Gertrude Astor
Acting
Born November 9, 1887 · Lakewood, Ohio, USA
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.
Films (221)
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
1966
The Sound of Music
1965
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
1964
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962
The Devil's Hand
1961
Two Rode Together
1961
All in a Night's Work
1961
Sergeant Rutledge
1960
The Best of Everything
1959
The Tingler
1959
The Horse Soldiers
1959
The Female Animal
1958
My Man Godfrey
1957
Around the World in 80 Days
1956
The Virgin Queen
1955
Wichita
1955
Daddy Long Legs
1955
Deep in My Heart
1954
A Star Is Born
1954
Scared Stiff
1953
Angel Face
1953
The Old West
1952
The Merry Widow
1952
Paula
1952
Fort Osage
1952
Scandal Sheet
1952
Thunder on the Hill
1951
When Worlds Collide
1951
A Place in the Sun
1951
Apache Drums
1951
All About Eve
1950
Again Pioneers
1950
Bunco Squad
1950
Sunset Boulevard
1950
Caged
1950
Woman in Hiding
1950
The File on Thelma Jordon
1949
The Doolins of Oklahoma
1949
3 Godfathers
1948
My Dear Secretary
1948
Joe Palooka in Winner Take All
1948
Music Man
1948
Here Comes Trouble
1948
Sitting Pretty
1948
Monsieur Verdoux
1947
Fun on a Weekend
1947
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946
Calcutta
1946
Sister Kenny
1946
Crack-Up
1946
Dragonwyck
1946
Leave Her to Heaven
1945
Dick Tracy
1945
An Angel Comes To Brooklyn
1945
Girls of the Big House
1945
Swingin' on a Rainbow
1945
The Climax
1944
The Scarlet Claw
1944
Weird Woman
1944
The Kansan
1943
The Avenging Rider
1943
Idaho
1943
Lost Canyon
1942
Moontide
1942
Reap the Wild Wind
1942
Frisco Lil
1942
The Wolf Man
1941
Hold Back the Dawn
1941
Misbehaving Husbands
1940
The Doctor Takes a Wife
1940
The Llano Kid
1939
$1,000 a Touchdown
1939
Dust Be My Destiny
1939
The Women
1939
Tassels in the Air
1938
The Big Broadcast of 1938
1938
Wells Fargo
1937
All Over Town
1937
Easy Living
1937
Rich Relations
1937
Empty Saddles
1936
Great Guy
1936
Wives Never Know
1936
Postal Inspector
1936
San Francisco
1936
I Don't Remember
1935
Manhattan Monkey Business
1935
Bad Boy
1935
It's in the Air
1935
Cappy Ricks Returns
1935
Here Comes the Band
1935
Honeymoon Limited
1935
No More Ladies
1935
Border Brigands
1935
The Drunkard
1935
Northern Frontier
1935
The Chases of Pimple Street
1934
Washee Ironee
1934
Wedding Belles
1934
I'll Take Vanilla
1934
Guilty Parents
1934
Carnival Lady
1933
Crook's Tour
1933
Ship of Wanted Men
1933
I Have Lived
1933
The Plumber and the Lady
1933
Wine, Women and Song
1933
Flaming Gold
1932
Western Limited
1932
High Hats and Low Brows
1932
They Never Come Back
1932
While Paris Sleeps
1932
In Walked Charley
1932
Running Hollywood
1932
Poker Widows
1931
Come Clean
1931
Hell Bound
1931
Live and Learn
1930
Dames Ahoy
1930
Be Yourself!
1930
Untamed
1929
Frozen Justice
1929
Twin Beds
1929
The Fall of Eve
1929
Two Weeks Off
1929
The Fatal Warning
1929
Synthetic Sin
1929
Chasing Husbands
1928
A Woman of Affairs
1928
The Butter and Egg Man
1928
Stocks and Blondes
1928
Hit of the Show
1928
Five and Ten Cent Annie
1928
The Family Group
1928
Rose-Marie
1928
The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris
1928
Oh, What a Man!
1927
Ginsberg the Great
1927
The Small Bachelor
1927
Uncle Tom's Cabin
1927
The Irresistible Lover
1927
The Cat and the Canary
1927
The Taxi Dancer
1927
Lightning Lariats
1927
The Cheerful Fraud
1926
The Strong Man
1926
Sin Cargo
1926
The Country Beyond
1926
Tell 'Em Nothing
1926
The Old Soak
1926
Don Juan's 3 Nights
1926
The Boy Friend
1926
Kiki
1926
Wife Tamers
1926
Dizzy Daddies
1926
Behind the Front
1926
Ship of Souls
1925
Stage Struck
1925
Satan in Sables
1925
Borrowed Finery
1925
The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted
1925
Kentucky Pride
1925
Pursued
1925
The Charmer
1925
The Verdict
1925
Folly of Youth
1925
The Reckless Sex
1925
Laughing Ladies
1925
Robes of Sin
1924
The Ridin' Kid from Powder River
1924
The Silent Watcher
1924
All's Swell on the Ocean
1924
The Torrent
1924
Fight and Win
1924
Broadway or Bust
1924
Secrets
1924
The Wanters
1923
Flaming Youth
1923
The Six-Fifty
1923
Hollywood
1923
Rupert of Hentzau
1923
The Ne'er-Do-Well
1923
Alice Adams
1923
The Ninety and Nine
1922
You Never Know
1922
The Kentucky Derby
1922
The Impossible Mrs. Bellew
1922
Lorna Doone
1922
Skin Deep
1922
Hurricane's Gal
1922
Beyond the Rocks
1922
Seeing's Believing
1922
The Wall Flower
1922
Her Mad Bargain
1921
Through the Back Door
1921
The Concert
1921
The Branding Iron
1920
Occasionally Yours
1920
Burning Daylight
1920
The Lion Man
1919
The Wicked Darling
1919
Loot
1919
Pretty Smooth
1919
The Delicious Little Devil
1919
What Am I Bid?
1919
The Brazen Beauty
1918
The Girl Who Wouldn't Quit
1918
Bucking Broadway
1917
The Lash of Power
1917
The Price of a Good Time
1917
Bondage
1917
The Girl Who Won Out
1917
Cheyenne's Pal
1917
The Rescue
1917
The Gray Ghost
1917
The Little Orphan
1917
Polly Redhead
1917
The Scarlet Crystal
1917
The Devil's Pay Day
1917
Bombs and Banknotes
1917
Under Two Flags
1915