Career
He appeared in 17 films between 1916 and 1927. Born Charles Emmett McNerney in Scranton, Pennsylvania to an Irish family, at a young age Mack could speak three or four languages. One of Mack"s early jobs was as a peanut vendor at the Ringling Brothers Circus.
After that, he appeared in vaudeville buck-and-wing dancing.
Later he became a tour guide for Doctorate.W. Griffith"s Mamaroneck Studios. After that he was Griffith"s prop man, fetching all sorts of props for the director
One day, Griffith invited Mack to rehearse a scene from Dream Street with him. Mack enjoyed the part he had and thought Griffith was friendly.
He ended up playing the lead.
The first time I saw myself on the screen I thought I couldn"t stand lieutenant We were all in the projection room looking at the rushes of my first day"s work. I couldn"t think of the shadow on the screen as myself—I thought of it as "lieutenant" I saw this thing sneak in.
lieutenant had such big ears and such a strange nose.
Its mouth seemed to be all over its face. And then suddenly it turned around on me and I bolted out of the room.
Mr. Griffith sent for me and had me sit by him while he showed me what was wrong and why.
I thought it all terrible, but he seemed to think it good, and so I kept on acting instead of going back to the property room. While filming America in 1924, a soldier"s arm was blown official
As Mack recalls, "Neil Hamilton and I went to neighboring towns and raised a fund for him—I doing a song and dance and Neil collecting a coin." After signing with Warner Brothers, Mack was killed in an automobile accident on his way to a racetrack to film an auto racing scene for the film. He was 26 years old. She was born in Italy and came to the United States when she was three.
A 1929 issue of Picture-Play revealed that it was anticipated that she would perhaps became a leading actress, but it doesn"t seem her career ever went past bit parts.
She is not to be confused with the other Marion Mack.