Mann was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, one of 10 children in her family.[2] The family moved to South Africa when she was 12 years old. She worked at a variety of jobs, including being a dressmaker.[3] Her first involvement with acting came when she was 50 years old, portraying Martha Washington in a pageant.[2]
Career
Mann in an ad for Once to Every Woman (1920)
Mann worked as an extra in films for 10 years, primarily at Universal and Triangle studios.[2]
Mann's husband was an invalid, and her earnings from working in films helped to cover the family's expenses.[2] He was an accountant, and they met and married in South Africa.[3] Mann died of cancer in 1941, aged 72. Not much about her private life is known, although a press release of 1928 said that Mann lived through many tragedies and hardships in her life. Her spouse was James F. Smythe.[4][5]
^Evans, Delight (May 1928). "Success at 60". Screenland. p. 24. Retrieved July 29, 2023. "She would rather not talk about the two babies she had, who died. She loved them, and if they had lived she would probably not be playing mothers on the screen. As it is, she lavishes all her mother-love on her picture sons and daughters. Like Mary Pickford, she loves all children, having none of her own to love. [...] If anyone had told Margaret Mann forty years ago that she would be an actress some day, all her Scotch ancestors would have risen up in wrath. She was never even inside a theatre until she was a woman. Her family, strict Scots, frowned on play-acting. Margaret, one of ten sisters and brothers, had to leave school when she was ten years old, and go to work. She was one of the props of the family; she mothered the younger ones and helped to feed them all.[...] In Johannesburg she met James F. Smythe, an Englishman, and they were married. Seven years in South Africa—and the pioneer urge exerted itself again. Margaret Mann Smythe suggested that they pull up stakes—and seek their fortune in a new land—America!"
