in the ring. She performed with the Sells-Floto Circus in 1929 and then rejoined Barnes after it had been sold to Ringling in 1930. She stayed there until it was absorbed into Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey during the season of 1938. In 1932, she and her tiger act was filmed for the Paramount Pictures motion picture King of the Jungle. In the film, Stark is seen putting her tigers through their paces when fire erupts in the big top. She toured with small circuses and lived in Japan where she performed her circus act in the '50s. She returned to California and finished her career at the Jungle Compound (later called Jungleland) in Thousand Oaks. Stark appeared occasionally on television in the 1960s. For example, she did a stint as one of the guests with an unusual occupation on What's My Line?, the popular Sunday night CBS-TV program. In 1968, Jungleland was sold to a new owner who disliked Stark and fired her. Soon after she left, one of her tigers escaped and was shot. Stark was angry and hurt about the animal's destruction, and felt that she could have safely secured the tiger if the owners had asked for her assistance. Three months later, she committed suicide by taking an overdose of barbiturates. In the last pages of her autobiography, Hold That Tiger, Stark writes: "The chute door opens as I crack my whip and shout, 'Let them come,' Out slink the striped cats, snarling and roaring, leaping at each other or at me. It's a matchless thrill, and life without it is not worth while to me." She died on April 20, 1968. Legacy In 2001, a fictionalized biography of Stark's life by author Robert Hough titled The Final Confession of Mabel Stark was published. The story is based in 1968, the same year that Stark committed suicide. It is a fictionalized account of the events of her life. The screenplay was optioned by director Sam Mendes with the hopes of making a film starring his wife Kate Winslet; however, no production schedule has been announced. A documentary titled Mabel, Mabel, Tiger Trainer directed by Leslie Zemeckis premiered in 2017. See also Irina Bugrimova References External links Note: IMDB uses the incorrect date of death. Mabel Stark: The Lady with the Tigers from Mental Floss History of Jungleland mentioning Mabel Stark, sponsored by Jungleland skates Winslet