Mary Astor (May 3, 1906 - September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941) with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s. She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost saw her career destroyed due to public scandal in the mid-1930s. She was sued for support by her parents and was later branded an adulterous wife by her ex-husband during a custody fight over her daughter.
Overcoming these stumbling blocks in her private life, Astor went on to even greater success on the screen, eventually winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Sandra Kovak in The Great Lie (1941). She was an MGM contract player through most of the 1940s and continued to act in movies, on television and on stage until her retirement from the screen in 1964.
Astor was the author of five novels. Her autobiography became a bestseller, as did her later book, A Life on Film, which was specifically about her career. Director Lindsay Anderson wrote of her in 1990: "...(W)hen two or three who love the cinema are gathered together, the name of Mary Astor always comes up, and everybody agrees that she was an actress of special attraction, whose qualities of depth and reality always seemed to illuminate the parts she played."
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Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actress
Known For
Dodsworth
(1936)
Edith Cortright
The Maltese Falcon
(1941)
Brigid O'Shaughnessy
Red Dust
(1932)
Barbara "Babs" Willis
Midnight
(1939)
Helene Flammarion
Little Women
(1949)
Marmee
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
(1964)
Jewel Mayhew
Meet Me in St. Louis
(1944)
Mrs. Anna Smith
The Palm Beach Story
(1942)
The Princess Centimillia
The Prisoner of Zenda
(1937)
Antoinette de Mauban
Across the Pacific
(1942)
Alberta Marlow
The Hurricane
(1937)
Mme. DeLaage
The Kennel Murder Case
(1933)
Hilda Lake
The Great Lie
(1941)
Sandra Kovak
Desert Fury
(1947)
Fritzi Haller
Full Filmography
Acting
Bullets or Ballots
(1921)
Bit Part
Wings of the Border
(1921)
Brother of the Bear
(1921)
Marcia Harthorn
The Beggar Maid
(1921)
Peasant Girl / Beggar Maid
Sentimental Tommy
(1921)
My Lady o' the Pines
(1921)
Norah Collison
The Rapids
(1922)
Elsie Worden
Hope
(1922)
Joan - the Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter
John Smith
(1922)
Irene Mason
The Man Who Played God
(1922)
Young Woman
The Young Painter
(1922)
Helen Seymour
The Angelus
(1922)
Bit Part
Puritan Passions
(1923)
Rachel
The Bright Shawl
(1923)
Narcissa Escobar
Success
(1923)
Rose Randolph
Woman-Proof
(1923)
Violet Lynwood
Hollywood
(1923)
Mary Astor
Second Fiddle
(1923)
Polly Crawford
The Marriage Maker
(1923)
Vivian Hope-Clarke
Inez from Hollywood
(1924)
Fay Bartholdi
The Price of a Party
(1924)
Alice Barrows
To the Ladies
(1924)
Undetermined Secondary Role
Unguarded Women
(1924)
Helen Castle
The Fighting American
(1924)
Mary Brainard
Beau Brummel
(1924)
Lady Margery Alvanley
The Fighting Coward
(1924)
Lucy
Scarlet Saint
(1925)
Fidele Tridon
Don Q Son of Zorro
(1925)
Dolores de Muro
Playing with Souls
(1925)
Margo
Oh, Doctor!
