Mary Miles Minter - 1970 Interview Excerpt

[VaudevilleJoe1925]

Read "A Cast of Killers" by Sidney D. Kirkpatrick. It was Mary Miles Minter's money-grubbing-control-freak mother Charlotte Shelby who did the dirty deed, she was the one who murdered William Desmond Taylor. It was Charlotte Shelby who ruined her daughter's life, who wrecked her career! No doubt, now burning in Hell Charlotte Shebly, pycho bitch.

[windstorm1000]

She's exquisite. MMM either had a cosmic connection to Taylor or she was obsessed with him!! who is to say!! MMM's career was ruined by this tragedy---

[misscarolinec]

Sounds shady to me... what women insists they start pumping blood from herself to her 'mate', usually the first question would be "what happened, how is he, can I see him, what can I do to help"...

[furgurl]

who are the suspects that robbed and beat mary miles minter in 1981 and where did all her antiques go when she was an antique dealer in santa monica ?? who is ron Benson who used to work for mary miles minter?

[louisa1832]

Utterly fascinating.

[furgurl]

ron benson worked for minter and there were love letters from taylor in her house

[furgurl]

ron benson worked for mary miles minter when he was young and then he left the job

[hownos]

drama queen - she's putting on a performance.

[FilmAndStageTributes]

@hownos a very gargled tape, very hard to hear and someone who rarely ever appeared in the talking era, and you say "she's putting on a show" how the hell can anyone tell anything from this old tape

[TheVirajster]

She lived that long thru 1970? She must have such a guilty conscience thru her life....

[raven6987]

MMM seems like she knows things about this murder that other people don't know. She sounds like she is a little delusional, but she also sounds like she's in love with William Desmond Taylor in this interview. It really sounds like she is struggling with a guilty conscience here. I can't help but think she's guilty!

[FilmAndStageTributes]

@raven6987 you should find out your facts, it was her mother who did this, or a slight lean toward Mabel Normand,, no one really knows, but the mother is leading candidate

[CleoTheSim]

I've always wanted to believe that Mary Miles Minter was a normal sort of girl (well as normal as a movie star can be), but she sounds delusional in this recording. Hearing her talk makes me wonder if she did kill him after all and simply convinced herself that she didn't. Poor girl.

[rantburg1]

Fascinating stuff. I think Charlotte Shelby definitely instigated Taylor's murder but had someone do it for her. Taylor may have been bisexual and had his arms around a man (which explains the bullet trajectory and the witness testimony of a suspicious man who was present in Taylor's residence the night of the murder) who was there to do Shelby's bidding. She was wealthy enough to do it thanks to her daughter. I bet Phil Spector wishes he had her luck with district attorneys:)

[Mr1920s]

At 3:51 she says "Just then.. a.. person came up to me... and took hold of me."

[alecton]

what's up with the interviewer, he was grunting all the time as if she were crazy, the poor woman was baring it all, and this guy was like... hmmm, hmmm, yeah... hmmm, never NO, hmmm... hmmm? hmmmmm :(

[amazingeddie]

Are you a native English speaker? "Hmmmmm..." means I'm listening... She's flowing, so he doesn't have to interject anything, just confirm that he's paying attention so he can get it on tape...

[VisualizeJess]

I love MMM. Such a beautiful face in pictures. BUT, I am on the side that agrees that her mother, Charlotte Shelby killed Taylor. Whether or not MMM knew, I don't know.

[BoweryBaby88]

she sounds scary delusional..wow.

[rickymolotov]

I don't know why people have to play the homosexual angle when there is no evidence of it. Taylor had affairs with women. He even had two daughters.

[betty1114]

No, he only had one child, a daughter named Daisy

[ThePeterBluth]

@rickymolotov That doesn't mean that he could have a homosexual dilliance here and there. He may have been bisexual, but, like you said, it can't be proven.

[misscarolinec]

@rickymolotov maybe he was a switch hitter?? Lots of gay or bi guys have kids.

I myself don't have an opinion of Taylor as I did not know him :)

[creolelady182]

Well the fact of the matter is her mother Charlotte Shelby was the one who shot Taylor because she was afraid she was going to lose control of her daughter who at the time was making over one million dollars a year. Through the years Shelby had to pay off the DA's not to bring charges against her or her daughter. MMM died a crazy sick old woman

[corp1114]

@creolelady182 Mary learned to fly and earned her pilot license, she was very successful in realestate ventures and antiques. Her life started after her films. I think that to say that she was crazy is simplifing the matter. In her later years she was very sick and she was beaten brutally so am sure that didn't help her mental state. She does sound wacked out on this tape and she kept Taylor in her heart and mind until she died and so that wasn't normal.

[horarwgt]

MMM certainly does not sound at all insane to me.

[louisa1832]

@horarwgt To me either.

