Mary Miles Minter

 Mary Miles Minter (April 25, 1902 – August 4, 1984)

She appeared in 54 silent era motion pictures from 1912 to 1923. In 1922, Minter was involved in scandal surrounding the murder of director William Desmond Taylor, for whom she professed her love. Although gossip implicated her mother, former actress Charlotte Shelby, as the murderer, Minter's reputation was tarnished, and she gave up her movie career in 1923. In her screen debut, in which she was billed as Juliet Shelby, she appeared in the 1-reel drama short The Nurse (1912). From there her new stage name was applied and Minter was starred in the role as Viola Drayton, the fairy, in the 5-reel feature length drama The Fairy and the Waif (1915). Minter's career steadily grew after that. She specialized in playing demure young women. With her photogenic features, blue eyes and curly blonde hair, she emulated and later rivaled Mary Pickford. Her first movie for director William Desmond Taylor was Anne of Green Gables (1919). It was well received, and Taylor actively promoted Minter as a star. According to Minter, a romantic relationship developed between them. However, Minter (who had grown up fatherless) said Taylor had reservations from the outset and later curtailed the romance, citing the 30-year difference in their ages.

Other people who knew Taylor and Minter said he never reciprocated her feelings. In a 1970 interview, during which she described Taylor as her "mate," Minter recalled going to view Taylor's body immediately after the murder. In shock, she demanded to be used for a blood transfusion to revive him, not believing he was dead until she touched his body in the morgue: “That deadly cold... convinced me as nothing else could have done. No life can return to this man.” Mary Miles Minter died at age 82 from a stroke in Santa Monica.