The star system has been the backbone of the American film industry since the mid 1910s. Stars are the creation of the public, its raining favorites. There in- fluence in the fields of fashion, values, and public behavior has been enormous. “The social history of a nation can be written in terms of its film stars,” raymond has observed. Stars confer instant consequence to any film they appear in. Their fees have staggered the public. In the 1920s, Mary Pickford and charles
chaplin were the two highest paid employees in the world. contemporary stars such as Julia roberts and Tom cruise command salaries of many millions per film, so popular are these box-office giants. Some stars had careers that spanned five decades: Bette Davis and John Wayne, to name just two.
Understanding Movies