Mary Miles Minter

Mary Miles Minter was an American actress born on April 25, 1902. She appeared in 54 silent era motion pictures from 1912 to 1923. 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. On February 1, 1922, Taylor was murdered in his home, a two-story bungalow apartment on Alvarado Street, at the southeast corner of Alvarado and Maryland Street, in the Westlake area of Los Angeles. The ensuing scandal, following the Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle scandal of Labor Day weekend 1921, and Arbuckle's subsequent murder trial, was the subject of widespread media speculation and embellishment. 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). Minter was at the height of her success, having starred in more than 50 films, and newspaper revelations of the 20-year-old star's association with the 49-year-old murdered director was cause for a sensational scandal. There were several suspects (including her mother, Charlotte Shelby) in the long investigation of Taylor's murder. 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. If the District Attorney has any evidence, he should prosecute. If not, then I should be exonerated... Shadows have been cast upon my reputation." Taylor's murder was never solved. 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.” She broke down and sobbed: “They crucified Jesus. Now they’ve crucified... They’ve crucified my mate.” In late 1922, several months following Taylor's death, Minter became romantically involved for a time with then-news correspondent of Los Angeles and movie critic Louis Sherwin. In 1925, Minter sued her mother for an accounting of the money Shelby had received for her during her screen career. The case was settled out of court, with the settlement being signed by Minter and Shelby at the American Consulate in Paris, France, on January 24, 1927. In 1957, Minter and wealthy real estate developer Brandon O. Hildebrandt (1898–1965) were married. They remained married until O'Hildebrandt's death in 1965. Minter commented she was content to live without her Hollywood career. She later reconciled with her mother and proclaimed her love for Taylor throughout her life. Minter's money had been invested in Los Angeles real estate and she seems to have lived in relative comfort and prosperity. She later moved to a house in Santa Monica, California; her mother, Charlotte Shelby, died there in 1957. In 1981, Minter was severely beaten in a burglary at her home in which more than $300,000 worth of antiques, china and jewelry were taken. A former live-in companion and three other people were later charged with attempted murder and burglary. Mary Miles Minter died at age 82 on August 4, 1984 from a stroke in Santa Monica.

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