LOS ANGELES - The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has dedicated a building to "America's Sweetheart" to hold its archival materials.
The Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study, named for actress Mary Pickford, was dedicated Wednesday night.
"Mary Pickford was not only the planet's best known actress for more than a decade, but a director and producer as well as co-founder of United Artists," said Frank Pierson, president of the academy that presents the annual Academy Awards.
The 118,000-square-foot (10,620-square-meter) building, formerly an ABC television studio, eventually will have a 300-seat screening room.
Pickford started as a child actress in theater and worked in silent films by D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin before moving into "talkies."
At 26, she teamed with Griffith, Chaplin and her second husband, Douglas Fairbanks, to co-found United Artists in 1919.
She retired from films in 1933 and sold her interest in United Artists 20 years later.
Although reclusive in later years, she made a rare television appearance in 1975 when she was honored with an Oscar for lifetime achievement. She died four years later at 86.
The building named after her will be home to the Academy Film Archive and the Academy Players Directory. The academy's research and preservation center in Beverly Hills is named for Fairbanks.
© 2002 Associated Press