Acting
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.
Filmography
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Film · 1966
The Sound of Music
Film · 1965
My Mother the Car
Series · 1965
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Film · 1964
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Film · 1962
The Devil's Hand
Film · 1961
All in a Night's Work
Film · 1961
Two Rode Together
Film · 1961
Sergeant Rutledge
Film · 1960
The Best of Everything
Film · 1959
The Tingler
Film · 1959
The Horse Soldiers
Film · 1959
The Female Animal
Film · 1958
My Man Godfrey
Film · 1957
Around the World in 80 Days
Film · 1956
The Virgin Queen
Film · 1955
Daddy Long Legs
Film · 1955
Wichita
Film · 1955
Deep in My Heart
Film · 1954
A Star Is Born
Film · 1954
Angel Face
Film · 1953
Scared Stiff
Film · 1953
Fort Osage
Film · 1952
The Old West
Film · 1952
Scandal Sheet
Film · 1952
Paula
Film · 1952
The Merry Widow
Film · 1952
When Worlds Collide
Film · 1951
A Place in the Sun
Film · 1951
Thunder on the Hill
Film · 1951
Apache Drums
Film · 1951
I Love Lucy
Series · 1951
All About Eve
Film · 1950
Again Pioneers
Film · 1950
Woman in Hiding
Film · 1950
Sunset Boulevard
Film · 1950
Bunco Squad
Film · 1950
Caged
Film · 1950
Montana
Film · 1950
The File on Thelma Jordon
Film · 1949
The Doolins of Oklahoma
Film · 1949
Here Comes Trouble
Film · 1948
Sitting Pretty
Film · 1948
My Dear Secretary
Film · 1948
3 Godfathers
Film · 1948
Music Man
Film · 1948
Joe Palooka in Winner Take All
Film · 1948
Monsieur Verdoux
Film · 1947
Fun on a Weekend
Film · 1947
The Best Years of Our Lives
Film · 1946
Dragonwyck
Film · 1946
Calcutta
Film · 1946
Sister Kenny
Film · 1946
Crack-Up
Film · 1946
An Angel Comes To Brooklyn
Film · 1945
Girls of the Big House
Film · 1945
Leave Her to Heaven
Film · 1945
Swingin' on a Rainbow
Film · 1945
Dick Tracy
Film · 1945
The Scarlet Claw
Film · 1944
The Climax
Film · 1944
Weird Woman
Film · 1944
Idaho
Film · 1943
The Kansan
Film · 1943
The Avenging Rider
Film · 1943
Reap the Wild Wind
Film · 1942
Frisco Lil
Film · 1942
Lost Canyon
Film · 1942
Moontide
Film · 1942
The Wolf Man
Film · 1941
Hold Back the Dawn
Film · 1941
Misbehaving Husbands
Film · 1940
The Doctor Takes a Wife
Film · 1940
The Llano Kid
Film · 1939
The Women
Film · 1939
Dust Be My Destiny
Film · 1939
$1,000 a Touchdown
Film · 1939
The Big Broadcast of 1938
Film · 1938
Tassels in the Air
Film · 1938
Easy Living
Film · 1937
All Over Town
Film · 1937
Rich Relations
Film · 1937
Wells Fargo
Film · 1937
Empty Saddles
Film · 1936
Postal Inspector
Film · 1936
San Francisco
Film · 1936
Great Guy
Film · 1936
Wives Never Know
Film · 1936
The Drunkard
Film · 1935
I Don't Remember
Film · 1935
Here Comes the Band
Film · 1935
Northern Frontier
Film · 1935
Cappy Ricks Returns
Film · 1935
It's in the Air
Film · 1935
Border Brigands
Film · 1935
Honeymoon Limited
Film · 1935
No More Ladies
Film · 1935
Manhattan Monkey Business
Film · 1935
Bad Boy
Film · 1935
The Chases of Pimple Street
Film · 1934
Wedding Belles
Film · 1934
Guilty Parents
Film · 1934
I'll Take Vanilla
Film · 1934
Washee Ironee
Film · 1934
Wine, Women and Song
Film · 1933
The Plumber and the Lady
Film · 1933
Carnival Lady
Film · 1933
I Have Lived
Film · 1933
Ship of Wanted Men
Film · 1933
Crook's Tour
Film · 1933
High Hats and Low Brows
Film · 1932
Running Hollywood
Film · 1932
They Never Come Back
Film · 1932
In Walked Charley
Film · 1932
While Paris Sleeps
Film · 1932
Western Limited
Film · 1932
Flaming Gold
Film · 1932
Come Clean
Film · 1931
Poker Widows
Film · 1931
Hell Bound
Film · 1931
Be Yourself!
