Mary Miles Minter
British postcard by John Horn, London/Glasgow. Bolton's-Mutual Star.
Mary Miles Minter (1902-1984) was an American silent screen actress.
Minter was born as Juliet Reilly in Shreveport as daughter of Broadway actress Charlotte Shelby. Shelby himself wanted that Juliet and her older sister Margaret also became stage actresses. One night when there was no babysitter available Juliet accomapnied her sister to an audition, was discovered and got her first stage role. In order to avoid the Child Labor Act, she used her cousin's passport and took the name "Mary Miles Minter". As a result, she debuted in film 1912 and in 1915 got her first substantial lead in a feature, The Fairy and the Waif (Marie Hubert Frohmann, George Irving, 1915). With her innocent appearance, Soon after, she started to work for Metro Pictures, while in 1916 she moved on to Mutual Pictures - always playing the leads, despite her young age. In 1917 she moved to the American Film Company, where Henry King often directed here, and in 1918 she traded American for Paramount. Minter became popular and grew into the rival of Mary Pickford.
In 1919 she made her most famous film, Anne of Green Gables (presumably a lost film), with director William Desmond Taylor. The film became a huge success, as a result of which Taylor started to promote the actress, so that she would grow into a legendary star. Eventually she got a relationship with the 30-year-old man. Several films with Minter in the lead were made by their newly founded production company Realart Pictures, but distributed by Paramount. Taylor initially directed her there, but after a few films various other directors stepped in, such as Paul Powell and Joseph Henabery.
In 1922 Taylor was murdered in his house. Minter told in an interview in 1970 that she collapsed when she saw his body in the morgue. His death became a popular topic in the media and took place while Minter was in the prime of her career. The perpetrator could not be found and her mother Charlotte Shelby was long known as a suspect. In 1937, when the case was still unresolved, Minter demanded that she be given a prison sentence or that the case would be left alone. Eventually it was announced in 1999 that Ella Margaret Gibson admitted on her deathbed in 1964 that she had committed the murder. Not much later she died of a heart attack.
After the death of Taylor, Minter made four more films for Paramount. Trail of the Lonesome Pine, her latest film, was released in 1923. After her contract was not renewed, she received many other offers, but she refused all because she said she was never happy in the times that she was an actress. Minter has told in interviews that she was much happier after her Hollywood years, although she was robbed in her own home in the 70s and 80s. She also sued her mother for all the money she had gained by filming and got a settlement out of court. Minter died of a stroke at the age of 82. All in all she did some 55 films of which just little over a fifth survives.
Sources: English and Italian Wikipedia, IMDb.
Mary Miles Minter
British postcard by John Horn, London/Glasgow. Bolton's-Mutual Star.
Mary Miles Minter (1902-1984) was an American silent screen actress.
Minter was born as Juliet Reilly in Shreveport as daughter of Broadway actress Charlotte Shelby. Shelby himself wanted that Juliet and her older sister Margaret also became stage actresses. One night when there was no babysitter available Juliet accomapnied her sister to an audition, was discovered and got her first stage role. In order to avoid the Child Labor Act, she used her cousin's passport and took the name "Mary Miles Minter". As a result, she debuted in film 1912 and in 1915 got her first substantial lead in a feature, The Fairy and the Waif (Marie Hubert Frohmann, George Irving, 1915). With her innocent appearance, Soon after, she started to work for Metro Pictures, while in 1916 she moved on to Mutual Pictures - always playing the leads, despite her young age. In 1917 she moved to the American Film Company, where Henry King often directed here, and in 1918 she traded American for Paramount. Minter became popular and grew into the rival of Mary Pickford.
In 1919 she made her most famous film, Anne of Green Gables (presumably a lost film), with director William Desmond Taylor. The film became a huge success, as a result of which Taylor started to promote the actress, so that she would grow into a legendary star. Eventually she got a relationship with the 30-year-old man. Several films with Minter in the lead were made by their newly founded production company Realart Pictures, but distributed by Paramount. Taylor initially directed her there, but after a few films various other directors stepped in, such as Paul Powell and Joseph Henabery.
In 1922 Taylor was murdered in his house. Minter told in an interview in 1970 that she collapsed when she saw his body in the morgue. His death became a popular topic in the media and took place while Minter was in the prime of her career. The perpetrator could not be found and her mother Charlotte Shelby was long known as a suspect. In 1937, when the case was still unresolved, Minter demanded that she be given a prison sentence or that the case would be left alone. Eventually it was announced in 1999 that Ella Margaret Gibson admitted on her deathbed in 1964 that she had committed the murder. Not much later she died of a heart attack.
After the death of Taylor, Minter made four more films for Paramount. Trail of the Lonesome Pine, her latest film, was released in 1923. After her contract was not renewed, she received many other offers, but she refused all because she said she was never happy in the times that she was an actress. Minter has told in interviews that she was much happier after her Hollywood years, although she was robbed in her own home in the 70s and 80s. She also sued her mother for all the money she had gained by filming and got a settlement out of court. Minter died of a stroke at the age of 82. All in all she did some 55 films of which just little over a fifth survives.
Sources: English and Italian Wikipedia, IMDb.