Alma Margaret Reilly (June 16, 1900 – December 21, 1939), known professionally as Margaret Shelby, was an American stage and motion picture actress, daughter of actress Charlotte Shelby, older sister of silent film star Mary Miles Minter, and one of many public figures noted in the scandals which followed the murder of William Desmond Taylor in 1922.

Film career Born Alma Margaret Reilly (and later also known as Alma M. Fillmore), Shelby was a child actress. Her first Broadway appearance was in Grace Livingston Furniss's play, The Fibber. In 1916 Margaret and Mary, both in their teens, acted together on film in director James Kirkwood's picture Faith.

Although she was seen as prettyhttp://www.assumption.edu/acad/ii/Academic/history/His130/twenties/Taylor/MargaretShelby1920.jpg and noted for having some talent as an actress, her film career was limited to supporting roles in some of her sister's films. By 1916, both sisters were quite famous and established a widely-publicized "hotel" for stray dogs on the ample grounds of their Santa Barbara, California home.

Her sister left the film industry in 1924, and Margaret took small bit parts in sundry productions.

Personal life She was briefly married to Hugh Fillmore, but they divorced in 1927. With the coming of sound films in the late 1920s, her career ended. By the late 1930s, Shelby was suffering from both alcoholism and clinical depression. In March 1937, she eloped to Yuma, Arizona with Emmett J. Flynn, but this marriage was annulled two months later.

On June 5, 1937 Shelby filed a lawsuit against her mother alleging financial mismanagement, claiming Charlotte had stolen $48,750 (roughly almost $2 million in 2007 inflation-adjusted terms) from a safety deposit box in a Los Angeles, California bank. A jury awarded her $20,000. On September 13, 1938, she publicly accused her mother of having killed William Desmond Taylor in 1922. Shelby's sister had an unrequited infatuation with Taylor, beginning in 1919.

Death Margaret Shelby died following a long illness in 1939, aged 39.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1912BillieBillie 1916Faith Laura aka The Virtuous Outcast1917Peggy Leads the WayMaude GreenwoodHer Country's Call Marie TremaineEnvironmentMildred Holcombe1918 Wives and Other WivesMrs. CraigRosemary Climbs the HeightsWanda Held1919A Bachelor's WifeGenevieve HarbisonThe Intrusion of IsabelLois RandallThe Amazing ImpostorCountess of Crex1920Jenny Be Good Jolanda Van Mater1928Clothes Make the Woman

See also

Ella Margaret Gibson

References Notes

Bibliography Janesville, Wisconsin Daily Gazette, News Notes From Movieland, October 23, 1916, Page 6. Los Angeles Times, Film Slaying Witness Dies, December 23, 1939, Page 1.

External links