Marguerite McNulty

Marguerite McNulty was an American stage actress born in 1897 in Coffeyville, Kansas, to Thomas Henry McNulty and Chloe Flora McNulty, née Sullivan. She built her career in musical and comedy productions during the early twentieth century, appearing on Broadway between 1919 and 1928.

McNulty's Broadway credits included the musical comedy Fifty-Fifty, Ltd. in 1919 and the farce The High Hatters in 1928. Beyond the stage, she appeared in one silent film, Ermine and Rhinestones, released in 1925. Press coverage of the period frequently described her in terms of her physical appearance, with publications regularly characterizing her as a beauty.

Her theatrical work extended beyond Broadway, and she spent much of her adult life based in San Francisco. During her career she performed in numerous stage productions alongside her older brother, Ancyn T. McNulty, who was born in 1892 and died in 1925 and was himself a recognized actor as well as a producer and director.

In late 1925, McNulty filed a lawsuit against William Andrews Clark III, the grandson of the recently deceased railroad and mining magnate, financier, and U.S. Senator William A. Clark of Montana. Her legal claim alleged that Clark III had breached a promise to marry her. The suit revealed that Clark had simultaneously promised marriage to another woman, an eighteen-year-old New York dancer named Katya Minassian. Following the filing of the lawsuit, Clark departed for South Africa, while Minassian maintained that her own betrothal to him remained valid. McNulty and Clark III had been involved in a romantic relationship for several years prior to the suit, one that his family had worked to discourage.