Gertrude Astor
Acting • Born 1887-11-09 – Died 1977-11-09
Biography
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
223 credits
Deep in My Heart
Movie • 1954
Dorothy's Nurse (uncredited)
Easy Living
Movie • 1937
Saleswoman (uncredited)
The Virgin Queen
Movie • 1955
Lady-in-Waiting - 2nd Group
Frozen Justice
Movie • 1929
Moosehide Kate
Her Mad Bargain
Movie • 1921
Ruth Beresford
The Fatal Warning
Movie • 1929
The Scarlet Crystal
Movie • 1917
Helen Forbes
Hollywood
Movie • 1923
Gertrude Astor
The Price of a Good Time
Movie • 1917
Mis Schyler
Under Two Flags
Movie • 1915
Venetia
The Lash of Power
Movie • 1917
Phyllis Ward
What Am I Bid?
Movie • 1919
Diana Newlands
The Wolf Man
Movie • 1941
Townswoman (uncredited)
The Girl Who Won Out
Movie • 1917
Mrs. Walsh
The Old Soak
Movie • 1926
Sylvia De Costa
The Ninety and Nine
Movie • 1922
Kate Van Dyke
Bombs and Banknotes
Movie • 1917
His Daughter
The Butter and Egg Man
Movie • 1928
Fanny Lehman
The Family Group
Movie • 1928
Chasing Husbands
Movie • 1928
Skin Deep
Movie • 1922
Mrs. Carlson
The Wanters
Movie • 1923
Mrs. Van Pelt
The Chases of Pimple Street
Movie • 1934
Gertrude Astor - Lucas' Fiancee (uncredited)
The Devil's Hand
Movie • 1961
The Elderly Cultist
Come Clean
Movie • 1931
Mrs. Hardy
The Strong Man
Movie • 1926
Lily de Broadway
My Man Godfrey
Movie • 1957
Party Guest (uncredited)
Wine, Women and Song
Movie • 1933
Jennie Tilson
The Plumber and the Lady
Movie • 1933
Mrs. Otto Mauser
Loot
Movie • 1919
Lady Gwendolyn
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Movie • 1927
Mrs. St. Clare (uncredited)
Rupert of Hentzau
Movie • 1923
Paula
Fort Osage
Movie • 1952
Townswoman (uncredited)
The Old West
Movie • 1952
Townswoman (uncredited)
Through the Back Door
Movie • 1921
Louise Reeves
Don Juan's 3 Nights
Movie • 1926
Baroness von Minden
Here Comes Trouble
Movie • 1948
Woman with Dog (uncredited)
You Never Know
Movie • 1922
Miriam Folansbee
The Wicked Darling
Movie • 1919
Adele Hoyt
Reap the Wild Wind
Movie • 1942
Ball Guest (uncredited)
The Drunkard
Movie • 1935
Peggy
Bucking Broadway
Movie • 1917
Gladys (uncredited)
Stage Struck
Movie • 1925
Lillian Lyons
Broadway or Bust
Movie • 1924
Mrs. Dean Smythe
The Ridin' Kid from Powder River
Movie • 1924
'Kansas' Lou
Wife Tamers
Movie • 1926
Mrs. Barry
Be Yourself!
Movie • 1930
Lillian
All Over Town
Movie • 1937
Mamie
Lorna Doone
Movie • 1922
Countess of Brandir (uncredited)
The Best Years of Our Lives
Movie • 1946
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
The Kentucky Derby
Movie • 1922
Helen Gordon
High Hats and Low Brows
Movie • 1932
Mrs. Billingsgate
Live and Learn
Movie • 1930
Mrs. Brown
Carnival Lady
Movie • 1933
Zandra, Fortune Teller
Rich Relations
Movie • 1937
Running Hollywood
Movie • 1932
Gertrude Astor
Wedding Belles
Movie • 1934
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Movie • 1966
Townswoman
Kiki
Movie • 1926
Paulette Mascar
Dizzy Daddies
Movie • 1926
A Former Flame
All in a Night's Work
Movie • 1961
Customer (uncredited)
They Never Come Back
Movie • 1932
Kate
Dames Ahoy
Movie • 1930
The Blonde
Untamed
Movie • 1929
Mrs. Mason
The Best of Everything
Movie • 1959
Leading Woman in Play (uncredited)
I Have Lived
Movie • 1933
Harriet Naisson
I Don't Remember
Movie • 1935
Sophie Glick
The Small Bachelor
Movie • 1927
Fanny
Frisco Lil
Movie • 1942
Kentucky Pride
Movie • 1925
Mrs. Beaumont
Secrets
Movie • 1924
Mrs. Manwaring
Synthetic Sin
Movie • 1929
Sheila Kelly
The Boy Friend
Movie • 1926
Mrs. White
Dragonwyck
Movie • 1946
Nurse (uncredited)
In Walked Charley
Movie • 1932
Gertrude Henderson
The Cat and the Canary
Movie • 1927
Cecily
While Paris Sleeps
Movie • 1932
Calcutta
Movie • 1946
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
The Branding Iron
Movie • 1920
Betty Morena
Beyond the Rocks
Movie • 1922
Morella Winmarleigh
Behind the Front
Movie • 1926
French barmaid
Wells Fargo
Movie • 1937
Pioneer Woman
The Llano Kid
Movie • 1939
Saloon Hostess
Sergeant Rutledge
Movie • 1960
Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
A Star Is Born
Movie • 1954
Racetrack Spectator (uncredited)
Poker Widows
Movie • 1931
Mrs. Thomas Regan
Here Comes the Band
Movie • 1935
Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
All About Eve
Movie • 1950
Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
Northern Frontier
Movie • 1935
Mae
The Women
Movie • 1939
Mud Bath Nurse (uncredited)
Sitting Pretty
Movie • 1948
Townswoman (uncredited)
Empty Saddles
Movie • 1936
Eloise Hayes
Dust Be My Destiny
Movie • 1939
Dame (uncredited)
Oh, What a Man!
