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.
Acted in 210
1960s
- 1966
- 1965
My Mother the Car
TV
- 1964
- 1962
- 1961
The Devil's Hand
The Elderly Cultist
Two Rode Together
Mrs. Wringle (uncredited)
All in a Night's Work
Customer (uncredited)
- 1960
Sergeant Rutledge
Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
1950s
- 1959
The Best of Everything
Leading Woman in Play (uncredited)
- 1958
The Female Animal
Actress on Movie Set (uncredited)
- 1957
- 1956
- 1955
The Virgin Queen
Lady-in-Waiting - 2nd Group
- 1954
Deep in My Heart
Dorothy's Nurse (uncredited)
- 1953
Scared Stiff
Man with Spaghetti's Wife (uncredited)
- 1952
The Old West
Townswoman (uncredited)
The Merry Widow
Reception Guest (uncredited)
Paula
Mrs. Brown (uncredited)
Fort Osage
Townswoman (uncredited)
Scandal Sheet
Neighbor (uncredited)
- 1951
Thunder on the Hill
Village Woman (uncredited)
Apache Drums
Townswoman (uncredited)
- 1950
Again Pioneers
Mrs. Jans
Bunco Squad
Club Patron (uncredited)
Woman in Hiding
Woman in Drugstore (uncredited)
1940s
- 1949
The File on Thelma Jordon
Juror (uncredited)
- 1948
Joe Palooka in Winner Take All
Mrs. Howard
Music Man
Mrs. Larkin
Here Comes Trouble
Woman with Dog (uncredited)
Sitting Pretty
Townswoman (uncredited)
- 1947
Fun on a Weekend
Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1946
Calcutta
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Sister Kenny
Doctor (uncredited)
Crack-Up
Nagging Wife on Train (Uncredited)
- 1945
An Angel Comes To Brooklyn
Eva Tanguay (uncredited)
Girls of the Big House
Railroad Matron
Swingin' on a Rainbow
Bit Part (uncredited)
- 1944
The Climax
Woman in Audience Behind Franz (Uncredited)
Weird Woman
Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1943
The Avenging Rider
Martha
Idaho
Party Guest
- 1942
Lost Canyon
Mrs. Anson
- 1941
Hold Back the Dawn
Young Woman in Bar (uncredited)
- 1940
Misbehaving Husbands
Gossiping Friend
The Doctor Takes a Wife
Extra (uncredited)
1930s
- 1939
The Llano Kid
Saloon Hostess
$1,000 a Touchdown
McGlen Wife (uncredited)
Dust Be My Destiny
Dame (uncredited)
- 1938
Tassels in the Air
Louella Pindell (uncredited)
The Big Broadcast of 1938
Woman (uncredited)
- 1937
All Over Town
Mamie
Rich Relations
Movie
- 1936
Empty Saddles
Eloise Hayes
Great Guy
Party Guest (Uncredited)
Wives Never Know
Mrs. Merchant (uncredited)
Postal Inspector
Woman with Drumsticks (uncredited)
- 1935
Manhattan Monkey Business
Gwendolyn
Bad Boy
Movie
It's in the Air
(uncredited)
Here Comes the Band
Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
Honeymoon Limited
Lady Devonshire
No More Ladies
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Border Brigands
Big Six -Saloon Girl
The Drunkard
Peggy
Northern Frontier
Mae
- 1934
The Chases of Pimple Street
Gertrude Astor - Lucas' Fiancee (uncredited)
Washee Ironee
Woman at Party
I'll Take Vanilla
Mom
Guilty Parents
Marie
- 1933
Carnival Lady
Zandra, Fortune Teller
Crook's Tour
Mrs Dorigan
Ship of Wanted Men
Vera
I Have Lived
Harriet Naisson
Wine, Women and Song
Jennie Tilson
- 1932
Flaming Gold
Escort Service Madam
High Hats and Low Brows
Mrs. Billingsgate
They Never Come Back
Kate
While Paris Sleeps
Movie
In Walked Charley
Gertrude Henderson
- 1931
Come Clean
Mrs. Hardy
Hell Bound
Rosie
- 1930
Dames Ahoy
The Blonde
1920s
- 1929
Untamed
Mrs. Mason
Frozen Justice
Moosehide Kate
Twin Beds
Mrs. Solari
The Fall of Eve
Mrs. Ford
Two Weeks Off
Agnes
The Fatal Warning
Movie
Synthetic Sin
Sheila Kelly
- 1928
Chasing Husbands
Movie
The Butter and Egg Man
Fanny Lehman
Stocks and Blondes
Goldie
Hit of the Show
Trece
Five and Ten Cent Annie
Blonde
The Family Group
Movie
Rose-Marie
Wanda
- 1927
Oh, What a Man!
