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.
223 movies · 2 shows
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
1966·4.3
The Sound of Music
1965·7.7
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
1964·5.7
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962·7.8
The Devil's Hand
1961·4.6
Two Rode Together
1961·6.4
All in a Night's Work
1961·6.0
Sergeant Rutledge
1960·7.0
The Best of Everything
1959·6.3
The Tingler
1959·6.4
The Horse Soldiers
1959·6.9
The Female Animal
1958·6.0
My Man Godfrey
1957·6.5
Around the World in 80 Days
1956·6.7
The Virgin Queen
1955·7.0
Wichita
1955·6.3
Daddy Long Legs
1955·6.4
Deep in My Heart
1954·6.7
A Star Is Born
1954·7.1
Scared Stiff
1953·6.5
Angel Face
1953·7.1
The Old West
1952·7.0
The Merry Widow
1952·6.3
Paula
1952·8.2
Fort Osage
1952·6.5
Scandal Sheet
1952·7.0
Thunder on the Hill
1951·6.4
When Worlds Collide
1951·6.4
A Place in the Sun
1951·7.3
Apache Drums
1951·6.3
All About Eve
1950·8.1
Again Pioneers
1950·5.7
Bunco Squad
1950·6.1
Sunset Boulevard
1950·8.3
Caged
1950·7.1
Montana
1950·5.6
Woman in Hiding
1950·6.3
The File on Thelma Jordon
1949·6.6
The Doolins of Oklahoma
1949·6.8
3 Godfathers
1948·6.8
My Dear Secretary
1948·6.1
Joe Palooka in Winner Take All
1948·7.5
Music Man
1948·7.5
Here Comes Trouble
1948·5.2
Sitting Pretty
1948·7.1
Monsieur Verdoux
1947·7.7
Fun on a Weekend
1947·7.2
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946·7.7
Calcutta
1946·6.4
Sister Kenny
1946·6.9
Crack-Up
1946·5.8
Dragonwyck
1946·6.6
Leave Her to Heaven
1945·7.4
Dick Tracy
1945·5.2
An Angel Comes To Brooklyn
1945·10.0
Girls of the Big House
1945·7.5
Swingin' on a Rainbow
1945·7.0
The Climax
1944·5.5
The Scarlet Claw
1944·7.0
Weird Woman
1944·6.0
The Kansan
1943·6.0
The Avenging Rider
1943·10.0
Idaho
1943·6.3
Lost Canyon
1942·6.3
Moontide
1942·6.4
Reap the Wild Wind
1942·6.4
Frisco Lil
1942·8.3
The Wolf Man
1941·7.0
Hold Back the Dawn
1941·6.7
Misbehaving Husbands
1940·5.2
The Doctor Takes a Wife
1940·6.8
The Llano Kid
1939·7.0
$1,000 a Touchdown
1939·3.7
Dust Be My Destiny
1939·6.5
The Women
1939·7.2
Tassels in the Air
1938·6.8
The Big Broadcast of 1938
1938·6.3
Wells Fargo
1937·5.5
All Over Town
1937·6.4
Easy Living
1937·7.2
Rich Relations
1937·5.5
Empty Saddles
1936·10.0
Great Guy
1936·6.3
Wives Never Know
1936·9.0
Postal Inspector
1936·7.0
San Francisco
1936·6.6
I Don't Remember
1935·5.0
Manhattan Monkey Business
1935·10.0
Bad Boy
1935·7.5
It's in the Air
1935·6.3
Cappy Ricks Returns
1935·6.3
Here Comes the Band
1935·7.0
Honeymoon Limited
1935·5.8
No More Ladies
1935·5.0
Border Brigands
1935·7.0
The Drunkard
1935·7.0
Northern Frontier
1935·8.0
The Chases of Pimple Street
1934·7.3
Washee Ironee
1934·6.8
Wedding Belles
1934·0.0
I'll Take Vanilla
1934·10.0
Guilty Parents
1934·5.6
Carnival Lady
1933·6.0
Crook's Tour
1933·10.0
Ship of Wanted Men
1933·3.8
I Have Lived
1933·8.0
The Plumber and the Lady
1933·0.0
Wine, Women and Song
1933·7.0
Flaming Gold
1932·6.2
Western Limited
1932·9.0
High Hats and Low Brows
1932·0.0
They Never Come Back
1932·6.3
While Paris Sleeps
1932·6.7
In Walked Charley
1932·8.0
Running Hollywood
1932·9.0
Poker Widows
1931·0.0
Come Clean
1931·7.2
Hell Bound
1931·7.0
Live and Learn
1930·3.3
Dames Ahoy
1930·9.0
Be Yourself!
