Mary Philbin — Blue Book of the Screen (1923) 🇺🇸

Mary Philbin is one screen actress upon whom has shone a particularly bright star of fortune. She was born in Chicago, Ill., July 16, 1904, and from her earliest girlhood aspired to a stage career.

She studied classic dancing and appeared at church and school entertainments. Then, in the same beauty contest in which Gertrude Olmsted [Gertrude Olmstead] first won her chance to appear in pictures, Miss Philbin was a prize winner. Whereas Miss Olmsted was chosen for her perfectly modeled features, Miss Philbin was chosen a winner for the elusive spirituality of her delicate beauty.

After Miss Philbin was declared a prize winner, she came to Universal City where she has remained since, winning greater honors with each succeeding picture until she stands today heralded as an emotional actress of unusual power.

Miss Philbin, who was educated at the Hyde Park High School in Chicago, is five feet, two inches in height, weighs ninety-eight pounds, has dark brown hair and grey eyes which are constantly changeable. Her eyes photograph dark.

The first motion picture in which she ever appeared was “The Blazing Trail,” which was produced by Universal in March of 1921.

She makes her home in Hollywood, and her hobbies are music and dancing and, she says, above all, acting.

Universal features in which she has appeared include “Human Hearts” and Merry-Go-Round. The latter gives her a role any actress might envy. That such a young actress should be entrusted with an emotional role of such depth has been a source of wonder to the professional element in Universal City and Hollywood, but all reports indicate that Miss Philbin is the “find” of the year for Universal.

At the beginning of 1922 she was chosen by the motion picture press agents as one of the twelve “stars of tomorrow.” [Transcriber’s Note: Mary Philbin was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1922]

Portrait by Roman Freulich (1898–1974) • Los Angeles

Collection: The Blue Book of the Screen (1923)