Mary MacLaren

• Birth Name — Mary Ida MacDonald (McDonald in some records) • Spouse — George Herbert Young (m. 1924; div. 1928) Robert S. Coleman (m. 1965;?) • Name — Mary MacLaren • Born — 19 January 1900 • Birthplace — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Died — 9 November 1985 • Place of death — Hollywood, California, U.S. • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1916-1949 • Relatives — Katherine MacDonald (sister, also actress)

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, MacLaren was the youngest of three daughters of Lillian Edith (née Agnew) and William Albert MacDonald. Her two sisters, Miriam and Katherine MacDonald, also became actors, and another sibling, her brother Edward, died at birth in 1901, 14 months after MacLaren was born. Federal census records for 1900 document that MacLaren's father supported his family working as the proprietor of a hotel in Pittsburgh. By 1910, however, her parents had divorced, and Lillian worked as a dressmaker to support her daughters. Before moving with her mother, Miriam, and Katherine to New York City around 1913, MacLaren obtained her basic education in Greensburgh (now Greensboro), Pennsylvania. Once situated in New York, all three girls began working either in modeling, performing on stage in minor acting roles, or dancing in revues. MacLaren began her own stage career at the Winter Garden in New York City with Al Jolson in The Passing Show of 1914 and Dancing Around.

MacLaren was a vegetarian and advocate of animal welfare. She had four cats and five dogs and was known to have slept on a rotted mattress. In 1979 in California, the long-retired actress resisted attempts by Los Angeles County officials to declare her 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. MacLaren, at age 85, died of "respiratory problems" at West Hollywood Hospital in California in November 1985.

• Illustration — MacLaren opposite actor William V. Mong in Shoes (1916) • Illustration — MacLaren with Holmes Herbert and child actress Rita Rogan in The Wild Goose (1921) • Illustration — A Lawman Is Born (1937) • John Needham's Double (1916) • Where Are My Children? (1916) • Shoes (1916) • Saving the Family Name (1916) • The Mysterious Mrs. M (1917) • Money Madness (1917) • The Plow Woman (1917) • The Model's Confession (1918) • Bread (1918) • The Vanity Pool (1918) • The Unpainted Woman (1919) • The Petal on the Current (1919) • Bonnie Bonnie Lassie (1919) • The Pointing Finger (1919) • Rouge and Riches (1920) • The Forged Bride (1920) • The Road to Divorce (1920) • The Three Musketeers (1921) • The Wild Goose (1921) • Across the Continent (1922) • The Face in the Fog (1922) • Under the Red Robe (1923) • On the Banks of the Wabash (1923) • The Uninvited Guest (1924) • The Phantom Broadcast (1933) • Headline Shooter (1933) • Westward Ho (1935) • The New Frontier (1935) • Saddle Aces (1935) • Chatterbox (1936) • King of the Pecos (1936) • What Becomes of the Children? (1936) • Reckless Ranger (1937) • 52nd Street (1937) • A Lawman Is Born (1937) • The Fargo Kid (1940) • Prairie Pioneers (1941)