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Child actor who found fame in 1920s Hollywood and went on to become a writer and publisher

Despite Wc Fields’ contention that “children should neither be seen nor heard from – ever again”, cinema audiences have always loved child stars, since the days of Baby Peggy, who has died aged 101.

Until she came along, many children’s roles were filled by established adult actors such as Mary Pickford, who played the title role of a 10-year-old in The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917) at the age of 24.

Anderson Cooper has become famous the world-over for his hard-hitting reporting and tough questions on CNN. But his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, has been famous since she was born.

Her father, Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, was from one of the richest families in U.S. history. Her great-grandfather Cornelius Vanderbilt built the New York Central Railroad. After Reginald married his second wife, Gloria Morgan, the couple welcomed Gloria Vanderbilt in 1924.

Her birth made headlines. But just 18 months later, her father died of cirrhosis of the liver and she was left in the care of her 19-year-old mother.

"She wanted to have fun.

• Sherlock fans, get excited: Benedict Cumberbatch is circling the role of Alan Turing in The Imitation Game – the well-regarded Black List script from Graham Moore. Alan Turing was a British logician and mathematician who made major contributions to the fields of computer science, artificial intelligence, and cryptology. His efforts and inventions proved especially useful in breaking Axis codes during WWII, but after the war, Turing faced criminal prosecution for being gay and later committed suicide. Leonardo DiCaprio was previously attached to the role, but backed out this past fall. [Deadline]

• Revenge’s Emily VanCamp is currently in talks to star opposite...

Michael Pitt has been cast in The First. The upcoming movie tells the story of Hollywood legend Mary Pickford, who appeared in such films as Tess of the Storm Country and The Poor Little Rich Girl. Pitt will portray Pickford's first husband named Owen Moore, reports Deadline. Lily Rabe was previously cast as Canadian-born Pickford in her adult years, while Ryan Simpkins will portray a young Pickford. Rabe and Pitt, along with the film's (more)...

Mary Pickford in Maurice Tourneur's The Poor Little Rich Girl (top); Dustin Farnum in Cecil B. DeMille's The Squaw Man (bottom) The Birth of Hollywood, part II of the seven-part documentary Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood, will be shown again tonight on Turner Classic Movies. In addition to the documentary narrated by Christopher Plummer, TCM will present several early silent films, including several seminal early Hollywood productions. Those include The Squaw Man (1914), Cecil B. DeMille's early Western that is "officially" the first movie made in Hollywood; the popular Mary Pickford vehicle The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917), directed by Maurice Tourneur (father of Cat People's Jacques Tourneur); and the Fred Niblo-directed Douglas Fairbanks costumer The Mark of Zorro (1920), which marked Fairbanks' departure from his usual modern all-American roles and his arrival in the world of period adventures and swordfighting. Also of interest is Reginald Barker...

The 13th annual Kansas Silent Film Festival will be held on February 27th and 28th, 2009 and will play host to both the U.S.A. Premiere of a restored ‘lost’ feature film and the Kansas Premiere of a new documentary on silent film star, Mary Pickford. Sponsored by Washburn University, this event will take place at White Concert Hall on campus. Admission is free and open to the public. For more current information, check out our website at www.kssilentfilmfest.org.

The U.S.A. Premiere is Barelys the Magnificent, a previously ‘lost’ MGM feature film from 1926 starring John Gilbert in a swashbuckling romantic adventure based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini. It’s a sumptuous, exciting tale set in 17th Century France with a cavalier lover who steals women’s hearts, but cannot find the words for the woman he truly loves. There’s a rousing climax that outdoes...