Charlotte Shelby
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Charlotte Shelby (Lily Pearl Miles Reilly) (19 December 1877 - 13 March 1957) was a popular Broadway actress and the domineering mother of actresses Mary Miles Minter and Margaret Shelby. She gave up her own acting aspirations, which were never greatly successful, in order to manage her daughters' blossoming Broadway and eventually film career.
Connection to the Murder of William Desmond Taylor
There have been several suggestions for the murder of William Desmond Taylor, some more plausible than others. There were speculations that Charlotte Shelby killed Hollywood mogul William Desmond Taylor in a jealous rage over her daughter's attraction to him. It is reported that the bullet that killed Taylor was an older .38 caliber type that, according to at least one expert, was quite unusual and matched an unfired bullet from a revolver owned by Charlotte Shelby, which she later threw into a bayou in Louisiana.Although Shelby was known as a cold, selfish and manipulative woman, and probably did experience moments when she wanted Taylor dead, the L. A. district attorney Buron Fitts concluded that there wasn't any evidence for an indictment of Shelby, and recommended that the remaining evidence and case files be retained on a permanent basis. No person was ever convicted of the crime. Her daughter, Margaret Shelby, accused Charlotte openly to her face of murdering Taylor in 1938. Shortly thereafter, in 1939, Margaret died of chronic alcoholism.
The murder effectively ended the acting careers of both her daughters. Rumors and bad press haunted all of them for the remainder of their lives. In 1937, both daughters successfully sued Charlotte for mismanagement of their finances during their acting careers, and won a substantial settlement. Mary Minter cut all ties with her mother, turned her back on Hollywood, and lived a relatively comfortable but obscure life until her 1984 death, due to having invested wisely in real-estate in the Los Angeles area.
Charlotte Shelby died in the 1950s and the crime is still technically unsolved. However, in recent years an alleged death-bed confession by actress Margaret Gibson has possibly discredited that theory.
Filmography
- Dimples (1916)
- Always in the Way (1915)
- The Fairy and the Waif (1915)
Stageplay
- Love Watches (1908)
External links
Death
Charlotte Shelby died in Santa Monica, CA, she was originally buried in a private and locked section at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, but later, Mary Miles Minter had her remains and her sister Margaret Shelby's remains cremated and scattered.
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