Mary Fuller

Mary Claire Fuller (October 5, 1888 – December 9, 1973) was an American actress active in both stage and silent films. She also was a screenwriter and had several films produced. An early major star, by 1917 she could no longer gain roles in film or on stage. A later effort to revive her career in Hollywood failed in the 1920s after talkies began to dominate film. After suffering a nervous breakdown, she was admitted to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC in 1947 and lived there until her death. Early life Born in Washington, D.C. in 1888, to Nora Swing and attorney Miles Fuller, she spent her childhood on a farm. As a child, she was interested in music, writing and art. Her father died in 1902, and by 1906, she was working in the theater under the name Claire Fuller. She worked briefly with the Lyceum Stock Company in Toledo, Ohio. Career Fuller began her acting career on stage. At age 18 she was working in live theatre. In 1907, she signed with the new Vitagraph Studios in Brooklyn, New York, where she made silent films such as the one-reel adaptation of Elektra (released in April 1910). Later Fuller joined the Edison Film Company in 1910. That year, she appeared in the first film version of Frankenstein, based on the Mary Shelley novel.