Charlotte Hennessey Smith (Pickford) (January 1, 1873 – March 22, 1928) was a Canadian silent film actress and the mother of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

, Lottie, and

Jack Pickford John Charles Smith (August 18, 1896 – January 3, 1933), known professionally as Jack Pickford, was a Canadian-American actor, film director and producer. He was the younger brother of actresses Mary and Lottie Pickford. After their father d ...

, who all became actors.

Early life and marriage

Born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, to

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...

parents from Ballyduff, County Kerry, Charlotte Hennessey supported herself as a seamstress. She married John Charles Smith, a son of English Methodist immigrants. She agreed to rear their children in his Methodist faith. The couple had three children: Gladys Louise, later actress Mary Pickford, Charlotte, later actress Lottie Pickford, and John Charles, later actor Jack Pickford.

Film industry

In 1898, Smith's husband John Charles died from a blood clot caused by a workplace accident when he was a purser with the Niagara Steamship Lines. Charlotte Smith struggled to make a living. She allowed her eldest daughter, Gladys, to take some theatre roles in Toronto in parts for children and, as the other children grew, toured with them with theater companies around the United States. They moved to New York, where Gladys landed a role on Broadway. Soon Gladys was able to get some film work, and changed her name to

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

at the request of a director. Later both her other children adopted Pickford as a surname for their acting work. Daddy-Long-Legs (1919) - 6

After her daughter, Gladys, known then as actress

, started getting film roles, Charlotte Smith acted in minor parts in three silent films in 1910 and 1911, with her daughter. All three children:

, Lottie, and

, became actors, although only Mary Pickford achieved great fame and fortune. Charlotte Smith continued to play a large role in managing her children's careers. She negotiated her daughter Mary Pickford's landmark contracts in the United States as a child star (including her $1 million a year contract, the first of its kind). Smith took a role in

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

and the Mary Pickford Film Company, founded by her daughter, until her death.

Death

On March 22, 1928, Smith died of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

after refusing surgery. She had already had several major operations. She was buried in the Pickford plot at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

. She bequeathed $200,000 each in trust to her two younger children, Jack and Lottie, and to Lottie's daughter Gwynne. She left the large bulk of her estate to her eldest daughter Mary of $1 million, and she acknowledged the reasons in her will: "Whatever property I possess at the time of my death has come to me through my association with my beloved daughter in her business and through her most unusual generosity to me."

Filmography

* ''A Victim of Jealousy'' ( 1910) * ''The Impalement'' (1910) * '' Sweet Memories'' (

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hennessey, Charlotte 1873 births 1928 deaths 20th-century American actresses 20th-century Canadian actresses Actresses from Toronto American silent film actresses American people of Irish descent Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian silent film actresses Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from breast cancer Canadian film actresses