Google celebrates 'Queen of the Movies' Mary Pickford's 125th birthday

April 8 (UPI) -- Google's latest Google Doodle celebrates what would be Canadian-American actress, director and producer Mary Pickford's 125th birthday.

The search engine's homepage features art depicting Pickford, known as "Queen of the Movies," operating a camera with a cat perched on her shoulder and the word "Google" written in the style of text from a silent film.

Pickford was born in Toronto, Canada on April 8, 1892 and died in Santa Monica, Calif. on May 29, 1979 at the age of 87 after a prolific career in the film industry.

Early in Pickford's film career, she was known as "the girl with the curls," a beloved star who appeared in as many as 50 films a year in the silent film era.

She was able to use her stardom to negotiate wages equaling half of her films profits and demanded full creative and financial control of her films.

Pickford also helped revolutionize the film industry by creating the Motion Picture Relief Fund, which provided independent filmmakers an avenue to distribute their films outside of the studios system.

She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1929 film Coquette and was recognized for her contributions to the film industry with an Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 1976.