Mary Claire Fuller was an American actress active in both stage and silent films. She also was a screenwriter and had several films produced. An early major star, by 1917 she could no longer obtain roles in film or on stage. A later effort to revive her career in Hollywood failed in the 1920s after talkies began to dominate film. After suffering a nervous breakdown, she was admitted to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC in 1947 and lived there until her death.
Fuller c. 1914
Cover of 1916 news magazine The Masses, featuring profile of Fuller's character in the film The Heart of a Mermaid (1916); graphic by Frank Walts
St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. The hospital opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in the United States.
An early 20th century photo of the Center Building at St. Elizabeths, one of the oldest structures on the hospital campus
Aerial view of the West Campus in 2015h
St. Elizabeths Hospital
The Center Building at St. Elizabeths in 2006