[jwri1981]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this, I had no idea MMM every talked about the murder in her later years.

[jedweber]

Director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry, Stop-Loss)apparently spent several years working on a film about the murder to be called "Silent Star," only to have the studio pull the plug in 2007. In a recent interview she seemed to suggest that she believed she had solved the case. Does anyone know any more about this?

[BACLong]

In many recent interviews (one of them in the Washington Post), Kimberly Peirce claims to have solved the murder. I haven't seen any real details behind her claim, but the interview in Movies Online seems to indicate that her solution is the same one King Vidor had. On the other hand, there's an interview fragment here on YouTube (search for: TFF panel clip 7) which appears to indicate that she thought Minter herself was the killer.

[Supertrav77]

Charles Higham, the man doing the interview in this clip, is utterly convinced that Mary did the deed as well. I read his book Murder In Hollywood. While I don't agree some of his conclusions (in particular on the fate of are less the Edward Sands), he does lay out a very VERY compelling case for MMM being the murderer. BTW, thanks for posting this.  While MMM was almost certainly insane, I have found this interview very poetic and beautifully haunting in a strange way.

[FilmAndStageTributes]

@jedweber it was well rumoured to be Mary's mother who did it

[misscarolinec]

@jedweber I would do anything to see a movie about this case!!

[windstorm1000]

@jedweber There could be many reasons, but one has to wonder why the studios pulled the plug on this movie about the most fascinating H'wood murder mystery. Are they covering up something after all these years? Too close to home??? Vidor, a powerful and well known director, too, dropped making a movie out of it--very mysterious to say the least!!

[betty1114]

JFLD8. The late director King Vidor wanted to make a movie on this topic. He did an extensive research then put it away. That is how the book "A Cast of Killers" came to be. The author was going to do a book on Vidor, found all the material that Vidor had and changed directions.

[windstorm1000]

@betty1114 Vidor should have done it--he knew many of the suspects and the victim. Why hasn't H'wood made a movie out of this intricate fabulous mystery??? They did a good job on the George Reeves case (also unsolved) a few years ago. And this one has all the pre-requisistes--and even more-- like a possible male lover, drugs, several jealous female movie stars--the works! Higham needs to revisit this case.

[betty1114]

Do a search (youtube) for "William Cahill Discusses the W.D. Taylor Case". He was the lead detective on this case.

[betty1114]

Does any one know anything about the man that Mary left her estate to? Or anything about her half brother?

[xtinaj]

This woman has always fascinated me. Thanks for posting this!!

[gablefan01]

Fascinating stuff (though I still think Charlotte Shelby did it). I think she mistook Taylor's avuncular interest in her for romantic interest, and the murder probably unhinged her.

[betty1114]

All this bable about getting on a table and pumping blood is nonsense. In all interviews she gave, she clearly said that her mother told her that Taylor was dead. When she went to his house and later to the mortuary, she knew full well that he was dead. She certainly had a flair for the dramatics!

[MarkyMalarky]

I agree, as it seems that her knack for acting hasn't left her in this interview (50 years after she did her last movie!)

[toadiesplace]

Thank you so much for posting this. Her voice is so vivid and dramatic, and yet still so sweetly sincere. Wonderful!

[cynthiacher]

Wow, this is bizarre. "They crucified my mate?" I had heard that MMM went nuts later in life and I guess this proves it. He wasn't her "mate"! Was a crazy woman.

[PikaB]

I don't think she was speaking literally. I think she meant that in her mind: he was her soul mate, the love of her life, the person she was destined to spend her life with.

[cmkershaw]

Very interesting. I never knew she spoke publicly about his death. I don't know if I believe her 100%. I thought Taylor was gay?? I read a Cast of Killers along time ago but that book that Mary's mother was the killer.

[betty1114]

The best book on the subject is William Desmond Taylor, A Dossier by Bruce Long.

[LexieCasteel]

They said he was gay, but I think maybe Mary's mother had it all wrong about them too. OR maybe he was bi and he had a romance with Mary and maybe other men

[mikosavana]

who is the interviewer?

[PikaB]

The interviewer is Charles Higham.

[nhprman]

This is a riveting interview. It's good that the interviewer got it on tape.

[joeocho88]

DID she do it--or did her mother or did her mother have the man who was allegedly having dinner with her whack him? After all, Mary wanted to marry her him and that would have cancelled her as her mother's meal ticket! Still wish I could see that case file!

[betty1114]

I too would love to see the whole case file. I think that I have read every book on this subject and still don't know who killed the guy!

[julesreverie]

She looks SO much like Brittany Snow!

[simpsonic1111]

great storie, thanks for adding.

[joelib]

Thanks for that -- when are they going to make a movie out of this case?

[JFLD8]

I heard that "Sunset Boulevard" was partially based off of this incident. It would be really cool though to see an actual movie made out of this.