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