Shortly after her birth, her parents moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where her father enlisted in the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War.

Encouraged by her stepfather, Dr Hamilton Griffin, at 14 she was sent to New York for ten lessons with the actor George Vandenhoff, her only professional training.

[2] In 1875, she made her first stage appearance at a benefit performance at Macauley's Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky, in the role of Shakespeare's Juliet[3] The manager, Barney Macauley, was sufficiently impressed to extend the booking to a week as Juliet and further roles including Julia in Sheridan Knowles's The Hunchback, Bianca in Henry Hart Milman's Fazio, and R. L. Sheil's Evadne.

[4] In 1887 in London she appeared in The Winter's Tale in the double role of Perdita and Hermione (the first actress to include this innovation).

She invited writer William Black to appear in the production, but, even in a non-speaking role, he froze up and interrupted the performance.

[13][14][15][16] A devout Roman Catholic, she had a chapel built in her attic, with stained-glass windows designed by Paul Woodroffe.

[20] She resisted encouragements to return to the theatre, but did a number of fund-raising performances during World War I in Worcester, Stratford and London.

As in the years when Mary lived there, it was often filled with visiting artists and musicians, including Myra Hess and a young Jacqueline du Pré.