(1925)
Dolores Hicks
The Pace That Thrills
(1925)
Doris
Enticement
(1925)
Leonore Bewlay
Forever After
(1926)
Jennie Clayton
High Steppers
(1926)
Audrey Nye
Don Juan
(1926)
Adriana della Varnese
The Wise Guy
(1926)
Mary
The Sea Tiger
(1927)
Amy Cortissos
The Rough Riders
(1927)
Dolly
Two Arabian Knights
(1927)
Mirza
Rose of the Golden West
(1927)
Elena
The Sunset Derby
(1927)
Molly Gibson
No Place to Go
(1927)
Sally Montgomery
Dressed to Kill
(1928)
Jeanne
Dry Martini
(1928)
Elizabeth Quimby
Heart to Heart
(1928)
Princess Delatorre / Ellen Guthrie
3-Ring Marriage
(1928)
Anna
Sailors' Wives
(1928)
Carol Trent
Romance of the Underworld
(1928)
Judith Andrews
The Woman from Hell
(1929)
Dee Renaud
New Year's Eve
(1929)
Marjorie Ware
Show of Shows
(1929)
Performer in 'The Pirate' Number (uncredited)
Holiday
(1930)
Julia Seton
The Runaway Bride
(1930)
Mary Gray
The Lash
(1930)
Dona Rosita Garcia
Ladies Love Brutes
(1930)
Mimi Howell
The Royal Bed
(1931)
Princess Anne
The Sin Ship
(1931)
Frisco Kitty
White Shoulders
(1931)
Norma Selbee
Other Men's Women
(1931)
Lily Kulper
Men of Chance
(1931)
Marthe
Smart Woman
(1931)
Nancy Gibson
Behind Office Doors
(1931)
Mary Linden
Those We Love
(1932)
May Ballard
The Lost Squadron
(1932)
Follette Marsh
Red Dust
(1932)
Barbara "Babs" Willis
A Successful Calamity
(1932)
Emmy 'Sweetie' Wilton
The World Changes
(1933)
Virginia Claffin Nordholm
Convention City
(1933)
Arlene Dale
Jennie Gerhardt
(1933)
Letty Pace
The Kennel Murder Case
(1933)
Hilda Lake
The Little Giant
(1933)
Ruth Wayburn
Upperworld
(1934)
Hettie Stream
Easy to Love
(1934)
Charlotte
I Am a Thief
(1934)
Odette Mauclair
The Case of the Howling Dog
(1934)
Bessie Foley
The Man with Two Faces
(1934)
Jessica Wells
Return of the Terror
(1934)
Olga Morgan
The Hollywood Gad-About
(1934)
Self
Dinky
(1935)
Martha Daniels
Page Miss Glory
(1935)
Gladys
Straight from the Heart
(1935)
Marian Henshaw
Man of Iron
(1935)
Vida
Red Hot Tires
(1935)
Patricia Sanford
And So They Were Married
(1936)
Edith Farnham
Trapped by Television
(1936)
Barbara 'Bobby' Blake
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan
(1936)
Lillian Cooper
Dodsworth
(1936)
Edith Cortright
Lady from Nowhere
(1936)
Polly Dunlap
The Hurricane
(1937)
Mme. DeLaage
The Prisoner of Zenda
(1937)
Antoinette de Mauban
Paradise for Three
(1938)
Mrs. Irene Mallebre
Listen, Darling
(1938)
Dottie Wingate
No Time To Marry
(1938)
Kay McGowan
There's Always a Woman
(1938)
Lola Fraser
Woman Against Woman
(1938)
Cynthia Holland
Midnight
(1939)
Helene Flammarion
Turnabout
(1940)
Marion Manning
Brigham Young
(1940)
Mary Ann Young
The Great Lie
(1941)
Sandra Kovak
The Maltese Falcon
(1941)
Brigid O'Shaughnessy
Breakdowns of 1941
(1941)
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Across the Pacific
(1942)
Alberta Marlow
The Palm Beach Story
(1942)
The Princess Centimillia
Young Ideas
(1943)
Josephine Evans
Thousands Cheer
(1943)
Hyllary Jones
Blonde Fever
(1944)
Delilah Donay
Meet Me in St. Louis
(1944)
Mrs. Anna Smith
Okay for Sound
(1946)
Adriana (archive footage)
Claudia and David
(1946)
Elizabeth Van Doren
Cynthia
(1947)
Louise Bishop
Cass Timberlane
(1947)
Queenie Havock
Fiesta
(1947)
Señora Morales
Desert Fury
(1947)
Fritzi Haller
Any Number Can Play
(1949)
Ada
Little Women
(1949)
Marmee
Act of Violence
(1949)
Pat
Yesterday and Today
(1953)
(archive footage)
The Thief
(1955)
Isabelle Lagarde
The Power and the Prize
(1956)
Mrs. George Salt
A Kiss Before Dying
(1956)
Mrs. Corliss
The Devil's Hairpin
(1957)
Mrs. Jargin
This Happy Feeling
(1958)
Mrs. Tremaine
A Stranger in My Arms
(1959)
Virgilnie Beasley
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
(1960)
Mrs. Leslie
Return to Peyton Place
(1961)
Mrs. Roberta Carter
Youngblood Hawke
(1964)
Irene Perry
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
(1964)
Jewel Mayhew
The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli
(1973)
Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II
(1976)
(archive footage)
Bogart: The Untold Story
(1997)
Self (archive footage)
The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird
(2006)
Self (archive footage)