Movie • 1927
The Bandit
Ship of Wanted Men
Movie • 1933
Vera
Sister Kenny
Movie • 1946
Doctor (uncredited)
My Dear Secretary
Movie • 1948
Miss Gee (uncredited)
Again Pioneers
Movie • 1950
Mrs. Jans
An Angel Comes To Brooklyn
Movie • 1945
Eva Tanguay (uncredited)
Postal Inspector
Movie • 1936
Woman with Drumsticks (uncredited)
Woman in Hiding
Movie • 1950
Woman in Drugstore (uncredited)
Monsieur Verdoux
Movie • 1947
Garden Party Guest (uncredited)
The Torrent
Movie • 1924
The Cast-Off
Hold Back the Dawn
Movie • 1941
Young Woman in Bar (uncredited)
Guilty Parents
Movie • 1934
Marie
Cappy Ricks Returns
Movie • 1935
Speaker (uncredited)
Western Limited
Movie • 1932
Mrs. Winters
Tell 'Em Nothing
Movie • 1926
Mrs. Gladstone
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Movie • 1962
Townswoman (uncredited)
Ginsberg the Great
Movie • 1927
Sappho
Five and Ten Cent Annie
Movie • 1928
Blonde
Twin Beds
Movie • 1929
Mrs. Solari
The Scarlet Claw
Movie • 1944
The Charmer
Movie • 1925
Bertha Sedgwick
Angel Face
Movie • 1953
Matron (uncredited)
Misbehaving Husbands
Movie • 1940
Gossiping Friend
Sunset Boulevard
Movie • 1950
Courtier (uncredited)
The Doctor Takes a Wife
Movie • 1940
Extra (uncredited)
Scared Stiff
Movie • 1953
Man with Spaghetti's Wife (uncredited)
It's in the Air
Movie • 1935
(uncredited)
The Big Broadcast of 1938
Movie • 1938
Woman (uncredited)
The Tingler
Movie • 1959
Member of Silent Movie Audience (uncredited)
Cheyenne's Pal
Movie • 1917
Dancehall girl
Two Rode Together
Movie • 1961
Mrs. Wringle (uncredited)
Scandal Sheet
Movie • 1952
Neighbor (uncredited)
Around the World in 80 Days
Movie • 1956
Extra (uncredited)
The Reckless Sex
Movie • 1925
Lucile Dupré
Daddy Long Legs
Movie • 1955
Art Gallery Patron (uncredited)
Girls of the Big House
Movie • 1945
Railroad Matron
Border Brigands
Movie • 1935
Big Six -Saloon Girl
3 Godfathers
Movie • 1948
Saloon Girl (uncredited)
Lost Canyon
Movie • 1942
Mrs. Anson
Tassels in the Air
Movie • 1938
Louella Pindell (uncredited)
Idaho
Movie • 1943
Party Guest
Honeymoon Limited
Movie • 1935
Lady Devonshire
The Kansan
Movie • 1943
Blonde Townswoman
The Avenging Rider
Movie • 1943
Martha
Paula
Movie • 1952
Mrs. Brown (uncredited)
San Francisco
Movie • 1936
Drunk's Girl (uncredited)
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Movie • 1964
Denver Party Guest (uncredited)
Two Weeks Off
Movie • 1929
Agnes
The Taxi Dancer
Movie • 1927
Kitty Lane
Polly Redhead
Movie • 1917
Lady Caroline
When Worlds Collide
Movie • 1951
Traveler (uncredited)
Flaming Gold
Movie • 1932
Escort Service Madam
A Place in the Sun
Movie • 1951
Bit Part (uncredited)
The Sound of Music
Movie • 1965
Party Guest (uncredited)
The Fall of Eve
Movie • 1929
Mrs. Ford
The Ne'er-Do-Well
Movie • 1923
Edith Cortlandt
Music Man
Movie • 1948
Mrs. Larkin
The Cheerful Fraud
Movie • 1926
Rose
$1,000 a Touchdown
Movie • 1939
McGlen Wife (uncredited)
A Woman of Affairs
Movie • 1928
Party Guest (uncredited)
Fun on a Weekend
Movie • 1947
Party Guest (uncredited)
Leave Her to Heaven
Movie • 1945
Prison Matron (uncredited)
Bondage
Movie • 1917