Film · 1930
Live and Learn
Film · 1930
Dames Ahoy
Film · 1930
Frozen Justice
Film · 1929
The Fatal Warning
Film · 1929
Untamed
Film · 1929
Synthetic Sin
Film · 1929
Twin Beds
Film · 1929
Two Weeks Off
Film · 1929
The Fall of Eve
Film · 1929
The Butter and Egg Man
Film · 1928
The Family Group
Film · 1928
Chasing Husbands
Film · 1928
Five and Ten Cent Annie
Film · 1928
A Woman of Affairs
Film · 1928
Rose-Marie
Film · 1928
The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris
Film · 1928
Stocks and Blondes
Film · 1928
Hit of the Show
Film · 1928
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Film · 1927
The Small Bachelor
Film · 1927
The Cat and the Canary
Film · 1927
Oh, What a Man!
Film · 1927
Ginsberg the Great
Film · 1927
The Taxi Dancer
Film · 1927
Lightning Lariats
Film · 1927
The Irresistible Lover
Film · 1927
The Old Soak
Film · 1926
The Strong Man
Film · 1926
Don Juan's 3 Nights
Film · 1926
Wife Tamers
Film · 1926
Kiki
Film · 1926
Dizzy Daddies
Film · 1926
The Boy Friend
Film · 1926
Behind the Front
Film · 1926
Tell 'Em Nothing
Film · 1926
The Cheerful Fraud
Film · 1926
The Country Beyond
Film · 1926
Sin Cargo
Film · 1926
Stage Struck
Film · 1925
Kentucky Pride
Film · 1925
The Charmer
Film · 1925
The Reckless Sex
Film · 1925
Satan in Sables
Film · 1925
Laughing Ladies
Film · 1925
Borrowed Finery
Film · 1925
Ship of Souls
Film · 1925
Pursued
Film · 1925
The Verdict
Film · 1925
The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted
Film · 1925
Folly of Youth
Film · 1925
Broadway or Bust
Film · 1924
The Ridin' Kid from Powder River
Film · 1924
Secrets
Film · 1924
The Torrent
Film · 1924
Robes of Sin
Film · 1924
The Silent Watcher
Film · 1924
All's Swell on the Ocean
Film · 1924
Fight and Win
Film · 1924
Hollywood
Film · 1923
The Wanters
Film · 1923
Rupert of Hentzau
Film · 1923
The Ne'er-Do-Well
Film · 1923
Alice Adams
Film · 1923
The Six-Fifty
Film · 1923
Flaming Youth
Film · 1923
The Ninety and Nine
Film · 1922
Skin Deep
Film · 1922
You Never Know
Film · 1922
Lorna Doone
Film · 1922
The Kentucky Derby
Film · 1922
Beyond the Rocks
Film · 1922
Hurricane's Gal
Film · 1922
Seeing's Believing
Film · 1922
The Wall Flower
Film · 1922
The Impossible Mrs. Bellew
Film · 1922
Her Mad Bargain
Film · 1921
Through the Back Door
Film · 1921
The Concert
Film · 1921
The Branding Iron
Film · 1920
Occasionally Yours
Film · 1920
Burning Daylight
Film · 1920
What Am I Bid?
Film · 1919
Loot
Film · 1919
The Wicked Darling
Film · 1919
The Delicious Little Devil
Film · 1919
Pretty Smooth
Film · 1919
The Lion Man
Film · 1919
The Brazen Beauty
Film · 1918
The Girl Who Wouldn't Quit
Film · 1918
Vamping the Vamp
Film · 1918
The Scarlet Crystal
Film · 1917
The Price of a Good Time
Film · 1917
The Lash of Power
Film · 1917
The Girl Who Won Out
Film · 1917
Bombs and Banknotes
Film · 1917
Bucking Broadway
Film · 1917
Cheyenne's Pal
Film · 1917
Polly Redhead
Film · 1917
Bondage
Film · 1917
The Devil's Pay Day
Film · 1917
The Rescue
Film · 1917
The Little Orphan
Film · 1917
The Gray Ghost
Film · 1917
Under Two Flags
Film · 1915