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
A Kiss Before Dying
(1956)
Mrs. Corliss
Desert Fury
(1947)
Fritzi Haller
The Prisoner of Zenda
(1937)
Antoinette de Mauban
Act of Violence
(1949)
Pat
Hollywood
(1923)
Mary Astor
The Kennel Murder Case
(1933)
Hilda Lake
The Hurricane
(1937)
Mme. DeLaage
Fiesta
(1947)
Señora Morales
Full Filmography
Acting
The Beggar Maid
(1921)
Peasant Girl / Beggar Maid
Sentimental Tommy
(1921)
Brother of the Bear
(1921)
Marcia Harthorn
My Lady o' the Pines
(1921)
Norah Collison
Wings of the Border
(1921)
Bullets or Ballots
(1921)
Bit Part
The Rapids
(1922)
Elsie Worden
The Young Painter
(1922)
Helen Seymour
John Smith
(1922)
Irene Mason
Hope
(1922)
Joan - the Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter
The Man Who Played God
(1922)
Young Woman
The Angelus
(1922)
Bit Part
The Bright Shawl
(1923)
Narcissa Escobar
Second Fiddle
(1923)
Polly Crawford
The Marriage Maker
(1923)
Vivian Hope-Clarke
Woman-Proof
(1923)
Violet Lynwood
Success
(1923)
Rose Randolph
Hollywood
(1923)
Mary Astor
Puritan Passions
(1923)
Rachel
Beau Brummel
(1924)
Lady Margery Alvanley
The Fighting Coward
(1924)
Lucy
The Fighting American
(1924)
Mary Brainard
Inez from Hollywood
(1924)
Fay Bartholdi
Unguarded Women
(1924)
Helen Castle
To the Ladies
(1924)
Undetermined Secondary Role
The Price of a Party
(1924)
Alice Barrows
Don Q Son of Zorro
(1925)
Dolores de Muro
Oh, Doctor!
(1925)
Dolores Hicks
Scarlet Saint
(1925)
Fidele Tridon
Enticement
(1925)
Leonore Bewlay
Playing with Souls
(1925)
Margo
The Pace That Thrills
(1925)
Doris
Don Juan
(1926)
Adriana della Varnese
Forever After
(1926)
Jennie Clayton
High Steppers
(1926)
Audrey Nye
The Wise Guy
(1926)
Mary
The Rough Riders
(1927)
Dolly
Two Arabian Knights
(1927)
Mirza
The Sea Tiger
(1927)
Amy Cortissos
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
Romance of the Underworld
(1928)
Judith Andrews
Heart to Heart
(1928)
Princess Delatorre / Ellen Guthrie
Dry Martini
(1928)
Elizabeth Quimby
3-Ring Marriage
(1928)
Anna
Sailors' Wives
(1928)
Carol Trent
Show of Shows
(1929)
Performer in 'The Pirate' Number (uncredited)
The Woman from Hell
(1929)
Dee Renaud
New Year's Eve
(1929)
Marjorie Ware
Holiday
(1930)
Julia Seton
Ladies Love Brutes
(1930)
Mimi Howell
The Lash
(1930)
Dona Rosita Garcia
The Runaway Bride
(1930)
Mary Gray
Other Men's Women
(1931)
Lily Kulper
Behind Office Doors
(1931)
Mary Linden
The Royal Bed
(1931)
Princess Anne
Smart Woman
(1931)
Nancy Gibson
Men of Chance
(1931)
Marthe
The Sin Ship
(1931)
Frisco Kitty
White Shoulders
(1931)
Norma Selbee
Red Dust
(1932)
Barbara "Babs" Willis
The Lost Squadron
(1932)
Follette Marsh
Those We Love
(1932)
May Ballard
A Successful Calamity
(1932)
Emmy 'Sweetie' Wilton
The Little Giant
(1933)
Ruth Wayburn
The Kennel Murder Case
(1933)
Hilda Lake
Jennie Gerhardt
(1933)
Letty Pace
The World Changes
(1933)
Virginia Claffin Nordholm
Convention City
(1933)
Arlene Dale
The Man with Two Faces
(1934)
Jessica Wells
The Case of the Howling Dog
(1934)
Bessie Foley
I Am a Thief
(1934)
Odette Mauclair
Easy to Love
(1934)
Charlotte
Upperworld
(1934)
Hettie Stream
The Hollywood Gad-About
(1934)
Self
Return of the Terror
(1934)
Olga Morgan
Page Miss Glory
(1935)
Gladys
Dinky
(1935)
Martha Daniels
Red Hot Tires
(1935)
Patricia Sanford
Man of Iron
(1935)
Vida
Straight from the Heart
(1935)
Marian Henshaw
Dodsworth
(1936)
Edith Cortright
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan
(1936)
Lillian Cooper
Trapped by Television
(1936)
Barbara 'Bobby' Blake
And So They Were Married
(1936)
Edith Farnham
Lady from Nowhere
(1936)
Polly Dunlap
The Prisoner of Zenda
(1937)
Antoinette de Mauban
The Hurricane
(1937)
Mme. DeLaage
Listen, Darling
(1938)
Dottie Wingate
Paradise for Three
(1938)
Mrs. Irene Mallebre
There's Always a Woman
(1938)
Lola Fraser
Woman Against Woman
(1938)
Cynthia Holland
No Time To Marry
(1938)
Kay McGowan
Midnight
(1939)
Helene Flammarion
Brigham Young
(1940)
Mary Ann Young
Turnabout
(1940)
Marion Manning
The Maltese Falcon
(1941)
Brigid O'Shaughnessy
The Great Lie
(1941)
Sandra Kovak
Breakdowns of 1941
(1941)
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Palm Beach Story
(1942)
The Princess Centimillia
Across the Pacific
(1942)
Alberta Marlow
Thousands Cheer
(1943)
Hyllary Jones
Young Ideas
(1943)
Josephine Evans
Meet Me in St. Louis
(1944)
Mrs. Anna Smith
Blonde Fever
(1944)
Delilah Donay
Claudia and David
(1946)
Elizabeth Van Doren
Okay for Sound
(1946)
Adriana (archive footage)
Desert Fury
(1947)
Fritzi Haller
Fiesta
(1947)
Señora Morales
Cass Timberlane
(1947)
Queenie Havock
Cynthia
(1947)
Louise Bishop
Act of Violence
(1949)
Pat
Little Women
(1949)
Marmee
Any Number Can Play
(1949)
Ada
Yesterday and Today
(1953)
(archive footage)
The Thief
(1955)
Isabelle Lagarde
A Kiss Before Dying
(1956)
Mrs. Corliss
The Power and the Prize
(1956)
Mrs. George Salt
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
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
(1964)
Jewel Mayhew
Youngblood Hawke
(1964)
Irene Perry
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)