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.
Showgirl #4
Party Guest (uncredited)
Townswoman (uncredited)
Gertrude Astor
Courtier (uncredited)
Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
Mud Bath Nurse (uncredited)
Extra (uncredited)
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Racetrack Spectator (uncredited)
Townswoman (uncredited)
Mrs. St. Clare (uncredited)
Bit Part (uncredited)
Townswoman (uncredited)
Cecily
Miss Gee (uncredited)
Juror (Uncredited)
Pioneer Woman
Traveler (uncredited)
Garden Party Guest (uncredited)
Lily de Broadway
Prison Matron (uncredited)
Inmate (uncredited)
Mrs. Wringle (uncredited)
Saloon Girl (uncredited)
Art Gallery Patron (uncredited)
Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Matron (uncredited)
Saleswoman (uncredited)
Townswoman
Party Guest (Uncredited)
Member of Silent Movie Audience (uncredited)
Ball Guest (uncredited)
Saloon Madam (uncredited)
Drunk's Girl (uncredited)
Denver Party Guest (uncredited)
Nurse (uncredited)
Party Guest (uncredited)
Reception Guest (uncredited)
Mrs. Mason
Leading Woman in Play (uncredited)
Customer (uncredited)
Lady-in-Waiting - 2nd Group
Man with Spaghetti's Wife (uncredited)
Neighbor (uncredited)
Woman (uncredited)
Townswoman (uncredited)
Saloon Girl (uncredited)
Dame (uncredited)
Dorothy's Nurse (uncredited)
Young Woman in Bar (uncredited)
Nagging Wife on Train (Uncredited)
Club Patron (uncredited)
Woman (uncredited)
Townswoman (uncredited)
Townswoman (uncredited)
Woman in Audience Behind Franz (Uncredited)
The Elderly Cultist
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Village Woman (uncredited)
Blonde Townswoman
Mrs. Brown (uncredited)
Party Guest (uncredited)
Gladys (uncredited)
Actress on Movie Set (uncredited)
Party Guest (uncredited)
Betty Morena
(uncredited)
Party Guest (Uncredited)
Doctor (uncredited)
Mrs. Hardy
Mrs. Barry
Party Guest
Marie
Lillian
French barmaid
Mrs. Carlson
Lillian Lyons
Mrs. Anson
Mrs. Merchant (uncredited)
Mrs. Manwaring
Woman with Drumsticks (uncredited)
Woman with Dog (uncredited)
Kate
Mamie
Kitty Lane
Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
Woman in Drugstore (uncredited)
Auditioning Dancer (uncredited)
Louella Pindell (uncredited)
Mrs Dorigan
Mrs. Beaumont
Mrs. Billingsgate
Gertrude Astor
Mae
Morella Winmarleigh
Fanny
Bertha Sedgwick
Venetia
Railroad Matron
Adele Hoyt
Extra (uncredited)
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Blonde
Eva Tanguay (uncredited)
Emmeline Warren
Eugenia Darth
Kate Van Dyke
Peggy
Maisie
Mrs. Howard
Escort Service Madam
Moosehide Kate
McGlen Wife (uncredited)
Speaker (uncredited)
Harriet Naisson
A Former Flame
Mrs. Gladstone
Townswoman (uncredited)
Lady Gwendolyn
Martha
Rose
Mrs. White
Doris Barnes
Helen Gordon
Paulette
Aunt Sue
Countess of Brandir (uncredited)
Dolores Sierra
Rosie
Diana Newlands
Wanda
Dancehall girl
Bit Part (uncredited)
Big Six -Saloon Girl
Mrs. Brown
Mildred Palmer
Paulette Mascar
Sylvia De Costa
The Blonde
Woman (uncredited)
Lady Devonshire
Sheila Kelly
Fanny Lehman
Gossiping Friend
Miriam Folansbee
Zandra, Fortune Teller
Lady Caroline
Mrs. Ford
Mrs. Van Pelt
Mrs. Solari
Agnes
Pamela Shiel
'Kansas' Lou
Mrs. Steele
Mrs. Andrews
Lucile Dupré
Saloon Hostess
Alice Granville
Gertrude Astor - Lucas' Fiancee (uncredited)
Mrs. Thomas Regan
Sappho
The Married Man's Wife
Louise Reeves
Mrs. Jans
The Bandit
Mrs. Dean Smythe
The Cast-Off
Mrs. Hendricks
Mis Schyler
Mona
Mrs. Augusta Van Ruysdael
Sophie Glick
Jennie Tilson
Woman at Party
Gertrude Henderson
Phyllis Ward
Baroness von Minden
Girl
Mom
Eloise Hayes
Phyllis Fairfield
Vera
Mrs. Otto Mauser
Ruth Beresford
Helen Forbes
Edith Cortlandt
Stella Carter
Mrs. Winters
Paula
Mrs. Walsh
Hazel Davidson
Eva
His Daughter
Gwendolyn