Additional information
by Anka Brouwers (Author), Mary Pickford (Author)
Mary Pickford's "My Rendezvous with Life" was her sequel, of sorts, to her earlier best-seller, "Why Not Try God?" Like the earlier work, this is in the form of an essay. This new edition, the first in many years, includes a new Afterword by film historian Dr. Anke Brouwers, and a comment on the unattributed poem, "The Ship," that Pickford uses to close her short book. "My Rendezvous with Life" presents Mary Pickford's thoughts on what it is to lose a loved one, and why she believes that there is an afterlife in which we may be reunited with those we have lost. It is a non-denominational approach, and one that displays great care and understanding of the enduring ache that people feel when they experience the death of a loved one. But Pickford's approach to death is not the dose of sentimental syrup that we might expect from "America's Sweetheart." Instead she finds reason why we should face death without tears and wailing. She also details, from several points of view, the compelling reasons she has found for believing in a life beyond death. Her ideas are thoughtful, and winningly presented. "My Rendezvous with Life" is a hopeful, comforting book about challenges we all have to face in this journey that is our lives.
Author Biography
Mary Pickford (1892-1979), known as "America's Sweetheart," was for at least twenty years of the last century, the most famous woman in the world. Born in Canada, she toured America as a child actress on stage before starting to work in the movies for director D.W. Griffith at the Biograph Company in 1909. In a few years time she was the most popular player of the cinema, becoming her own producer, and co-founder of United Artists with future husband Douglas Fairbanks in 1919. Pickford's world-wide popularity lived well beyond her years as an actress, and in 1934 she published her first book, a short essay on spirituality and personal growth titled "Why Not Try God?" It was an instant best-seller. The following year she published "My Rendezvous with Life," an essay on death and her belief in an afterlife and the undying human spirit. In later years she became a philanthropist and volunteer for the Red Cross, and other causes to which she happily gave her time and money.