Eugenia Darth
The Devil's Pay Day
Movie • 1917
Hazel Davidson
The Brazen Beauty
Movie • 1918
Mrs. Augusta Van Ruysdael
The Rescue
Movie • 1917
Mrs. Hendricks
The Little Orphan
Movie • 1917
Emmeline Warren
Bunco Squad
Movie • 1950
Club Patron (uncredited)
Joe Palooka in Winner Take All
Movie • 1948
Mrs. Howard
Hurricane's Gal
Movie • 1922
Phyllis Fairfield
Robes of Sin
Movie • 1924
Swingin' on a Rainbow
Movie • 1945
Bit Part (uncredited)
The Concert
Movie • 1921
Eva
Moontide
Movie • 1942
Woman (uncredited)
No More Ladies
Movie • 1935
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Seeing's Believing
Movie • 1922
Aunt Sue
The File on Thelma Jordon
Movie • 1949
Juror (uncredited)
Rose-Marie
Movie • 1928
Wanda
Hell Bound
Movie • 1931
Rosie
Wichita
Movie • 1955
Saloon Madam (uncredited)
Thunder on the Hill
Movie • 1951
Village Woman (uncredited)
Great Guy
Movie • 1936
Party Guest (Uncredited)
The Wall Flower
Movie • 1922
Pamela Shiel
The Climax
Movie • 1944
Woman in Audience Behind Franz (Uncredited)
The Silent Watcher
Movie • 1924
Mrs. Steele
The Impossible Mrs. Bellew
Movie • 1922
Alice Granville
Crook's Tour
Movie • 1933
Mrs Dorigan
Weird Woman
Movie • 1944
Party Guest (uncredited)
Satan in Sables
Movie • 1925
Dolores Sierra
The Female Animal
Movie • 1958
Actress on Movie Set (uncredited)
Caged
Movie • 1950
Inmate (uncredited)
The Horse Soldiers
Movie • 1959
Townswoman (uncredited)
Crack-Up
Movie • 1946
Nagging Wife on Train (Uncredited)
The Country Beyond
Movie • 1926
Mrs. Andrews
I'll Take Vanilla
Movie • 1934
Mom
Manhattan Monkey Business
Movie • 1935
Gwendolyn
Laughing Ladies
Movie • 1925
The Married Man's Wife
Washee Ironee
Movie • 1934
Woman at Party
Borrowed Finery
Movie • 1925
Maisie
The Doolins of Oklahoma
Movie • 1949
Saloon Girl (uncredited)
Dick Tracy
Movie • 1945
Woman (uncredited)
The Merry Widow
Movie • 1952
Reception Guest (uncredited)
The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris
Movie • 1928
Paulette
Lightning Lariats
Movie • 1927
Girl
Alice Adams
Movie • 1923
Mildred Palmer
Bad Boy
Movie • 1935
All's Swell on the Ocean
Movie • 1924
Wives Never Know
Movie • 1936
Mrs. Merchant (uncredited)
Ship of Souls
Movie • 1925
Doris Barnes
Occasionally Yours
Movie • 1920
Mona
The Delicious Little Devil
Movie • 1919
Auditioning Dancer (uncredited)
Apache Drums
Movie • 1951
Townswoman (uncredited)
The Girl Who Wouldn't Quit
Movie • 1918
Stella Carter
Pretty Smooth
Movie • 1919
Mrs. Hanson
The Gray Ghost
Movie • 1917
Lady Gwendolyn
Pursued
Movie • 1925
Madame La Grande
The Verdict
Movie • 1925
Mrs. Ronsard
The Lion Man
Movie • 1919
Celeste La Rue
Burning Daylight
Movie • 1920
Lucille
The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted
Movie • 1925
Greta
Sin Cargo
Movie • 1926
Mary Wickham
Fight and Win
Movie • 1924
The Six-Fifty
Movie • 1923
Christine Palmer
Folly of Youth
Movie • 1925
Evelyn Cartwright
Stocks and Blondes
Movie • 1928
Goldie
The Irresistible Lover
Movie • 1927
Dolly Carleton
Hit of the Show
Movie • 1928
Trece
Flaming Youth
Movie • 1923
Annie
My Mother the Car
TV • 1965
I Love Lucy
TV • 1951
Showgirl #4