1930·5.6
Untamed
1929·6.2
Frozen Justice
1929·3.7
Twin Beds
1929·10.0
The Fall of Eve
1929·9.0
Two Weeks Off
1929·9.0
The Fatal Warning
1929·5.0
Synthetic Sin
1929·10.0
Chasing Husbands
1928·7.0
A Woman of Affairs
1928·6.5
The Butter and Egg Man
1928·9.0
Stocks and Blondes
1928·8.0
Hit of the Show
1928·10.0
Five and Ten Cent Annie
1928·10.0
The Family Group
1928·7.0
Rose-Marie
1928·7.0
The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris
1928·8.0
Oh, What a Man!
1927·7.0
Ginsberg the Great
1927·10.0
The Small Bachelor
1927·8.0
Uncle Tom's Cabin
1927·6.8
The Irresistible Lover
1927·8.0
The Cat and the Canary
1927·6.9
The Taxi Dancer
1927·7.7
Lightning Lariats
1927·7.0
The Cheerful Fraud
1926·6.5
The Strong Man
1926·6.2
Sin Cargo
1926·10.0
The Country Beyond
1926·10.0
Tell 'Em Nothing
1926·5.5
The Old Soak
1926·8.0
Don Juan's 3 Nights
1926·3.7
The Boy Friend
1926·8.0
Kiki
1926·7.8
Wife Tamers
1926·7.0
Dizzy Daddies
1926·3.8
Behind the Front
1926·6.2
Ship of Souls
1925·5.0
Stage Struck
1925·6.5
Satan in Sables
1925·10.0
Borrowed Finery
1925·0.0
The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted
1925·7.0
Kentucky Pride
1925·6.2
Pursued
1925·8.0
The Charmer
1925·7.0
The Verdict
1925·8.0
Folly of Youth
1925·9.0
The Reckless Sex
1925·0.0
Laughing Ladies
1925·8.0
Robes of Sin
1924·8.0
The Ridin' Kid from Powder River
1924·10.0
The Silent Watcher
1924·10.0
All's Swell on the Ocean
1924·8.0
The Torrent
1924·9.0
Fight and Win
1924·9.0
Broadway or Bust
1924·7.0
Secrets
1924·6.0
The Wanters
1923·8.0
Flaming Youth
1923·3.8
The Six-Fifty
1923·7.0
Hollywood
1923·9.0
Rupert of Hentzau
1923·9.0
The Ne'er-Do-Well
1923·10.0
Alice Adams
1923·9.0
The Ninety and Nine
1922·7.0
You Never Know
1922·10.0
The Kentucky Derby
1922·7.5
The Impossible Mrs. Bellew
1922·10.0
Lorna Doone
1922·6.3
Skin Deep
1922·10.0
Hurricane's Gal
1922·8.0
Beyond the Rocks
1922·6.0
Seeing's Believing
1922·7.0
The Wall Flower
1922·0.0
Her Mad Bargain
1921·10.0
Through the Back Door
1921·6.5
The Concert
1921·10.0
The Branding Iron
1920·7.0
Occasionally Yours
1920·8.0
Burning Daylight
1920·7.0
The Lion Man
1919·9.0
The Wicked Darling
1919·5.6
Loot
1919·7.0
Pretty Smooth
1919·7.0
The Delicious Little Devil
1919·5.7
What Am I Bid?
1919·9.0
The Brazen Beauty
1918·0.0
The Girl Who Wouldn't Quit
1918·0.0
Vamping the Vamp
1918·0.0
Bucking Broadway
1917·5.6
The Lash of Power
1917·0.0
The Price of a Good Time
1917·0.0
Bondage
1917·0.0
The Girl Who Won Out
1917·0.0
Cheyenne's Pal
1917·4.5
The Rescue
1917·0.0
The Gray Ghost
1917·0.0
The Little Orphan
1917·0.0
Polly Redhead
1917·0.0
The Scarlet Crystal
1917·0.0
The Devil's Pay Day
1917·0.0
Bombs and Banknotes
1917·7.0
Under Two Flags
1915·10.0