 1927.

What makes it even more obvious that she heavily influenced the award win is that there were NO official nominees that year. They just announced who had won at the ceremony from a selection of films and performances the board of judges were considering, and as an Academy founding member, she knew she was in contention. No other actor or actress knew if they were officially being considered that year, so she grabbed her opportunity and asked the judges over for tea to campaign as it were. Lol! Shameless!

❤🎉

Mary Pickford walked so Lady Gaga could run!! Hehehe

I do remember correctly didn’t Mary Pickford and Norma Shearer buy their Oscars? 😂

I haven’t seen Coquette but I have watched some of her silent films and she was terrific in them. I watched Jeanne Eagels in The Letter and frankly she was terrible, ridiculously stagey. Irving Thalberg undoubtedly wasn’t above helping out his wife Norma Shearer and she didn’t always deserve her nominations. In truth, it’s impossible to judge acting performances because acting is an art, not a science so it’s very subjective. Some people will like a performance and others won’t and no one can exactly say who is right or wrong.

Bessie Love (The Broadway Melody), Jeanne Eagels (The Letter) or Ruth Chatterton (Madame X) we're better than Mary Pickford in Coquette, is she deserved to been nominated? Yes, but definitely not win

Now, why did u trigger me with Clemency? I was championing that film that year ugghhh lol

I had read so many times that her performance in Coquette was so horrible, and the movie was so dreadful, that this was one of the great injustices of Oscar history. So maybe that’s why when I finally watched Coquette, I thought she was surprisingly good and the film itself no worse than the other very early talkies, which were horribly stagey and hokey. Of the other nominees I have also seen Jeanne Eagels and Bessie Love. I don’t think Love necessarily deserved the Oscar over Pickford. Her performance was rather hammy. Jeanne Eagels did, but it’s not like her performance was that much greater that it could be considered a robbery. Eagles’ intensity was a little overwrought. I haven’t seen the other three nominees, but I don’t imagine they were that much better. I think she probably would’ve won even without inviting them over to Pickfair for tea. She was considered the backbone of the movie industry, and many times thereafter actors and actresses won Oscars more for their career than for that specific performance.

Think I have to disagree with your main argument. Okay, so Mary “bought the award”; I think a 1930’s woman rigging an award through power plays is more fitting and satisfying than having her wait until the end of her life and get what is basically a pity award delivered to her by a man. Great video though!

i saw Coquette and yeah the movie was boring af and the sound quality when compared to movies like The Letter was primitive at best.

Have you ever seen “Coquette”? Mary Pickford was the biggest star of all in her day, but that performance just may be the worst performance I’ve ever seen. There NO question that she should not even have been nominated, let alone win. That award belonged to Ruth Chatterton.

Very good BUT just too bad you mispronounced several of the actresses names

Not to be a hater, but she really is awful in Coquette. I much prefer Chatterton and Eagels, but oh, well. At least it's an interesting win lol

Griffith was not a nominee..... she wasn't listed as a "nominee" until Robert Osborne wrote a series of Oscar history books in the 1980s or 90s for TCM. Griffith was never listed as a nominee before that.

She couldn't shed the silent-film style of acting. The movie she won the award for is embarrassing, but frankly, all of those movies look embarrassing, from the bits you showed. Early talkies were the absolute worst - people shouting into flower pots where the microphones were stashed, etc. But, since she basically helped create the motion picture industry in America, along with her then-husband and the famous silent comic actors (the money men in New York didn't do squat), I don't think her gimme-Oscar was such an injustice. What I want to know - and can't seem to get a reliable answer to from the internet - is which Oscar was it that Jerry Buss, who bought Pickfair a few years after her lifetime achievement Oscar, found in the closet? Was it that lifetime achievement Oscar (my belief), or the first one that she gave herself for "Coquette"?

BRV, To be FAIR Garbo and Shearer should have been The First Tie For The Actress Oscar. I am so Annoyed with that Damn Will Hays & A 1 Hour Sanctimonious Bible Toting Lecture at the ceremony. The Hay's Office to was Equal to Prohibition and held back Hollywood in more ways than one.Politics really in both categories should have been Equal without All The Behind The Scenes Drama. 1968 or 69 saw Kate Hepburn and Barbara Striesand both win. The Games People Love To Play For Better or Worse. Pathetic! RCJ/LEO

Hello, for me, Mary Pickford and Sandra Bullock are the worst oscar winners in the leading actress category... and yes, Mary did buy her Oscar.

These early acting nominees were selected by judging panels and not nominated by academy members.