Mary Astor

[JackFavell]

OH!

My favortie scene in Meet Me in St. Louis is the one with the two veteran actors, Leon Ames and Mary Astor...spent at the piano, simging "their" song. It never fails to make me weep -- many a time I saw my mother rub her hands the way Mary does before placing her hands on the keys, and the way she simply stays with him, and makes her point without ever having to say a word...well, I am verklmpt just writing this. As I get older,this is what I appreciate most in the movie.

[moira finnie]

May 3rd, 2010

Mary Astor's Birthday has a day of her films on TCM, some of them very rarely shown (all times shown are EST)

6:15 AM
Beau Brummel (1924)
In this silent film, the legendary dandy takes on British society to court a lady above his station. Cast: John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Willard Louis. Dir: Harry Beaumont. BW-128 mins, TV-G

8:30 AM
Runaway Bride, The (1930)
A criminal gang goes after the jewels their dying leader stashed in a woman's handbag. Cast: Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes, David Newell. Dir: Donald Crisp. BW-66 mins, TV-G

9:45 AM
Sin Ship, The (1931)
A ship's captain fights to protect a female passenger from his crew. Cast: Louis Wolheim, Mary Astor, Ian Keith. Dir: Louis Wolheim. BW-65 mins, TV-G

11:00 AM
Smart Woman (1931)
A woman plots to make her cheating husband jealous. Cast: Mary Astor, Robert Ames, Edward Everett Horton. Dir: Gregory La Cava. BW-68 mins, TV-G

12:15 PM
Dinky (1935)
A military school cadet's mother is framed and sent to prison. Cast: Jackie Cooper, Mary Astor, Roger Pryor. Dir: D. Ross Lederman. BW-65 mins, TV-G

1:30 PM
Woman Against Woman (1938)
A divorcee decides she wants her husband back after he's re-married. Cast: Mary Astor, Herbert Marshall, Virginia Bruce. Dir: Robert Sinclair. BW-61 mins, TV-PG

2:45 PM
There's Always a Woman (1938)
While working on a simple case, married private eyes uncover a murder. Cast: Joan Blondell, Melvyn Douglas, Mary Astor. Dir: Alexander Hall. BW-81 mins, TV-G

4:15 PM
Midnight (1939)
An unemployed showgirl poses as Hungarian royalty to infiltrate Parisian society. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore. Dir: Mitchell Leisen. BW-94 mins, TV-G

6:00 PM
Great Lie, The (1941)
Believing her husband to be dead, a flyer's wife bargains with his former love to adopt the woman's baby. Cast: Bette Davis, Mary Astor, George Brent. Dir: Edmund Goulding. BW-108 mins, TV-PG, CC

[rudyfan]

Beau Brummell bored the pants off me (figuratively speaking) but I'm there for the rest of the line up, a good many I've not seen before. I will always watch The Great Lie, it's such fun!

[intothenitrate]

Just checked my order status online...it looks like my copy of The Palm Beach Story will be waiting for me when I get home from work!

[Professional Tourist]

[sandykaypax]

Mary Astor had such a beautiful, patrician profile.

Sandy K

[knitwit45]

(moved this to this existing thread)

I don't believe Mary Astor has her own thread, and after some pointed discussion of her, thought it would be nice to start one. I used to think she was quite charmless, based mainly on her character of Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon. I mean, come on! That awful haircut, her awful poison-ality...what was to like?


yeah. Then I saw the 1949 version of Little Women. Although the first time (and many times after) I was mainly watching June Allyson, this time I was really struck by MA's quiet strength, her warm affection for her little women, her 'Mother-ness'. Much later, here in fact, I learned that she was making two movies ath the same time. This one, and a down on her luck shady lady in Act of Violence. At the same time? Maybe she was a lot more talented than dumb me had first thought...





Then, within a short period of time,I saw her playful and sexy in Across the Pacific




nasty, funny, desperate. and going head to head with Bette Davis in The Great Lie (academy award for Best Supporting Actress)



and my favorite of any of her roles, Edith Cortright in Dodsworth When she sits on the floor, listening to Dodsworth plan his life with her....wow.




all my previous misconceptions of her went flying out the window...

Maybe not Hollywood Star Gorgeous, but What A Woman!!!

[moira finnie]

Hi, Nan! Sorry it took me awhile to get around to tidying up the thread as you requested. It is always good to read about Mary Astor getting her due!

[Vecchiolarry]

Hello Everybody,

Here's my post from TCM on Mary:-

Mary Astor- Mary was the movie star that I knew best. I met her on the set of "Little Women", a movie she detested as saccharine and stupid. 'Smarmy Marmie' is what she called her character in that.

