Cast

Gertrude Astor

Acting

Cast

Gertrude Astor

Known for

Acting

Born

1887-11-09

From

Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Died

1977-11-09

Also known as Gertrude Aster, Gertrude Irene Eyster

Biography

Gertrude Astor (Born Gertrude Eyster November 9, 1887 – November 9, 1977) was an American motion picture character actress, who began her career playing trombone on a riverboat. Born in Lakewood, Ohio, Astor at the age of 12 ran off and joined a woman's band as a trombone player and toured the states. In New York she left the band to obtain film work and got a job as an extra before her career took off. Astor was a prolific performer, between 1915 and 1962 she appeared in over 250 movies. Her first known credit is in a Biograph short in 1915. She then became a contract player at Universal. A tall, angular and beautiful woman, Astor frequently towered over the leading men of the era; thus, she was most frequently utilized in comedy roles as aristocrats, golddiggers and "heroine's best pal". Her best-known silent appearances were as the visiting stage star in Stage Struck (1925) with Gloria Swanson, as the vamp who plants stolen money on Harry Langdon in The Strong Man (1926), and as Laura LaPlante's wisecracking travelling companion in The Cat and the Canary (1927). Astor worked prolifically at Hal Roach studios with such headliners as Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang, and especially Charley Chase. She was also kept busy at Columbia Pictures' short subjects unit. She continued to play bits in feature films throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. She was briefly glimpsed as the first murder victim in the Sherlock Holmes adventure The Scarlet Claw and was among the ranks of dress extras in 1956's Around the World in Eighty Days. Her last appearance was in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. In her later years, Astor was a welcome guest at several Sons of the Desert gatherings, and became an honorary member of the Way Out West tent. She died in Woodland Hills, California from a stroke. She is interred in the Abbey of Psalms in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, CA.

Gertrude Astor

Gertrude Astor

Biography

The Sound of Music

Sunset Boulevard

Around the World in 80 Days

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

3 Godfathers

Daddy Long Legs

All About Eve

Dragonwyck

The Best Years of Our Lives

Two Rode Together

Easy Living

Paula

The Women

A Star Is Born

The Horse Soldiers

The Wolf Man

Here Comes Trouble

Polly Redhead

Chasing Husbands

Reap the Wild Wind

Monsieur Verdoux

When Worlds Collide

Leave Her to Heaven

Empty Saddles

Dick Tracy

Sister Kenny

Angel Face

Tassels in the Air

Wife Tamers

Twin Beds

The Female Animal

Kiki

Through the Back Door

Loot

A Place in the Sun

The Merry Widow

Sergeant Rutledge

The Devil's Pay Day

My Man Godfrey

Sin Cargo

Caged

The Verdict

The Cat and the Canary

Pretty Smooth

The Tingler

All in a Night's Work

Burning Daylight

The Reckless Sex

The Best of Everything

Wichita

Scared Stiff

San Francisco

Satan in Sables

Sitting Pretty

The Unsinkable Molly Brown

The Doolins of Oklahoma

Poker Widows

Western Limited

Bondage

The Brazen Beauty

Pursued

I'll Take Vanilla

Cheyenne's Pal

Wells Fargo

Deep in My Heart

In Walked Charley

Thunder on the Hill

Moontide

The Delicious Little Devil

Scandal Sheet

Hit of the Show

The Family Group

Folly of Youth

Hold Back the Dawn

Great Guy

Manhattan Monkey Business

The Big Broadcast of 1938