"[5] She made her screen debut in 1921, and the following year was honored at the first WAMPAS Baby Stars awards, a promotional campaign sponsored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers in the United States.

In 1927, she appeared in Edward Sloman's Surrender with Ivan Mosjoukine,[7] though her most celebrated role was in the Universal horror film The Phantom of the Opera in 1925.

Pat O'Malley once said of her: 'If I were superstitious I would think that the spirit of some great tragedienne of a forgotten past slipped into Mary's soul when she heard the camera begin to click.

'"[9] Philbin played a few parts during the early talkie era and most notably dubbed her own voice when The Phantom of the Opera was given sound and re-released.

[10] Philbin spent the remainder of her life after leaving the film industry as a recluse, living in the same home in Huntington Beach, California.