Background
Harris was born in San Fernando, California and placed in a Los Angeles orphanage shortly after her birth.
Harris was born in San Fernando, California and placed in a Los Angeles orphanage shortly after her birth.
She is best remembered for her role as "Little Maria" in the 1931 horror film Frankenstein. She was adopted by an area couple when she was a month old. Shortly after her adoption, she appeared in a Rin Tin Tin film.
Harris also claimed that her mother was physically and emotionally abusive.
A children"s game is however tragically misinterpreted by the monster, and he ends up throwing Little Maria into the lake, unintentionally drowning her and turning the surrounding village"s population into a lynch mob, baying for revenge after the child"s body is foundation The shot of Maria being thrown into the water was cut from original prints and only restored in the 1980s.
After appearing in Frankenstein, Harris continued her career in small roles in films. She left acting at the age of 19 shortly after marrying Wally Watkins, a bouncer she met while working as a cashier at the Hollywood Palladium.
The couple had a son the following year.
After Harris" husband died in 1981, she remarried. Harris" second husband, Carl, died in 1988. During her final years, Harris struggled with ill health.
On December 1, 1999, she died of cancer and heart failure in Los Angeles at the age of 75.