Fairbanks, Jr., One Dapper Gentleman

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was born December 9, 1909.  By 1925 (and only 15) he is playing young beau roles in the silents and supporting his mother and an assortment of her friends and family.  At the age of 19 he marries 23-year-old (at least) Joan Crawford.  A rather precocious young man was he. 

                               Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. at 15 ...

Doug and Bob were good friends, meeting while Joan and Bob were making Untamed in 1929.  They spent a lot of late nights and weekends hitting the Los Angeles speakeasies.  In his first autobiography, The Salad Days, Fairbanks describes an interesting vacation with Bob and Lawrence Olivier.  The three rented Cecil B. DeMille's huge yacht, crew and all, for a cruise along the coast of Mexico.  One can only imagine ... 

                                          ... and at 39

Doug and Bob joined the navy together, Doug would become a highly decorated naval officer.  After the war he and Bob would grow apart, in part because of different political views.  What a silly reason to lose a friend.