Gertrude Astor
AKA: Gertrude Aster
Birthday: 1887-11-09
Died: 1977-11-09
Birthplace: 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.
Filmography
Character: The Elderly Cultist
Character: Lily de Broadway
Character: Countess of Brandir (uncredited)
Character: Mrs. Billingsgate
Character: Zandra, Fortune Teller
Character: Paulette Mascar
Character: Harriet Naisson
Character: Mrs. Manwaring
Character: Nurse (uncredited)
Character: Gertrude Henderson
Character: Morella Winmarleigh
Character: French barmaid
Character: Saloon Hostess
Character: Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
Character: Mud Bath Nurse (uncredited)
Character: Dame (uncredited)
Character: Garden Party Guest (uncredited)
Character: Young Woman in Bar (uncredited)
Character: Speaker (uncredited)
Character: Mrs. Gladstone
Character: Townswoman (uncredited)
Character: Bertha Sedgwick
Character: Dancehall girl
Character: Gossiping Friend
Character: Courtier (uncredited)
Character: Man with Spaghetti's Wife (uncredited)
Character: Woman (uncredited)
Character: Neighbor (uncredited)
Character: Art Gallery Patron (uncredited)
Character: Extra (uncredited)
Character: Railroad Matron
Character: Big Six -Saloon Girl
Character: Saloon Girl (uncredited)
Character: Louella Pindell (uncredited)
Character: Blonde Townswoman
Character: Lady Devonshire
Character: Mrs. Brown (uncredited)
Character: Drunk's Girl (uncredited)
Character: Denver Party Guest (uncredited)
Character: Traveler (uncredited)
Character: Escort Service Madam
Character: Bit Part (uncredited)
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Character: Edith Cortlandt
Character: McGlen Wife (uncredited)
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Character: Party Guest (Uncredited)
Character: Prison Matron (uncredited)
Character: Hazel Davidson
Character: Mrs. Augusta Van Ruysdael
Character: Mrs. Hendricks
Character: Emmeline Warren
Character: Club Patron (uncredited)
Character: Phyllis Fairfield
Character: Bit Part (uncredited)
Character: Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Character: Juror (Uncredited)
Character: Saloon Madam (uncredited)
Character: Village Woman (uncredited)
Character: Party Guest (Uncredited)
Character: Woman in Audience Behind Franz (Uncredited)
Character: Alice Granville
Character: Dolores Sierra
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Character: Actress on Movie Set (uncredited)
Character: Inmate (uncredited)
Character: Nagging Wife on Train (Uncredited)
Character: Dorothy's Nurse (uncredited)
Character: Moosehide Kate
Character: Ruth Beresford
Character: Gertrude Astor
Character: Diana Newlands
Character: Gertrude Astor - Lucas' Fiancee (uncredited)
Character: Lady Gwendolyn
Character: Baroness von Minden
Character: Miriam Folansbee
Character: Ball Guest (uncredited)
Character: Mrs. Dean Smythe
Character: Gertrude Astor
Character: A Former Flame
Character: Customer (uncredited)
Character: Leading Woman in Play (uncredited)
Character: Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Character: Racetrack Spectator (uncredited)
Character: Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
Character: Townswoman (uncredited)
Character: Doctor (uncredited)
Character: Miss Gee (uncredited)
Character: Eva Tanguay (uncredited)
Character: Saleswoman (uncredited)
Character: Lady-in-Waiting - 2nd Group
Character: Townswoman (uncredited)
Character: Sylvia De Costa
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Character: Mrs. Otto Mauser
Character: Townswoman (uncredited)
Character: Townswoman (uncredited)
Character: Woman with Dog (uncredited)
Character: Mrs. St. Clare (uncredited)
Character: Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Character: Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Character: Mrs. Thomas Regan
Character: Woman with Drumsticks (uncredited)
Character: Woman in Drugstore (uncredited)
Character: Matron (uncredited)