Mary Miles Minter

Mary Miles Minter's career is often overshadowed by that of another Mary and by the scandal that contributed in ending it. But she was more that the other girl with the golden curls and it is deplorable that the books that mention her today, are the ones about Mary Pickford or those about the murder of William Desmond Taylor.

Stage child

Born Juliet Reilly in a family where the original star was actually her sister Margaret, a child actress groomed by their mother Lily Pearl Miles, herself an actress under the name Charlotte Shelby.

At 6

Juliet followed the paths of her sister from the age of five, and made her debut with the name adopted by all three: Shelby.
She gained recognition in her first play Cameo Kirby with Nat Goodwin in 1907 and is mentioned in the reviews. Five yeas later, Producer Pat Powers hired her for her screen debut in a film called The Nurse for a New York based company that moved to California right after filming and changed its name to Universal. (This is the same Pat Powers that lured his team from Walt Disney.)

At 8

The then new National Child Labor Committee was advocating for child labor laws and young Juliet was in danger of loosing a part in The Littlest Rebel opposite William and Dustin Farnum because she was under 16, so Charlotte, with the help of the birth certificate of a dead relative, changed her age and her name to Mary Miles Minter. Some magazines later joked that she was "the only actress who is actually eight years younger than she says".

First steps in front of the camera

Under her new name, Mary was signed to star in 1915 in a Cinderella type of film adapted from a play she had appeared in, called The Fairy and the Waif, which unlike The Nurse, survives today. Her mother also appeared. Following the success of the film the Metro company hired her in July 1915 to appear in a series of six films over a year.

These were Always in the Way, where her mother also secured a role, and in which Mary plays the part of an abandoned daughter who travels to Africa. The film was directed by J. Searle Dawley, who went on to direct Snow White two years later with Marguerite Clark. Emmy of Stork's Nest is the first of a long line of films where Mary's characters are confronted with a class difference between her and the man she loves.

Barbara Frietchie is a civil war historical film directed by Alice Guy's husband Herbert Blaché in which silent film star Anna Q. Nilson also had a part.

The next film, Rose of the Alley, is about Nell, who tries to reform her no good brother. In Dimples, Mary plays once again an orphan who falls in love. Only this time she has money hidden in her doll and it saves the day in the end. Mary's mother appears here one final time at her side.

With Lovely Mary, filmed on location in Florida, Mary's contract with Metro ended. Apparently Charlotte's way of her running her business very much displeased Louis B. Mayer. As a result, he decided to re-edit one of her films, Rose of the Alley, not to capitalize on the actress, but to minimize her role to a bit part. The result was Somewhere in America, which was released in 1917 with a completely different story and new scenes.

From Metro to AFC

In July of 1916, Mary signed a 6 picture deal with The American Film Corporation where her star grew more and more. The contract was renewed several times and went on until July of 1919.

Youth's Endearing Charm production still

Youth's Endearing Charm

For the "Flying A" studios (AFC), she did Youth's Endearing Charm (re-released in 1921 as Youth's Melting Pot) where she shares the screen with a dog. The Library of Congress still has an incomplete copy of the film. Dulcie's Adventure (aka No Wedding Bells, probably a British title), where Dulcie's aunts force her to marry a European Count for the money, was Mary's first collaboration with Mary Pickford's usual director James Kirkwood. Thus starting a connexion with the star that would soon grow.

In Mary's next production, Faith, also released as The Virtuous Outcast, she takes the blame of a theft committed by her sister played by her real life sister Margaret.

Mary in The Innocence of Lizette

She plays a rich girl turned street dancer with amnesia in A Dream Or Two Ago, and an orphan with a baby on her doorstep in The Innocence of Lizette, both restored in 2004, but still unavailable on home video. Yet the second reel of this last film can be seen on the Santa Barbara museum website.

In Environment

In 1917 Mary keeps collaborating with Kirkwood with the release of The Gentle Intruder in which her attorney keeps the money of her inheritance to himself. In Environment, she takes the blame again for the bad girl, played by her sister Margaret. Her recurring co-star in these films is George Fisher who also shares the screen with her in Annie For Spite, inexplicably also released as Sally Shows the Way (there is no Sally in the story) where she is an orphan once again.

In her next film Periwinkle, another orphan-turned-rich-by-marriage-in-the-end story, although her co-star is still George Fisher, a newcomer among the cast makes his first appearance at her side: Allan Forrest. He takes more and more importance in subsequent films like Melissa of The Hills and eventually becomes Mary's love interest in all AFC movies, starting with Charity Castle.

The American Theater of Oakland CA in 1917.

Her Country's Call, also released as The Call to Arms was the final part of 4 movie cycle by Benjamin Chapin about the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Mary shares the screen again with her sister in Peggy Leads the Way which still exists at the UCLA archives.

Peggy Leads The Way, with Allan Forrest

The Mate of the Sally Ann

In The Mate of the Sally Ann, George Periolat also a regular in her films, plays her sea captain grand-father. The film is also known as Peggy Rebels. You guessed it, there is no Peggy in the story but it was frequent at the time to re-release a film with a different title and different title cards to capitalize on the success of a different film with the same cast. In foreign countries, many actors and actresses were actually known by the nickname used throughout their films, even if they played different characters.

