THE KING OF HOLLYWOOD

STALLONE? JACKIE CHAN? LATECOMERS! WITH SWAGGER AND A SMILE, DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS CREATED THE ACTION FILM

The camera was in love with him, as long as he moved. And silent-film star Douglas Fairbanks was the man who put the movies in motion. He climbed trees, rain spouts, a snake charmer's rope, a church facade. (Take the stairs? What's the fun in that?) And then he would leap: from roofs or high windows; from a rock onto a distant tree; from a rampart onto a sheer castle wall 15 ft. away. Doug was a whiz with a rapier, a whip, a bola. He could somersault off a horse, trampoline from one speeding car to another. He was a...

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