Gertrude Astor
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.
Known For
Dorothy's Nurse (uncredited)
Deep in My Heart
Saleswoman (uncredited)
Easy Living
Lady-in-Waiting - 2nd Group
The Virgin Queen
Moosehide Kate
Frozen Justice
Ruth Beresford
Her Mad Bargain
The Fatal Warning
Helen Forbes
The Scarlet Crystal
Gertrude Astor
Hollywood
Mis Schyler
The Price of a Good Time
Venetia
Under Two Flags
Phyllis Ward
The Lash of Power
Diana Newlands
What Am I Bid?
Townswoman (uncredited)
The Wolf Man
Mrs. Walsh
The Girl Who Won Out
Sylvia De Costa
The Old Soak
Kate Van Dyke
The Ninety and Nine
His Daughter
Bombs and Banknotes
Fanny Lehman
The Butter and Egg Man
The Family Group
Chasing Husbands
Mrs. Carlson
Skin Deep
Mrs. Van Pelt
The Wanters
Gertrude Astor - Lucas' Fiancee (uncredited)
The Chases of Pimple Street
The Elderly Cultist
The Devil's Hand
Mrs. Hardy
Come Clean
Lily de Broadway
The Strong Man
Party Guest (uncredited)
My Man Godfrey
Jennie Tilson
Wine, Women and Song
Mrs. Otto Mauser
The Plumber and the Lady
Lady Gwendolyn
Loot
Mrs. St. Clare (uncredited)
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Paula
Rupert of Hentzau
Townswoman (uncredited)
Fort Osage
Townswoman (uncredited)
The Old West
Louise Reeves
Through The Back Door
Baroness von Minden
Don Juan's 3 Nights
Woman with Dog (uncredited)
Here Comes Trouble
Miriam Folansbee
You Never Know
Adele Hoyt
The Wicked Darling
Ball Guest (uncredited)
Reap the Wild Wind
Peggy
The Drunkard
Gladys (uncredited)
Bucking Broadway
Lillian Lyons
Stage Struck
Mrs. Dean Smythe
Broadway or Bust
'Kansas' Lou
The Ridin' Kid from Powder River
Mrs. Barry
Wife Tamers
Lillian
Be Yourself!
Mamie
All Over Town
Countess of Brandir (uncredited)
Lorna Doone
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
The Best Years of Our Lives
Helen Gordon
The Kentucky Derby
Mrs. Billingsgate
High Hats and Low Brows
Mrs. Brown
Live and Learn
Zandra, Fortune Teller
Carnival Lady
Rich Relations
Gertrude Astor
Running Hollywood
Wedding Belles
Townswoman
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Paulette Mascar
Kiki
A Former Flame
Dizzy Daddies
Customer (uncredited)
All in a Night's Work
Kate
They Never Come Back
The Blonde
Dames Ahoy
Mrs. Mason
Untamed
Leading Woman in Play (uncredited)
The Best of Everything
Harriet Naisson
I Have Lived
Sophie Glick
I Don't Remember
Fanny
The Small Bachelor
Frisco Lil
Mrs. Beaumont
Kentucky Pride
Mrs. Manwaring
Secrets
Sheila Kelly
Synthetic Sin
Mrs. White
The Boy Friend
Nurse (uncredited)
Dragonwyck
Gertrude Henderson
In Walked Charley
Cecily
The Cat and the Canary
While Paris Sleeps
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Calcutta
Betty Morena
The Branding Iron
Morella Winmarleigh
Beyond the Rocks
French barmaid
Behind the Front
Pioneer Woman
Wells Fargo
Saloon Hostess
The Llano Kid
Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Sergeant Rutledge
Racetrack Spectator (uncredited)
A Star Is Born
Mrs. Thomas Regan
Poker Widows
Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
Here Comes the Band
Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
All About Eve
Mae
Northern Frontier
Mud Bath Nurse (uncredited)
The Women
Townswoman (uncredited)
Sitting Pretty
Eloise Hayes
Empty Saddles
Dame (uncredited)
Dust Be My Destiny
The Bandit
Oh, What a Man!
