Margaret Shelby

In 1922, her sister became a suspect in the murder of her lover, William Desmond Taylor, and their mother Charlotte was also a suspect. Though they were never charged, the scandal destroyed the family's reputation. Margaret was a devoted animal lover who adopted dozens of stray dogs. She married Hugh Fillmore, a manufacturer, in 1925, but they divorced two years later. Her final film was the 1928 drama Clothes Make The Woman. By then, she was struggling with depression and a serious drinking problem.

In 1936, her mother tried to have her declared insane, but the effort failed. Margaret eloped with director Emmett J. Flynn in 1937. On the drive home from the honeymoon, she was arrested for drunk driving. Flynn was an alcoholic who had not legally divorced his last wife. Just six weeks after the wedding, she filed for annulment. She then sued her mother, claiming Charlotte had stolen more than $45,000 from her, and during the trial she publicly accused her mother of murdering Taylor. The jury awarded her $20,000. Her health deteriorated rapidly due to alcoholism, and she died on December 21, 1939, at age 39. She was cremated and buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, but in the 1950s her sister had the ashes removed and scattered.