Background
Her father John Philbin was born in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Ireland.
Her father John Philbin was born in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Ireland.
Both roles cast her as the beauty in Beauty and the Beast-type stories. Born in Chicago, Illinois into a middle-class Irish American Catholic family, she began her acting career after winning a beauty contest sponsored by Universal Pictures. Mary Philbin made her screen debut in 1921 and during the 1920s she became a highly successful film actress and starred in a number of high-profile films, most notably in Doctorate. West. Griffith"s 1928 film Drums of Love.
Like so many publicly acclaimed silent film actors and actresses however, Philbin was unable to continue a successful acting career during the talkie era of the late 1920s-early 1930s.
Philbin played a few parts during the early talkie era and most notably dubbed her own voice when The Phantom of the Opera was given sound and re-released. Philbin remained single for the rest of her life, and rarely made public appearances.
One rare public appearance by Philbin occurred in her later years at the Los Angeles opening of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera. Mary Philbin died of pneumonia, aged 90, in Huntington Beach, California in 1993 and was buried at the Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.