According to film historian Scott MacQueen, Mary was engaged in the late 1920s to Paul Kohner, an associate of the Laemmle "crew" and later assistant producer of Philbin movies such as The Man Who Laughs (1928). Mary broke off the engagement at the request of her parents, as she was Irish Catholic and Paul was a Czech Jew. While Paul went on to enjoy a successful marriage and career as a Hollywood agent, Mary was out of pictures within a few years. Sadly, she never married and spent much of her life looking after her parents, living with them in a house on Fairfax Avenue in Hollywood that Mary had bought with her film earnings. However, they never forgot each other. Shortly after Paul's death in 1988, workers cleaning out his office at his agency found Mary's love letters close at hand in his desk, more than 60 years, later. Similarly, Philbin sobbed at the news of Kohner's death in a 1989 interview.
Although she couldn't sing - much to her chagrin - she could play the piano and pipe organ with expertise. In fact, her favorite hobbies were acting, dancing, and music (which was her personal favorite).
Although she never married, due to the fact she lost the love of her life, Paul Kohner; she did admit in her later years to having crushes on some of her colleagues - namely Norman Kerry and Rudolph Valentino. She also admitted that she adored Lon Chaney (her co-star in The Phantom of the Opera (1925)) and Erich von Stroheim.
Didn't make any appearances after her film career, except at Rudolph Valentino's memorial and at the Los Angeles premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" starring Michael Crawford.
Of Irish lineage from both her parents
Originally - she intended to become a stage actress.
She was a very religious person in real life, and after her career ended - she never stopped attending the church she was raised in.
Studied classical dancing as a young girl before she was discovered.
WAMPAS Baby Star of 1922.