Mary Miles Minter 

Thank you for stopping by our little online memorial devoted to the stage and silent movie actress, Mary Miles Minter.

In this space, we think you will find the most comprehensive attempt to explore Mary Miles Minter. A stunning beauty who played well to early film audiences, Mary was once considered the possible heir apparent to America\'s Sweetheart, Mary Pickford.

With a relatively short movie career during the silent film era, of which very few intact films survive, Mary Miles Minter could have wound up like hundreds of forgotten movie actresses from the early days of film. However, she remains well known to film historians, as well as true crime buffs, because of her involvement in one of the earliest Hollywood scandals.

Many people are still fascinated with the unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor. A brilliant director for Paramount Films, as well as one of the fair-haired boys of the Hollywood crowd, his murder in 1922 shocked the nation. On the heals of earlier scandals involving the movie industry, the added attention of a homicide did not please the studios.

The Roscoe Arbuckle scandal was still fresh in the public\'s mind, not to mention the questionable death of Olive Thomas. Already under scrutiny, the William Desmond Taylor murder would burden the film industry with more raised eyebrows and gossip courtesy of the Nation\'s newspapers.

There was no shortage of questions when it came Hollywood\'s morality, the Taylor murder and Arbuckle trials being major news events of the day. Followed by more negative publicity surrounding the premature deaths of personalities such as Wallace Reid, Jeanne Eagels, Alma Rubens and Barbara LaMarr, the early film industry found itself in the crosshairs of an outraged public.

Mary Miles Minter would be among the central figures to fall from grace with Taylor\'s death. She became a liability as the public heard too much fact, as well as inuendo, of the young actresses involvement with the director. Her image of enduring youthful innocence which audiences fell in love with at the theatres would lie shattered.

Any discussion of Mary Miles Minter would be incomplete without some attention given to the murder. Keep in mind, however, that this site isn\'t an attempt to solve the crime or present every detail. This is just a tribute to our favorite actress. One which we hope that you enjoy, and one which we hope helps you to learn something new about an often mis-understood Mary.