Biography

Mary Astor

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Overview

Born
May 3, 1906 · Quincy, Illinois, USA
Died
September 25, 1987 · Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (respiratory failure due to pulmonary emphysema)
Birth name
Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke
Nicknames
- The Cameo Girl
- Rusty
Height
5′ 6″ (1.68 m)

Mini bio

Mary Astor was born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke on May 3, 1906 in Quincy, Illinois to Helen Marie Vasconcellos, an American of Portuguese and Irish ancestry from Illinois, and Otto Ludwig Langhanke, a German immigrant. Mary's parents were very ambitious for her and wanted something better for her than what they had, and knew that if they played their cards right, they could make her famous. Recognizing her beauty, they pushed her into various beauty contests. Luck was with Mary and her parents because one contest came to the attention of Hollywood moguls who signed her when she was 14.

Mary's first movie was a bit part in The Scarecrow (1920). It wasn't much, but it was a start. Throughout 1921-1923 she continued her career with bit or minor roles in a number of motion pictures. In 1924, she landed a plum assignment with a role as Lady Margery Alvaney opposite the great John Barrymore in the film Beau Brummel (1924). This launched her career to stardom, as did a lively affair with Barrymore. However, the affair ended before she could star with him again in the classic Don Juan (1926). By now, Mary was the new cinematic darling, with each film packing the theaters.

By the end of the 1920s, the sound revolution had taken a stronghold on the industry, and Mary was one of those lucky actresses who made the successful transition to "talkies" because of her voice and strong screen presence. Mary's career soared to greater heights. Films such as Red Dust (1932), Convention City (1933), Man of Iron (1935), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) kept her star at the top. In 1938, she turned out five feature films that kept her busy and in the spotlight. After that, she churned out films at a lesser rate. In 1941 she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Sandra Kovac in The Great Lie (1941). That same year she appeared in the celebrated film The Maltese Falcon (1941), but her star soon began to fall.

Because of her three divorces, her first husband Kenneth Hawks' death in a plane crash, alcoholism, a suicide attempt, and a persistent heart condition, Mary started to get smaller film roles. She appeared in only five productions throughout the 1950s. Her final fling with the silver screen was as Jewell Mayhew in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964).Although it was her final film, she had appeared in a phenomenal 123 motion pictures in her entire career.

Mary lived out her remaining years confined to the Motion Picture Country Home, where she died of a heart attack on September 25, 1987. She was 81.
- IMDb mini biography by: Denny Jackson
Her German immigrant father pushed her into a beauty contest at 14 and her first movie, Sentimental Tommy (1921), at 15. After a number of minor parts she starred in John Barrymore's Beau Brummel (1924). She had a lively affair with Barrymore, over with before she starred a second time with him, in Don Juan (1926), the first silent movie with Vitaphone music and sound effects. Her first husband, director Kenneth Hawks (brother of Howard Hawks), died in a 1930 plane crash. While divorcing her second husband in 1936 her personal diary was entered in evidence in the custody fight for their daughter. Included among other well-publicized juicy bits was her secret affair with playwright 'George S. Kaufman (I)'. Her career picked up after the scandal: The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Midnight (1939) (again with Barrymore), Brigham Young (1940), and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Great Lie (1941). Her crowning role was the lying Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Three divorces, alcoholism, and attempted suicide resulted in smaller parts from then on, until Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), her last due to a heart condition. She lived her final years confined to the Motion Picture Country Home.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Family

Spouses
Children
Parents

Trivia

Gave birth to her daughter Marylyn two months premature on her yacht in Honolulu, Hawaii. Both mother and daughter almost lost their lives.
Thanked both Bette Davis and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in her acceptance speech for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1941 for The Great Lie (1941).
After shooting Little Women (1949), Astor decided against renewing her contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as she had grown tired of playing humdrum mothers.
Having suffered from alcoholism for 20 years, Astor finally checked into a sanitarium for alcoholics in 1949.
Converted to Roman Catholicism in 1951 following a suicide attempt.

Quotes

A painter paints, a musician plays, a writer writes - but a movie actor waits.
I was never totally involved in movies. I was just making my father's dream come true.
It's not good to make sentimental journeys. You see the differences instead of the sameness.
[on her early Hollywood roles] I was as two-dimensional as the screen itself: cool, indifferent, looking lovely in close-ups. Period. Period. Period. When was I ever going to learn to act? You can't learn if you can't experiment and find out what works and doesn't work. But the hours are long, the schedule rigid, so I did what I was told and saved time and money for the front office. And got a lot of jobs that way.
Once you start asking questions, innocence is gone.