On February 5, 1919, Hollywood heavyweights Charlie Chaplin,
Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith joined
forces to create their own film studio, which they called the
United Artists Corporation.

United Artists quickly gained prestige in Hollywood, thanks to
the success of the films of its stars, notably Chaplin’s The Gold
Rush (1925), as well as the work of actors such as Buster
Keaton, Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson. Chaplin
directed UA films as well as acted in them, and Pickford
concentrated on producing after she retired from acting in
the 1930s. With the rise of sound during that decade, UA was
helped by the talents (and bankrolls) of veteran producers
like Joseph Schenck, Samuel Goldwyn, Howard Hughes and
Alexander Korda.

The corporation began to struggle financially in the 1940s,
however, and in 1951 the production studio was sold and
UA became only a financing and distributing facility.

From left, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin
(seated) and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. signing the original
contract that created the United Artists studio in 1919.