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Early silent screen comedienne Araminta Durfee started out as a chorus girl and began her career on stage in 1908 in musical revues. In August of that year she married comedian Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle. In 1914, both players entered the fledgling film industry with Mack Sennett and were soon paired as a comedy double. By that time, Charles Chaplin had arrived from England to join the troupe and Minta became his leading lady in the two-reeler Making a Living (1914). The pairing was prompted by Mack Sennett who found the new arrival 'very peculiar' and felt it necessary to counterbalance his eccentricities with an actress who had a reputation for being able to 'get along with everybody'.

In addition to the series of 'Fatty' featurettes, Minta also worked at Keystone in the classic madcap farce Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914). She co-starred opposite the likes of Chester Conklin, Mack Swain and Ford Sterling in a series of outrageous daredevil comedies until 1916. A popular story goes that on one occasion director Wilfred Lucas bribed her with the bonus of a pet dog to hang suspended from a bridge, held only by a piano wire (Love, Speed and Thrills (1915)).

Minta and 'Fatty' Arbuckle separated in 1921, just prior to the scandal over the death of Virginia Rappe which destroyed her husband's career. In spite of divorcing him in 1925, Minta nonetheless remained Arbuckle's staunchest defender during three well-publicized trials and throughout her remaining life. In later years, Minta reminisced about the heyday of silent comedy in a series of interviews. She described most of her fellow players at Sennett -- including her husband and comedienne Mabel Normand -- as being extremely 'shy' when not on the job. She also made several candid (and not always complimentary) revelations about Chaplin's personal hygiene and idiosyncrasies.

Minta continued to make sporadic screen appearances in cameos and walk-ons until the early 70s. She died at the Motion Picture Country Home in September 1975 of a heart ailment.

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Minta Durfee

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