Trivia and Quotes
Trivia
 Daughter of actress Charlotte Shelby At the time Mary (nee Juliet Reilly) entered show business around 1907, there was quite a stigma attached to the acting profession. Though Mary's parents were separated, her father forbade his wife and children to use his name of Reilly on stage. All three ended up with the last name of Shelby, which came from relatives on Mary's mother's side of the family. By 1911 "Little Juliet Shelby" became a well-known Broadway child actress.
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Only 6 Minter movies survive today.
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Suffered from diabetes in her later years.
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Was pruned to be "the next Mary Pickford."
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A third book on the William Desmond Taylor murder, by Charles Higham, bases key data on official Police material and other information gathered by King Vidor. This book, however, seems to bring all of the material together and offers a strong deduction that the murder was committed by Minter. It is understandable that a young woman, under domination by an obsessive mother, would be neurotic and love-starved. Higham's talks with Minter herself, and his insightful work, offer the best indications of the cover-ups that fogged over the investigation... and the sad plight of Mary Miles Minter. She does indeed emerge from the book as the personification of Baby Jane.
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The Gerry Society, which policed child performers, induced the over-worked 15-year-old stage star to change her name yet again in 1912 to protect her identity. The name "Mary Miles Minter" came from assorted family names on her mother's side.
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After Mary's death, a second will named Margaret Kozma, a neighbor, as sole beneficiary of Mary's entire estate. Beneficiaries from the first will challenged this second will which was drawn up only two months before Mary's death when Mary was very vulnerable and quite ill. Ms. Kozma ended up claiming she was Minter's illegitimate daughter born in Paris in 1929, which is where Mary was residing at the time. In the early 1990s, the courts invalidated this second will and rejected Ms. Kozma's claim.
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Anne of Green Gables (1919) was her favorite film that she made.
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Her sister Margaret Shelby was once married to President Millard Fillmore's grandson.
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Two books have been written about the unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor. The first by director King Vidor's biographer, Sidney Kirkpatrick, in 1986, theorizes that Mary's jealous mother, Charlotte Shelby, committed the murder and used much of Mary's money to pay off various attorneys. A second book by Robert Giroux suggests that Taylor was killed by a hit man hired by a drug kingpin (Taylor was known for trying to drive drug dealers out of Hollywood).
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Interested in numerology and astrology. Her interest in numerology prompted her and her husband to change their name from Hildebrandt to O'Hildebrandt.
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In 1981 the 79-year-old Mary was brutally beaten and robbed in her home. A former servant was charged with the crime. She managed to recover.
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Sister of actress Margaret Shelby.
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Took her screen name from an aunt who, along with her daughter, had died after unknowingly consuming apple cider contaminated with snake's venom. The aunt's daughter's birth certificate was passed off as Minter's own, allowing the ten-year-old to masquerade as a 17-year-old midget.
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The 1922 William Desmond Taylor slaying was the third major scandal to present itself in Hollywood. The first two were the drug-related suicide of beautiful young actress Olive Thomas in 1920 and the Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle sex party outrage that ended in the death of actress wannabe Virginia Rappe.
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Her first (and only valid) will left her money to Gilbert A. Chasin, whom she said she loved as a son.
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Silent-screen actress
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After Mary's contract at Paramount was bought out following the William Desmond Taylor scandal (for $350,000) in June of 1923, Mary was broached by other studios such as UFA and Pathe with film offers, but the scandal took its toll on Mary and she emotionally wanted out of the public eye. She never made another picture again.
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Mary and her acting sister Margaret Shelby sued their mother Charlotte Shelby over mismanagement of their money in the late 20s and won substantial settlements. They eventually reconciled with their mother.
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Her first picture directed by William Desmond Taylor was the highly successful Anne of Green Gables (1919). Mary quickly fell in love with Taylor against her domineering mother's openly hostile objections.
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