Powers That Prey

This film and the next, Beauty And The Rogue and Powers That Prey (also known as Extra! Extra!), were directed by famous director Henry King.

A Bit Of Jade is a story of a misplaced necklace that ends in marriage. In Social Briars, again by Henry King, Mary is an orphan resented by her rich adoptive family.

The next two films are still extant: The Ghost Of Rosy Taylor (not a ghost story but merely of assumed identities) and The Eyes of Julia Deep are both available on DVD from Grapevine.

The Ghost of Rosy Taylor

She did her next films Rosemary Climbs the Heights, Wives and Other Wives (with Margaret), The Amazing Impostor (with Margaret again), and The Intrusion of Isabel under the direction of Lloyd Ingraham.

A Bachelor's Wife, with Margaret too, where she plays an Irish girl who travels to the USA, and Yvonne From Paris were her last films for the American Film Corporation.

Mary Replaces Mary

In 1919, Mary Pickford announced that she was leaving Paramount to found her own studio, United Artists, with husband Douglas Fairbanks and superstar Charles Chaplin. She apparently suggested herself that the studio hire Mary Miles Minter as her replacement at Paramount. It was soon announced that Adolf Zukor had signed her for 3 years, seven films per year at $1,300,000. In exchange for this fabulous sum, the actress would have to submit to a morality clause and a strict way of life.

The Intrusion of Isabel

She should not be seen in public too often, she should not marry or even give interviews. Zukor announced that he intended to spend another million dollars on publicity for her.

The first film under that contract and possibly one of the most famous among Mary Miles Minter's is unfortunately lost: Anne of Green Gables, adapted by the classic by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

William Desmond Taylor and Maturity

This film also marked her first collaboration with director William Desmond Taylor who had previously directed Dustin Farnum in Davy Crockett, Jack Pickford in Tom Sawyer and of course his sister Mary Pickford in Johanna Enlists.

Mary, who had so often played orphans on films, was actually a fatherless child and, being only 17 when she met the 47 years-old director, she developed a school girl crush on him and went on to collaborate with him on four productions: Judy of Rogue's Harbor, Nurse Marjorie (available on DVD), and Jenny Be Good (with Margaret).

Judy of Rogue's Harbor

One her other director at Paramount was Charles Maigne, with whom she did A Cumberland Romance, and had to step in for her last films.

Nurse Marjorie

Paul Powell directed her in Sweet Lavender and Eyes of the Heart (where she plays a blind girl). Next came Chester McFranklin, who had directed Norma Talmadge and had recently adapted two Arabian Nights tales, as well as Stevenson's Treasure Island. With her, he did All Soul's Eve, in which she plays a dual role opposite Jack Holt.

Jenny Be Good

The Little Clown

By 1921, critics weren't as kind with her films as they had been.
She did the obligatory circus film called The Little Clown. Then two films about marriage, Don't Call Me Little Girl, and Moonlight And Honeysuckle directed by Joseph Henabery, like the next one: Her Winning Way,where she plays a paparazzi playing a dirty trick on a book writer.

For Tillie, her old co-star Allan Forrest came back. In this film, she has to become a Mennonite to receive her inheritance and she even commits suicide. Not necessarily what the audience came to expect of her movies.

Don't Call Me Little Girl

Scandal

By the time her next film hit the screens, a famous Hollywood scandal occurred: her former director William Desmond Taylor was murdered on the night of February 1, 1922. Several film celebrities were considered as suspects and their respective lives and careers suffered from it. Among them were Mabel Normand, Mack Sennett, Mary Miles Minter (who was, according to her, having an affair with him) and Mary's ever controlling mother Charlotte.

Although the event definitely influenced Mary's future, it is incorrect to say it ended her career: she went on filming after Taylor's death. Her alleged romantic association with a man 30 years her senior, wildly reported in the press however, helped change Mary's wholesome image in the public mind.

Allan Forrest was also part of the cast for her next film, The Heart Specialist, but he was joined by comedian Roy Atwell, who later did the voice of Doc in Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. He stayed with her through the next film South of Suva.

With Roy Atwell in The Heart Specialist

Departing from her usual image, Mary Miles Minter played in a Western shot in Wyoming called The Cowboy And The Lady.

Mary's two final films were Drums Of Fate, an adventure movie where she travels to Africa and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.

Trail of the Lonesome Pine

Retirement

Mary announced her retirement after that when she declined to star in The Covered Wagon. She had already starred in a western and probably did not think much of it. The role was offered to Lois Wilson who benefited the film's outstanding success.

The Covered Wagon

Mary Miles Minter in 1934

Only two years later after she ended her career, she sued her mother for mismanagement of her money. The case was eventually settled out of court and Mary reconciled with her mother. By the 1930s, it is obvious from press pictures that Mary had already gained quite a bit of weight. She eventually suffered from diabetes.

She married Brandon Hildebrandt, a real eastate agent in 1957.
In 1981 a former servant snuck into her home and beat her to rob her. Although she survived, she finally died three years later from heart failure.

Some of her films exist to this day, but very few are available to the public and those that are restored are not available on DVD. I suggest you check out this great site for more information and click "like" on the blog's Facebook page for updates.

That's all for today folks!