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