The Bandit
Ginsberg the Great
Sappho
The Small Bachelor
Fanny
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Mrs. St. Clare (uncredited)
The Irresistible Lover
Dolly Carleton
The Taxi Dancer
Kitty Lane
Lightning Lariats
Girl
- 1926
The Cheerful Fraud
Rose
The Strong Man
Lily de Broadway
Sin Cargo
Mary Wickham
The Country Beyond
Mrs. Andrews
Tell 'Em Nothing
Mrs. Gladstone
The Old Soak
Sylvia De Costa
Don Juan's 3 Nights
Baroness von Minden
The Boy Friend
Mrs. White
Kiki
Paulette Mascar
Wife Tamers
Mrs. Barry
Dizzy Daddies
A Former Flame
Behind the Front
French barmaid
- 1925
Stage Struck
Lillian Lyons
Satan in Sables
Dolores Sierra
The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted
Greta
Kentucky Pride
Mrs. Beaumont
Pursued
Madame La Grande
The Charmer
Bertha Sedgwick
Folly of Youth
Evelyn Cartwright
Laughing Ladies
The Married Man's Wife
- 1924
Robes of Sin
Movie
The Ridin' Kid from Powder River
'Kansas' Lou
The Silent Watcher
Mrs. Steele
All's Swell on the Ocean
Movie
Fight and Win
Movie
Broadway or Bust
Mrs. Dean Smythe
Secrets
Mrs. Manwaring
- 1923
The Wanters
Mrs. Van Pelt
Flaming Youth
Annie
The Six-Fifty
Christine Palmer
Hollywood
Gertrude Astor
Rupert of Hentzau
Paula
The Ne'er-Do-Well
Edith Cortlandt
- 1922
The Ninety and Nine
Kate Van Dyke
You Never Know
Miriam Folansbee
The Kentucky Derby
Helen Gordon
The Impossible Mrs. Bellew
Alice Granville
Lorna Doone
Countess of Brandir (uncredited)
Skin Deep
Mrs. Carlson
Hurricane's Gal
Phyllis Fairfield
Beyond the Rocks
Morella Winmarleigh
Seeing's Believing
Aunt Sue
The Wall Flower
Pamela Shiel
- 1921
Her Mad Bargain
Ruth Beresford
Through the Back Door
Louise Reeves
The Concert
Eva
- 1920
The Branding Iron
Betty Morena
Occasionally Yours
Mona
1910s
- 1919
The Lion Man
Celeste La Rue
The Wicked Darling
Adele Hoyt
Pretty Smooth
Mrs. Hanson
The Delicious Little Devil
Auditioning Dancer (uncredited)
What Am I Bid?
Diana Newlands
- 1918
The Brazen Beauty
Mrs. Augusta Van Ruysdael
The Girl Who Wouldn't Quit
Stella Carter
- 1917
Bucking Broadway
Gladys (uncredited)
The Lash of Power
Phyllis Ward
The Price of a Good Time
Mis Schyler
Bondage
Eugenia Darth
The Girl Who Won Out
Mrs. Walsh
Cheyenne's Pal
Dancehall girl
The Rescue
Mrs. Hendricks
The Gray Ghost
Lady Gwendolyn
The Little Orphan
Emmeline Warren
The Scarlet Crystal
Helen Forbes
The Devil's Pay Day
Hazel Davidson
- 1915
Under Two Flags
Venetia
