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.
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| # | Name | Character | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966) | Townswoman | - | - |
| 2 | The Sound of Music (1965) | Party Guest (uncredited) | 7.9 | |
| 3 | The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) | Denver Party Guest (uncredited) | - | - |
| 4 | The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) | Townswoman (uncredited) | 6.8 | |
| 5 | The Devil's Hand (1961) | The Elderly Cultist | - | - |
| 6 | Two Rode Together (1961) | Mrs. Wringle (uncredited) | 5 | |
| 7 | Sergeant Rutledge (1960) | Courtroom Spectator (uncredited) | 6.5 | |
| 8 | The Best of Everything (1959) | Leading Woman in Play (uncredited) | 5 | |
| 9 | The Horse Soldiers (1959) | Townswoman (uncredited) | 7 | |
| 10 | The Tingler (1959) | Member of Silent Movie Audience (uncredited) | 7 | |
| 11 | Around the World in 80 Days (1956) | Extra (uncredited) | 7.4 | |
| 12 | Wichita (1955) | Saloon Madam (uncredited) | 5 | |
| 13 | Daddy Long Legs (1955) | Art Gallery Patron (uncredited) | 5 | |
| 14 | A Star Is Born (1954) | Racetrack Spectator (uncredited) | 5.2 | |
| 15 | Scared Stiff (1953) | Man with Spaghetti's Wife (uncredited) | 7 | |
| 16 | Scandal Sheet (1952) | Neighbor (uncredited) | 5 | |
| 17 | A Place in the Sun (1951) | Bit Part (uncredited) | 5 | |
| 18 | When Worlds Collide (1951) | Traveler (uncredited) | 7.7 | |
| 19 | Apache Drums (1951) | Townswoman (uncredited) | 4 | |
| 20 | Woman in Hiding (1950) | Woman in Drugstore (uncredited) | 4 | |
| 21 | Caged (1950) | Inmate (uncredited) | 7 | |
| 22 | All About Eve (1950) | Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited) | 8.1 | |
| 23 | Sunset Boulevard (1950) | Courtier (uncredited) | 8.5 | |
| 24 | The File on Thelma Jordon (1949) | Juror (uncredited) | 6 | |
| 25 | Sitting Pretty (1948) | Townswoman (uncredited) | 5 | |
| 26 | 3 Godfathers (1948) | Saloon Girl (uncredited) | 6 | |
| 27 | Monsieur Verdoux (1947) | Garden Party Guest (uncredited) | 6.7 | |
| 28 | Calcutta (1946) | Nightclub Patron (uncredited) | 6 | |
| 29 | Sister Kenny (1946) | Doctor (uncredited) | - | - |
| 30 | Dragonwyck (1946) | Nurse (uncredited) | 7 | |
| 31 | Crack-Up (1946) | Nagging Wife on Train (Uncredited) | 4 | |
| 32 | The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) | Wedding Guest (uncredited) | 6.5 | |
| 33 | Dick Tracy (1945) | Woman (uncredited) | 4 | |
| 34 | Leave Her to Heaven (1945) | Prison Matron (uncredited) | 7 | |
| 35 | The Climax (1944) | Woman in Audience Behind Franz (Uncredited) | 5 | |
| 36 | Weird Woman (1944) | Party Guest (uncredited) | 4 | |
| 37 | The Scarlet Claw (1944) | - | 6 | |
| 38 | Moontide (1942) | Woman (uncredited) | 7 | |
| 39 | Reap the Wild Wind (1942) | Ball Guest (uncredited) | 2 | |
| 40 | The Wolf Man (1941) | Townswoman (uncredited) | 7.6 | |
| 41 | Hold Back the Dawn (1941) | Young Woman in Bar (uncredited) | 5 | |
| 42 | The Women (1939) | Mud Bath Nurse (uncredited) | 6 | |
| 43 | Easy Living (1937) | Saleswoman (uncredited) | 6.5 | |
| 44 | Wells Fargo (1937) | Pioneer Woman | - | - |
| 45 | San Francisco (1936) | Drunk's Girl (uncredited) | 5 | |
| 46 | While Paris Sleeps (1932) | - | 5 | |
| 47 | Come Clean (1931) | Mrs. Hardy | 7 | |
| 48 | Be Yourself! (1930) | Lillian | 4 | |
| 49 | Untamed (1929) | Mrs. Mason | 5 | |
| 50 | A Woman of Affairs (1928) | Party Guest (uncredited) | 6 | |
| 51 | The Cat and the Canary (1927) | Cecily | 4 | |
| 52 | The Strong Man (1926) | Lily de Broadway | 6 | |
| 53 | Stage Struck (1925) | Lillian Lyons | 5 |
