Silent Screen Actress Mary MacLaren Dies

Silent screen actress Mary MacLaren, who fought to keep her cluttered house with its menagerie of cats and dogs and memories, is dead at the age of 85.

Miss MacLaren died Saturday night of respiratory problems at West Hollywood Hospital after being taken there last Monday from a Hollywood convalescent home.

Six decades ago, when Miss MacLaren was a striking beauty, her face adorned the cover of Photoplay magazine and she was romanced on the silver screen by the likes of Lionel Barrymore and Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

But the old star ended up alone, living in two rooms of a once-grand house on North Manhattan Place near Beverly Boulevard she had bought in 1917 with her movie profits from such films as “Shoes.”

In 1979, county officials tried to declare her incompetent for living amid too much clutter and too many pets.

But the spunky Miss MacLaren rallied the important and the nostalgic alike in a town that sometimes turns a cold ear to the downtrodden. She was a bit of show business memorabilia that few could ignore.

When county officials sought to gain conservatorship over Miss MacLaren’s finances--claiming she was living in “submarginal conditions”--amid dogs, cats, Kentucky Fried Chicken boxes, flies and pigeons--the Superior Court commissioner called her “a delightful lady” and ruled she could manage for herself.

During those lean days, the old star was reduced to selling off treasures, such as an autograph from Charlie Chaplin, which brought her $120. The inscription read, “to an old, old, old friend.”

At one point, Miss MacLaren fell victim to a self-styled “bishop” and part-time hypnotist and magician named “Rev.” James Griffis, who moved in and tried to take control of the rambling home and its decades of memories.

But the old star fought on.

Miss MacLaren won a court battle and Griffis moved out and the aged actress continued to live in her beloved surroundings until 1983, when the home was finally auctioned off.

Before long, Miss MacLaren moved into the convalescent home, where on Sunday acquaintances described her as “a lovely, lovely, lovely lady, just as sweet as could be.”

Her acting days long over, Miss MacLaren spent some of her later years writing inside the old house on Manhattan Place. In 1952, she authored “The Twisted Heart,” which was considered too daring to make into a movie. The plot centered on a bride who discovers that the man she loves is a homosexual.

“I think now my book and time have caught up with each other,” she observed in 1979. But the novel was never published.

From time to time, Miss MacLaren would attend silent screen retrospectives and celebrations of Hollywood’s old days, like memorial services for Rudolph Valentino.

And when prodded, Miss MacLaren would talk of her yesterdays. “I absolutely adored Mr. Fairbanks. I played the queen in ‘The Three Musketeers’ with Fairbanks. . . . He was so sweet.”