Trivia

Her final decades were spent in abject poverty with horrific stories of being swindled, declared incompetent, and living like a bag lady in a decaying house with holes in the roof and her beloved cats and dogs, whom she refused to leave. The city eventually won in court, and her house was auctioned off.

Mary was nearly killed in a two-car crash in 1917. Near death for ten days, a fragile operation on her forehead to lift the frontal bone saved her life.

An ardent pet lover, Mary was long affiliated with the National Catholic Society for Animal Welfare.

Retired for marriage to a Scottish army colonel, and they moved to India. When she tried to come back years later after her divorce, the advent of sound hurt Mary's chances and she was relegated to bit roles.

In 1965 she had a short-lived marriage to a wheelchair-bound, blind man. MacLaren later admitted that it was motivated by pity.

Although she received a modest $10,000 inheritance (equivalent to ~ $94,000 in 2020) when her sister Katherine died in 1956, it had been embezzled by her nephew.

Sister of actress Katherine MacDonald.

Became a star with the film Shoes (1916), as a poor slum girl.

First became a fashion model, then a chorus girl in the Broadway revue "The Passing Show of 1914."

Tried to publish a semi-autobiographical novel called "The Twisted Heart" in 1952 but ended up paying for the 200 copies she had published.

The 1929 stock market crash wiped out her fortune, and she was left to appear in small, uncredited bit parts from 1931-1948. A second serious car accident ended her career for good.

Silent-screen actress

In her later years, MacLaren would daily eat a baked potato with tea for lunch at a local Sizzler Steak House, after which she would go outside of the restaurant and feed pigeons, much to the irritation of the restaurant management. In 1983, her decaying old boarding house, which she had bought in 1917, was auctioned off and she moved into a convalescent home.

In 1979 in California, the long-retired actress resisted attempts by Los Angeles County officials to declare MacLaren mentally incompetent and to assume control of her finances due to repeated charges that she was living in her "dilapidated home" with too much clutter and too many pets. She appeared before the Superior Court commissioner who ruled that she was capable of managing her own affairs.[.

In studio directories and trade publications, the 5'3" MacLaren was described as having blue eyes and "masses of blond hair" and being an accomplished swimmer and tennis player.