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Gertrude Astor
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.…
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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
Movies and shows, newest first
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1966
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Movie Townswoman
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1965
My Mother the Car
TV show
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1965
The Sound of Music
Movie Party Guest (uncredited)
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1964
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Movie Denver Party Guest (uncredited)
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1962
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Movie Townswoman (uncredited)
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1961
The Devil's Hand
Movie The Elderly Cultist
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1961
Two Rode Together
Movie Mrs. Wringle (uncredited)
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1961
All in a Night's Work
Movie Customer (uncredited)
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1960
Sergeant Rutledge
Movie Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
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1959
The Best of Everything
Movie Leading Woman in Play (uncredited)
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1959
The Tingler
Movie Member of Silent Movie Audience (uncredited)
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1959
The Horse Soldiers
Movie Townswoman (uncredited)
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1958
The Female Animal
Movie Actress on Movie Set (uncredited)
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1957
My Man Godfrey
Movie Party Guest (uncredited)
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1956
Around the World in 80 Days
Movie Extra (uncredited)
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1955
The Virgin Queen
Movie Lady-in-Waiting - 2nd Group
More credits
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1955
Wichita
Movie Saloon Madam (uncredited)
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1955
Daddy Long Legs
Movie Art Gallery Patron (uncredited)
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1954
Deep in My Heart
Movie Dorothy's Nurse (uncredited)
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1954
A Star Is Born
Movie Racetrack Spectator (uncredited)
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1953
Scared Stiff
Movie Man with Spaghetti's Wife (uncredited)
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1953
Angel Face
Movie Matron (uncredited)
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1952
The Old West
Movie Townswoman (uncredited)
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1952
The Merry Widow
Movie Reception Guest (uncredited)
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1952
Paula
Movie Mrs. Brown (uncredited)
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1952
Fort Osage
Movie Townswoman (uncredited)
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1952
Scandal Sheet
Movie Neighbor (uncredited)
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1951
Thunder on the Hill
Movie Village Woman (uncredited)
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1951
I Love Lucy
TV show Showgirl #4
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1951
When Worlds Collide
Movie Traveler (uncredited)
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1951
A Place in the Sun
Movie Bit Part (uncredited)
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1951
Apache Drums
Movie Townswoman (uncredited)
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1950
All About Eve
Movie Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
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1950
Again Pioneers
Movie Mrs. Jans
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1950
Bunco Squad
Movie Club Patron (uncredited)
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1950
Sunset Boulevard
Movie Courtier (uncredited)
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1950
Caged
Movie Inmate (uncredited)
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1950
Montana
Movie Townswoman (uncredited)
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1950
Woman in Hiding
Movie Woman in Drugstore (uncredited)
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1949
The File on Thelma Jordon
Movie Juror (uncredited)
