[3] Mercer returned to the United States in the early 1970s to begin a career as an actress in films and television.
Films in which she appeared included Dirty Harry (1971), The Beguiled (1971), Frogs (1972), Cindy (1978), and Pretty Baby (1978).
[citation needed] She was co-producer of the documentary film Angela Davis: Portrait of a Revolutionary (1972).
[4] In 1996, the Mayor of Rocky Mount, NC, Fred Turnage, declared June 12 Mae Mercer Day.
Filming was slated to take place in Edgecombe County and other parts of North Carolina, New York, Paris and Southern California.