Biography

Little Mary Miles 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 was in "The Littlest Rebel", with William Farnum 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 continued on the stage until 1915, when she started her film career. She was being groomed as a Mary Pickford star - a child of innocence. Her early pictures carried this theme with such titles as Lovely Mary (1916), Faith (1916) and Dimples (1916). Mary was 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 later worked for Adolph Zukor at Realart Pictures and one of her favorite directors was 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, increased to $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 real romance.

Then everything crumbled. On February 1, 1922, Taylor was shot to death in his Hollywood bungalow. His unsolved murder was one of Hollywood's major scandals, coming at the same time as the Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle incident. Though she was 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. The discovery of her belongings in Taylor's bungalow effectually killed her career in pictures. Mary was so weak from grief that she was barricaded in her home for a month. By the next year she had moved out of the home she shared with her mother and was out of pictures forever.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>

Mary Miles Minter was born on April's Fool Day in 1902, as Juliet Reilly, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Because her mother couldn't make it in show business, she began to live her dream through her daughter. By the time Mary was five years old, she had already appeared in a stage play. From that time forward, Mary overworked by her mother, obviously, not thinking of her daughter's welfare, but instead using her to climb the social ladder, not much different than some mothers of today. By 1912, Mary appeared in her first film production entitled The Nurse, playing the role of Juliet Shelby. After that first foray into film, Mary wouldn't appear again until 1915, when at the age of 13, she played a fairy in The Fairy And The Waif. For a youngster, she worked hard never knowing the joys of growing up as a normal little girl. She made only four films that year, but ground out nine films in 1916, ten in 1917, and seven in 1918. This was quite a grueling schedule for a young lady who was only 16 years old. Mary was being forced to grow up fast. But she was a bona fide star which may have cushioned the loss of her childhood. In 1919, Mary was still going strong, appearing in top flight films such as Anne Of Green Gables, Yvonne From Paris, and Rosemary Climbs The Heights. In 1920, she would continue to be the top billed star in other movies, Jenny Be Good and Nurse Marjorie. Her career continued unabated through 1920 and 1921. As a matter of fact, 1922 started out to be more of the same when Mary's life took a dramatic turn for the worse. She was 20 and reportedly romantically involved with famed director William Desmond Taylor when suddenly, Taylor was murdered in his home. This along with the Fatty Arbuckle debacle the year before caused the film colony to come under intense scrutiny. She wasn't considered a suspect by any means, but because of a young woman involved with a man who was old enough to be her father caused contemporary American audiences to turn on the actress who was once their favorite. Her films were no longer box-office draws, no matter how good they were. (The case was never solved, although the murder is relived today with conspiracy buffs trying to figure out who did it, much like Kennedy assassination buffs.) Mary was finished. After filming Drums Of Fate in 1923, Mary was never again on the silver screen. She had made 54 films and with the "talkie" era just a few short years away, she would no doubt have continued her dazzling rise to the pinnacle of Hollywood history. On August 4, 1984, Mary Miles Minter died in Santa Monica, California at the age of 82.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson