Gertrude Astor
Acting
Born November 9, 1887, Lakewood, Ohio, USA
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.
Filmography
- 1966Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter — Townswoman
- My Mother the Car
- 1965The Sound of Music — Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1964The Unsinkable Molly Brown — Denver Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1962The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance — Townswoman (uncredited)
- 1961All in a Night's Work — Customer (uncredited)
- 1961The Devil's Hand — The Elderly Cultist
- 1961Two Rode Together — Mrs. Wringle (uncredited)
- 1960Sergeant Rutledge — Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
- 1959The Best of Everything — Leading Woman in Play (uncredited)
- 1959The Horse Soldiers — Townswoman (uncredited)
- 1959The Tingler — Member of Silent Movie Audience (uncredited)
- 1958The Female Animal — Actress on Movie Set (uncredited)
- 1957My Man Godfrey — Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1956Around the World in 80 Days — Extra (uncredited)
- 1955Daddy Long Legs — Art Gallery Patron (uncredited)
- 1955The Virgin Queen — Lady-in-Waiting - 2nd Group
- 1955Wichita — Saloon Madam (uncredited)
- 1954A Star Is Born — Racetrack Spectator (uncredited)
- 1954Deep in My Heart — Dorothy's Nurse (uncredited)
- 1953Angel Face — Matron (uncredited)
- 1953Scared Stiff — Man with Spaghetti's Wife (uncredited)
- 1952Fort Osage — Townswoman (uncredited)
- 1952Paula — Mrs. Brown (uncredited)
- 1952Scandal Sheet — Neighbor (uncredited)
- 1952The Merry Widow — Reception Guest (uncredited)
- 1952The Old West — Townswoman (uncredited)
- 1951A Place in the Sun — Bit Part (uncredited)
- 1951Apache Drums — Townswoman (uncredited)
- I Love Lucy — Showgirl #4
- 1951Thunder on the Hill — Village Woman (uncredited)
- 1951When Worlds Collide — Traveler (uncredited)
- 1950Again Pioneers — Mrs. Jans
- 1950All About Eve — Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
- 1950Bunco Squad — Club Patron (uncredited)
- 1950Caged — Inmate (uncredited)
- 1950Montana — Townswoman (uncredited)
- 1950Sunset Boulevard — Courtier (uncredited)
- 1950Woman in Hiding — Woman in Drugstore (uncredited)
- 1949The Doolins of Oklahoma — Saloon Girl (uncredited)
- 1949The File on Thelma Jordon — Juror (uncredited)
- 19483 Godfathers — Saloon Girl (uncredited)
- 1948Here Comes Trouble — Woman with Dog (uncredited)
- 1948Joe Palooka in Winner Take All — Mrs. Howard
- 1948Music Man — Mrs. Larkin
- 1948My Dear Secretary — Miss Gee (uncredited)
- 1948Sitting Pretty — Townswoman (uncredited)
- 1947Fun on a Weekend — Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1947Monsieur Verdoux — Garden Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1946Calcutta — Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
- 1946Crack-Up — Nagging Wife on Train (Uncredited)
- 1946Dragonwyck — Nurse (uncredited)
- 1946Sister Kenny — Doctor (uncredited)
- 1946The Best Years of Our Lives — Wedding Guest (uncredited)
- 1945An Angel Comes To Brooklyn — Eva Tanguay (uncredited)
- 1945Dick Tracy — Woman (uncredited)
- 1945Girls of the Big House — Railroad Matron
- 1945Leave Her to Heaven — Prison Matron (uncredited)
- 1945Swingin' on a Rainbow — Bit Part (uncredited)
- 1944The Climax — Woman in Audience Behind Franz (Uncredited)
- 1944The Scarlet Claw
- 1944Weird Woman — Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1943Idaho — Party Guest
- 1943The Avenging Rider — Martha
- 1943The Kansan — Blonde Townswoman
- 1942Frisco Lil
- 1942Lost Canyon — Mrs. Anson
- 1942Moontide — Woman (uncredited)
- 1942Reap the Wild Wind — Ball Guest (uncredited)
- 1941Hold Back the Dawn — Young Woman in Bar (uncredited)
- 1941The Wolf Man — Townswoman (uncredited)
- 1940Misbehaving Husbands — Gossiping Friend
- 1940The Doctor Takes a Wife — Extra (uncredited)
- 1939$1,000 a Touchdown — McGlen Wife (uncredited)
- 1939Dust Be My Destiny — Dame (uncredited)
- 1939The Llano Kid — Saloon Hostess
- 1939The Women — Mud Bath Nurse (uncredited)
- 1938Tassels in the Air — Louella Pindell (uncredited)
- 1938The Big Broadcast of 1938 — Woman (uncredited)
- 1937All Over Town — Mamie
- 1937Easy Living — Saleswoman (uncredited)
- 1937Rich Relations
- 1937Wells Fargo — Pioneer Woman
- 1936Empty Saddles — Eloise Hayes
- 1936Great Guy — Party Guest (Uncredited)
- 1936Postal Inspector — Woman with Drumsticks (uncredited)
- 1936San Francisco — Drunk's Girl (uncredited)
- 1936Wives Never Know — Mrs. Merchant (uncredited)
- 1935Bad Boy
- 1935Border Brigands — Big Six -Saloon Girl
- 1935Cappy Ricks Returns — Speaker (uncredited)
- 1935Here Comes the Band — Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
- 1935Honeymoon Limited — Lady Devonshire
- 1935I Don't Remember — Sophie Glick
- 1935It's in the Air — (uncredited)
- 1935Manhattan Monkey Business — Gwendolyn
- 1935No More Ladies — Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
- 1935Northern Frontier — Mae
- 1935The Drunkard — Peggy
- 1934Guilty Parents — Marie
- 1934I'll Take Vanilla — Mom
- 1934The Chases of Pimple Street — Gertrude Astor - Lucas' Fiancee (uncredited)
- 1934Washee Ironee — Woman at Party
- 1934Wedding Belles
- 1933Carnival Lady — Zandra, Fortune Teller
- 1933Crook's Tour — Mrs Dorigan
- 1933I Have Lived — Harriet Naisson
- 1933Ship of Wanted Men — Vera
- 1933The Plumber and the Lady — Mrs. Otto Mauser
- 1933Wine, Women and Song — Jennie Tilson
- 1932Flaming Gold — Escort Service Madam
- 1932High Hats and Low Brows — Mrs. Billingsgate
- 1932In Walked Charley — Gertrude Henderson
- 1932Running Hollywood — Gertrude Astor
- 1932They Never Come Back — Kate
- 1932Western Limited — Mrs. Winters
- 1932While Paris Sleeps
- 1931Come Clean — Mrs. Hardy
- 1931Hell Bound — Rosie
- 1931Poker Widows — Mrs. Thomas Regan
- 1930Be Yourself! — Lillian
- 1930Dames Ahoy — The Blonde
- 1930Live and Learn — Mrs. Brown
- 1929Frozen Justice — Moosehide Kate
- 1929Synthetic Sin — Sheila Kelly
- 1929The Fall of Eve — Mrs. Ford
- 1929The Fatal Warning
- 1929Twin Beds — Mrs. Solari
- 1929Two Weeks Off — Agnes
- 1929Untamed — Mrs. Mason
- 1928A Woman of Affairs — Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1928Chasing Husbands
- 1928Five and Ten Cent Annie — Blonde
- 1928Hit of the Show — Trece
- 1928Rose-Marie — Wanda
- 1928Stocks and Blondes — Goldie
- 1928The Butter and Egg Man — Fanny Lehman
- 1928The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris — Paulette
- 1928The Family Group
- 1927Ginsberg the Great — Sappho
- 1927Lightning Lariats — Girl
- 1927Oh, What a Man! — The Bandit
- 1927The Cat and the Canary — Cecily
- 1927The Irresistible Lover — Dolly Carleton
- 1927The Small Bachelor — Fanny
- 1927The Taxi Dancer — Kitty Lane
- 1927Uncle Tom's Cabin — Mrs. St. Clare (uncredited)
- 1926Behind the Front — French barmaid
- 1926Dizzy Daddies — A Former Flame
- 1926Don Juan's 3 Nights — Baroness von Minden
- 1926Kiki — Paulette Mascar
- 1926Sin Cargo — Mary Wickham
- 1926Tell 'Em Nothing — Mrs. Gladstone
- 1926The Boy Friend — Mrs. White
- 1926The Cheerful Fraud — Rose
- 1926The Country Beyond — Mrs. Andrews
- 1926The Old Soak — Sylvia De Costa
- 1926The Strong Man — Lily de Broadway
- 1926Wife Tamers — Mrs. Barry
- 1925Borrowed Finery — Maisie
- 1925Folly of Youth — Evelyn Cartwright
- 1925Kentucky Pride — Mrs. Beaumont
- 1925Laughing Ladies — The Married Man's Wife
- 1925Pursued — Madame La Grande
- 1925Satan in Sables — Dolores Sierra
- 1925Ship of Souls — Doris Barnes
- 1925Stage Struck — Lillian Lyons
- 1925The Charmer — Bertha Sedgwick
- 1925The Reckless Sex — Lucile Dupré
- 1925The Verdict — Mrs. Ronsard
- 1925The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted — Greta
- 1924All's Swell on the Ocean
- 1924Broadway or Bust — Mrs. Dean Smythe
- 1924Fight and Win
- 1924Robes of Sin
- 1924Secrets — Mrs. Manwaring
- 1924The Ridin' Kid from Powder River — 'Kansas' Lou
- 1924The Silent Watcher — Mrs. Steele
- 1924The Torrent — The Cast-Off
- 1923Alice Adams — Mildred Palmer
- 1923Flaming Youth — Annie
- 1923Hollywood — Gertrude Astor
- 1923Rupert of Hentzau — Paula
- 1923The Ne'er-Do-Well — Edith Cortlandt
- 1923The Six-Fifty — Christine Palmer
- 1923The Wanters — Mrs. Van Pelt
- 1922Beyond the Rocks — Morella Winmarleigh
- 1922Hurricane's Gal — Phyllis Fairfield
- 1922Lorna Doone — Countess of Brandir (uncredited)
- 1922Seeing's Believing — Aunt Sue
- 1922Skin Deep — Mrs. Carlson
- 1922The Impossible Mrs. Bellew — Alice Granville
- 1922The Kentucky Derby — Helen Gordon
- 1922The Ninety and Nine — Kate Van Dyke
- 1922The Wall Flower — Pamela Shiel
- 1922You Never Know — Miriam Folansbee
- 1921Her Mad Bargain — Ruth Beresford
- 1921The Concert — Eva
- 1921Through the Back Door — Louise Reeves
- 1920Burning Daylight — Lucille
- 1920Occasionally Yours — Mona
- 1920The Branding Iron — Betty Morena
- 1919Loot — Lady Gwendolyn
- 1919Pretty Smooth — Mrs. Hanson
- 1919The Delicious Little Devil — Auditioning Dancer (uncredited)
- 1919The Lion Man — Celeste La Rue
- 1919The Wicked Darling — Adele Hoyt
- 1919What Am I Bid? — Diana Newlands
- 1918The Brazen Beauty — Mrs. Augusta Van Ruysdael
- 1918The Girl Who Wouldn't Quit — Stella Carter
- 1918Vamping the Vamp — Thedeska - The Vamp
- 1917Bombs and Banknotes — His Daughter
- 1917Bondage — Eugenia Darth
- 1917Bucking Broadway — Gladys (uncredited)
- 1917Cheyenne's Pal — Dancehall girl
- 1917Polly Redhead — Lady Caroline
- 1917The Devil's Pay Day — Hazel Davidson
- 1917The Girl Who Won Out — Mrs. Walsh
- 1917The Gray Ghost — Lady Gwendolyn
- 1917The Lash of Power — Phyllis Ward
- 1917The Little Orphan — Emmeline Warren
- 1917The Price of a Good Time — Mis Schyler
- 1917The Rescue — Mrs. Hendricks
- 1917The Scarlet Crystal — Helen Forbes
- 1915Under Two Flags — Venetia