•her first husband, Kenneth Hawks, was a brother of Howard Hawks. He was tragically killed in an airplane accident in 1930.
•she had 2 children, Marylynn and Anthony (TonTon) and had several grandchildren and great grandchildren - all of whom visited her in the Motion Picture Home at the end of her life.
•in 1970, Mary and I planned a trip to Japan for the Osaka World Fair. When word got out about this, we became saddled with extra baggage in the form of my mother, who insisted on accompanying us!
We stayed at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo and were visited by Prince Takamatso, who was a great fan of Mary's. He was the Emperor's brother.
We took the bullet train to Osaka and stopped at Mount Fujiama and rang a gigantic prayer bell that takes prayers to the mountain in the form of ripples on the lake in front of it... Great karma!!!!!

•in 1971, Mary and I met up secretly in Vancouver for a long weekend without telling anybody. A woman in the Hotel Vancouver restaurant thought she recognized Mary and stated that she looked a lot like Mary Astor, the old movie star, and Mary just laughed and said, "Oh Heavens, what would Mary Astor be doing here?!!"
She saved my life, when a pedestrian light turned green and I stepped out to cross the street, and a car wizzed through its red light. She pulled me back just in time. I said, "He was in the wrong!" And, she just looked at me and said, "Yes, but you could be dead right!!"..... Always loved that Mary!!

•she was greatly disappointed about losing only one role in her career - Katharine Hepburn's role in "Summertime". She was unfortunately uninsurable at that time because of her alcohol problems. Too bad but she did join AA afterwards.
•she decided to do "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" as her swan song because the character dies in the movies. "A fitting exit" she told Bette Davis.
•her father took all her movie earnings until about 1932, when she took control of her life. When her parents died in the early 40's, they had spent all of her money; there was none left - she had to bury them.
•she always paid her own way through life and was proud that she was not a charity case in the Motion Picture Home.
The day before she died in 1987, she had made out a cheque for the next months rent; sadly it was dated 1965....... Sad that she was proud but mentally unaware.

Larry

[Vienna]

Here is a lovely tribute to Miss Mary Astor recently created by new member Erika1712:

[youtube][/youtube]

The ending made me tear-up a little bit, and I'm not even particularly a fan of Miss Astor.

Wonderful tribute. Thank you so much.

[intothenitrate]

Your personal story about Mary Astor resonates very strongly with my own, Knitty. Very well put!! Her character in The Maltese Falcons also left me at first with with a general feeling of "meh," as the kids say. (That haircut is pretty bad). She's announced by Sam Spade's secretary as being good looking -- I forget the exact word she uses -- and I would think, "Really?"

Then I saw her in the two Barrymore silents Beau Brummel and Don Juan and she took my breath away. She isn't given much to do in those pictures, but she more than earned her reputation (for being a knock-out). After seeking out and watching more of her work, I realized what a great actress she was.

When I circled back and watched TMF again with my new-found appreciation, I was floored by her performance. Here was a desperate person who had been living out of suitcases for who knows how long, whose self-respect is at nadir, who lies so habitually that she isn't even sure what the truth is anymore. It's an honest and thoughtful performance of a character utterly compromised. It just gets a little bit lost amongst the -- shall we say -- less nuanced performances of the others in that great cast.

[Western Guy]

I apologize again to anyone I may have offended about my comments regarding Mary Astor. She was a fine actress but I've really only seen her onscreen a couple of times and she just didn't click with me as attractive ( a la Ann Sheridan, Veronica Lake, Ingrid Bergman, etc.)-- then I realized, it was based more on those awful hairstyles she wore, such as in THE MALTESE FALCON.

Don't want to say anything else negative about Miss Astor, but if one is interested I do know a story that is none-too-flattering which has to do with another reason why George Raft turned down THE MALTESE FALCON -- and it doesn't reflect on George.

[charliechaplinfan]

Pray do tell, I'm curious. I have to say I'm a fan of Mary Astor but for years I'dd only seen 2 films with her in, Red Dust where she's a match for Harlow and The Maltese Falcon where she presents an altogether different persona and a bad hair cut, it doesn't flatter her fine features. She was a prolific actress, she must have never stopped working.

[Western Guy]

Okay. George told this story to Jon Tuska during a latter-day interview. As always at that stage of his life, George was asked why he turned down the Sam Spade role in THE MALTESE FALCON. In this talk with Tuska, George said the main reason was that he'd listened to his agent. One factor to be considered was the film was a remake and the previous versions had caused no excitement at the box office. Of course there was also the fact that Huston was an untried director. But what Raft's agent Myron Selznick also mentioned was that he was going to have to play opposite an "unattractive" actress. During the interview Raft never mentioned if that actress was Mary Astor or if that was the deciding factor in George's turning down the part.

[knitwit45]

Stone, you didn't offend me, I just wanted to share my personal feelings about this amazing woman. I thought her VERY unattractive when I first saw her in TMF. Then, seeing her as the Mama in Meet Me In St Louis (Louie), I was shocked that it was the same woman. This all took place when I was not more than 12 or so, watching The Million Dollar Movie on weekends. It wasn't until the past 10 years or so that I really started paying attention to her. Now she is one of my treasures.
Please, do yourself a great favor and look a little closer..she will knock your socks into tomorrow!

First rule here at the O is to always take a step back and give the dissenter benefit of the doubt