Vera
Ship of Wanted Men
Doctor (uncredited)
Sister Kenny
Miss Gee (uncredited)
My Dear Secretary
Mrs. Jans
Again Pioneers
Eva Tanguay (uncredited)
An Angel Comes To Brooklyn
Woman with Drumsticks (uncredited)
Postal Inspector
Woman in Drugstore (uncredited)
Woman in Hiding
Garden Party Guest (uncredited)
Monsieur Verdoux
The Cast-Off
The Torrent
Young Woman in Bar (uncredited)
Hold Back the Dawn
Marie
Guilty Parents
Speaker (uncredited)
Cappy Ricks Returns
Mrs. Winters
Western Limited
Mrs. Gladstone
Tell 'Em Nothing
Townswoman (uncredited)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Sappho
Ginsberg the Great
Blonde
Five and Ten Cent Annie
Mrs. Solari
Twin Beds
The Scarlet Claw
Bertha Sedgwick
The Charmer
Matron (uncredited)
Angel Face
Gossiping Friend
Misbehaving Husbands
Courtier (uncredited)
Sunset Boulevard
Extra (uncredited)
The Doctor Takes a Wife
Man with Spaghetti's Wife (uncredited)
Scared Stiff
(uncredited)
It's in the Air
Woman (uncredited)
The Big Broadcast of 1938
Member of Silent Movie Audience (uncredited)
The Tingler
Dancehall girl
Cheyenne's Pal
Mrs. Wringle (uncredited)
Two Rode Together
Neighbor (uncredited)
Scandal Sheet
Extra (uncredited)
Around the World in Eighty Days
Lucile Dupré
The Reckless Sex
Art Gallery Patron (uncredited)
Daddy Long Legs
Railroad Matron
Girls of the Big House
Big Six -Saloon Girl
Border Brigands
Saloon Girl (uncredited)
3 Godfathers
Mrs. Anson
Lost Canyon
Louella Pindell (uncredited)
Tassels in the Air
Party Guest
Idaho
Lady Devonshire
Honeymoon Limited
Martha
The Avenging Rider
Blonde Townswoman
The Kansan
Mrs. Brown (uncredited)
Paula
Drunk's Girl (uncredited)
San Francisco
Denver Party Guest (uncredited)
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Agnes
Two Weeks Off
Kitty Lane
The Taxi Dancer
Lady Caroline
Polly Redhead
Traveler (uncredited)
When Worlds Collide
Escort Service Madam
Flaming Gold
Bit Part (uncredited)
A Place in the Sun
Party Guest (uncredited)
The Sound of Music
Mrs. Ford
The Fall of Eve
Edith Cortlandt
The Ne'er-Do-Well
Music Man
Rose
The Cheerful Fraud
McGlen Wife (uncredited)
$1,000 a Touchdown
Party Guest (uncredited)
A Woman of Affairs
Party Guest (Uncredited)
Fun on a Weekend
Prison Matron (uncredited)
Leave Her to Heaven
Eugenia Darth
Bondage
Hazel Davidson
The Devil's Pay Day
Mrs. Augusta Van Ruysdael
The Brazen Beauty
Mrs. Hendricks
The Rescue
Emmeline Warren
The Little Orphan
Club Patron (uncredited)
Bunco Squad
Mrs. Howard
Joe Palooka in Winner Take All
Phyllis Fairfield
Hurricane's Gal
Robes of Sin
Bit Part (uncredited)
Swingin' on a Rainbow
Eva
The Concert
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
No More Ladies
Woman (uncredited)
Moontide
Aunt Sue
Seeing's Believing
Juror (Uncredited)
The File on Thelma Jordon
Wanda
Rose-Marie
Rosie
Hell Bound
Saloon Madam (uncredited)
Wichita
Village Woman (uncredited)
Thunder on the Hill
Party Guest (Uncredited)
Great Guy
Pamela Shiel
The Wall Flower
Woman in Audience Behind Franz (Uncredited)
The Climax
Mrs. Steele
The Silent Watcher
Alice Granville
The Impossible Mrs. Bellew
Mrs Dorigan
Crook's Tour
Party Guest (uncredited)
Weird Woman
Dolores Sierra
Satan in Sables
Actress on Movie Set (uncredited)
The Female Animal
Inmate (uncredited)
Caged
Townswoman (uncredited)
The Horse Soldiers
Nagging Wife on Train (Uncredited)
Crack-Up
Mrs. Andrews
The Country Beyond
Mom
I'll Take Vanilla
Gwendolyn
Manhattan Monkey Business
The Married Man's Wife
Laughing Ladies
Woman at Party
Washee Ironee
Maisie
Borrowed Finery
Saloon Girl (uncredited)
The Doolins of Oklahoma
Woman (uncredited)
Dick Tracy
Reception Guest (uncredited)
The Merry Widow
Paulette
The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris
Girl
Lightning Lariats
Mildred Palmer
Alice Adams
Bad Boy
All's Swell on the Ocean
Mrs. Merchant (uncredited)
Wives Never Know
Doris Barnes
Ship of Souls
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
202
Gender
Female
Birthday
1887-11-09
Place of Birth
Lakewood, Ohio, USA
Also Known As
Gertrude Aster