Old Hollywood: Silent Stars, Deadly Secrets (2007) (TV) (uncredited)ģ. Other known surviving films include A Dream or Two Ago (1916), Innocence of Lizette (1916), The Eyes of Julia Deep (1918) and Nurse Marjorie (1920, directed by William Desmond Taylor). This film depicted her as an orphaned French girl buffeted from job to job and escaping from a workhouse prison. A print of her 1919 film, The Ghost of Rosy Taylor surfaced in New Zealand in the 1990s. She died in 1984 from a stroke in Santa Monica, California.įor her contributions to the motion picture industry Mary Miles Minter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1724 Vine Street.īy 1999, all prints of her film Anne of Green Gables were believed to have been lost. Police described her as a frail old woman and people were often shocked to learn she had once been a famous movie star. Minter had invested in Los Angeles real estate and seems to have lived in relative comfort and prosperity, although she was later the victim of several robberies during the 1970s and early '80s. She reconciled fully with her mother and proclaimed her love for Taylor throughout her long life. Minter commented she was content to live without her Hollywood career. The case was settled out of court, with the settlement being signed by Minter and Shelby at the American Consul in Paris, France, on January 24, 1927. In 1925 she sued her mother for an accounting of the money Shelby had received for her during her screen career. When the studio did not renew her contract she received many other offers but declined them all, saying she had never been happy as an actress. Her last film, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, was released in 1923. įollowing Taylor's death Minter made four more films for Paramount. Shadows have been cast upon my reputation". If the District Attorney has any evidence, he should prosecute. In 1937, Minter publicly announced to the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper, "Now I demand that I either be prosecuted for the murder committed fifteen years ago, or exonerated completely. There were several suspects (including her mother Charlotte Shelby) in the long investigation of Taylor's murder. Minter was at the height of her success, having starred in more than 50 films and sensationalistic newspaper revelations of the twenty-year-old film star's association with a forty-nine-year-old murdered director caused rolling scandals. Newspapers reported that coded love letters written by Minter had been found in his bungalow after his death (these were later shown to have been written three years earlier, in 1919). The ensuing scandal, coming in the wake of the Roscoe Arbuckle murder trial, was the subject of widespread media speculation and embellishment. In a 1970 interview during which she described Taylor as her "mate," Minter recalled how she broke down and sobbed when she was allowed to view (and touch) the director's body in a morgue. In 1922, Taylor was murdered in his home. A romantic relationship developed between them which she later described as "a beautiful white flame." However, according to Minter (who had grown up without a father), Taylor had reservations from the outset and later curtailed the romance, citing the 30 year difference in their ages. The picture was well-received and Taylor actively promoted Minter as a star of great potential. Her first film for director William Desmond Taylor was Anne of Green Gables in 1919. With her photogenic "registration", even features, "periwinkle blue eyes" and curly hair she emulated and later rivaled Mary Pickford. Minter specialised in playing demure and innocent young girls. She made her first feature film in 1915 and her career grew steadily. To avoid child labour laws in Chicago while her daughter was appearing in a play, Shelby obtained the birth certificate of a cousin and changed Juliet's name to Mary Miles Minter. After this she was rarely unemployed, widely noted for both her talent and visual appeal. She was noticed by the director and given her first part. At the age of 5 she was brought along on an audition for her older sister Margaret only because no baby sitter was available. Shelby pushed both her daughters towards stage careers. Born Juliet Reilly in Shreveport, Louisiana, Minter was the daughter of Broadway actress Charlotte Shelby.
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