Although having no previous family acting background, Minnie's own two sisters Esther and Charlotte also pursued careers on the stage.

Married by 1899 to Clarence Marion Brune (née Browne) (1867–1935), an adventurous attorney from whom she took her stage name, the couple were immediately sued repeatedly in the state of Washington for land speculation fraud[2] and legal scandals continued to dog her husband in Australia.

Upon retirement or widowhood, the "nun" half came to the fore, and she was living in relative obscurity as a member of the Order of St Francis[1] in Los Angeles, California when she died in September 1974 at the age of 99.

She had two elder sisters:[1] Esther, also an actress who became a "crack shot and expert stage swordswoman" and performed in at least one silent film before her death in 1934; and Charlotte, who married a theatrical manager.

Minnie made her first stage appearance as a child of four and a half when she played Little Jim in Lights of London at the California Theatre of her home town.

Clarence was also the author of works on topics such as Modern Theatre, Greek Tragedy, Shakespearean Legal Terminology, the Romantic Movement, and English Poetry.

[2] It is recorded that she appeared with her husband Clarence (whose name she took) in a revival of Sardou's Theodora at the Grand Opera House, New York in 1901 and they toured together continuously in the United States for nearly a decade before leaving for Australia in 1904.

She made her first appearance in Sydney on Saturday, September 21, 1904, in the play Sunday, a Story of Western Life at Her Majesty's Theatre.

She received lyrical reviews for her performance as "Peter Pan" in the play's first season in Australia in 1908, produced by J. C. Williamson.

By 1913 she was back in London where, during her stay, she made three movies under the name Fanny Tittell-Brune: Esther Redeemed (1915), Iron Justice (1916), and Temptation's Hour (1916).

Little noticed in her own country, and lacking even a press obituary, she was nevertheless a major figure in the history of the Australian stage where, for a period, she had been a household name in both Australia and in New Zealand.