Mary Miles Minter

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 8:57am

I'm watching a special about The Flying A Picture Company which was based in Santa Barbara.
Mary Miles Minter seems to be a wonderful silent film actress.

Below is her mini-biography from IMDB:

Little Mary Minter was a child star who was dominated by her mother. At the age of 5, she first appeared on the stage in the play "Cameo Kirby". From that time on, she worked steadily without a single vacation. Her greatest stage success would be in "The Littlest Rebel", with William and Dustin Farnum. In 1911, at the age of 9, a New York paper described her as "... a ragged, straight-haired, woman-faced little one". She would continue on the stage until 1915 when she would then start her film career. For her film career, she was being groomed as a Mary Pickford star - a child of innocence. Her early pictures would carry this theme with titles such as 'Lovely Mary (1916)', 'The Virtuous Outcast (1916)' and 'Dimples (1916)'. Mary would be described by the press as "of the screen as a sweet, pretty little girl with an abundance of blonde curls, a picture actress slightly bigger than a faint recollection, a little queen with delicate features and endearing young charms". She would later work for Adolph Zukor at Realart Pictures and one of her favorite directors would be William Desmond Taylor. While at Realart, Mary made a number of films including 'Anne of Green Gables (1919)', 'Judy of Rogues' Harbor (1920)', 'Jenny Be Good (1920)', and 'The Little Clown (1921)'. Her salary, which started at $150 per week in 1915 was now $2250 per week. At that time, she also became involved with Taylor, but it is not known whether Taylor was looking out for his biggest star or if there was any romance. Mary was also growing up and her life has been described in managed from what time to get up to what time to go to bed. But then, everything crumbled. On the first of February 1922 Paramount film director William Desmond Taylor, was shot to death in his Hollywood bungalow. His unsolved murder would be one of Hollywood's major scandals coming at the same time as the Arbuckle affair. The list of suspects was the A list in Hollywood and the rumors of payoff's would be alleged. Though never considered a suspect in the murder, when the public learned of Mary's involvement with a man who had questionable dealings with women and was more than twice her age, they boycotted her films. Newspapers would make much of "the little queen who wrote Taylor, "Dearest, I love you, I love you, I love you!" and added a string of symbolical crosses to emphasize her protestation". The discovery of Mary Miles Minter's belongings in Taylor's bungalow effectually killed her career in pictures. Mary would be so weak from grief that she would be barricaded in her home for a month. By the next year, Mary had moved out of the home she shared with her mother and was out of pictures forever.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 11:30am

You must read Cast of Killers by Sidney Kirkpatrick. It is a fascinating look at the Desmond murder. Mary and her mother are key players.

Updated On: 8/5/06 at 11:30 AM

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 11:31am

Thank you Sueleen!