Part of Academy Museum Free Day in celebration of the museum’s third anniversary!

Four veteran film artists—actor-director Charlie Chaplin, actor Douglas Fairbanks, director D. W. Griffith, and actor Mary Pickford—established United Artists in 1919. This venture allowed them to release their own projects, gaining control of their creative output and salaries amidst the rise of the Hollywood studio system. Chaplin’s brilliance as a producer, writer, director, and star manifests through his iconic persona character, the Tramp, in his 1925 silent comedy The Gold Rush, the second feature he released under United Artists with total creative control.