Watch Mary Astor Videos. Free Celebrity Videos Online. Pictures. Bio. Filmography. OVGuide.

Biography: Mary Astor

Pressured into an acting career by her ambitious parents, Mary Astor was a silent film star before she was 17 -- a tribute more to her dazzling good looks than anything else. Debuting in The Beggar Maid (1921), Astor appeared opposite John Barrymore in 1923's Beau Brummell with whom she had a romantic relationship and later starred with in Don Juan (1926), Anxious not to be a victim of the talking-picture revolution, the actress perfected her vocal technique in several stage productions for Edward Everett Horton's Los Angeles-based Majestic Theatre, and the result was a most successful talkie career. Things nearly fell to pieces in 1936 when, in the midst of a divorce suit, Astor's ex-husband tried to gain custody of the couple's daughter by making public a diary she had kept. In this volume, Astor detailed her affair with playwright George S. Kaufman; portions of the diary made it to the newspapers, causing despair for Astor and no end of embarrassment for Kaufman. But Astor's then-current employer, producer Sam Goldwyn, stood by his star and permitted her to complete her role in his production of Dodsworth (1936). Goldwyn was touched by Astor's fight for the custody of her child, and was willing to overlook her past mistakes. Some of Astor's best films were made after the scandal subsided, including The Maltese Falcon (1941), in which she played the gloriously untrustworthy Brigid O'Shaughnessy opposite Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade, and The Great Lie (1941), in which she played a supremely truculent concert pianist (and won an Academy Award in the bargain). Seemingly getting better as she got older, Astor spent the final phase of her career playing spiteful or snobbish mothers, with one atypical role as murderer Robert Wagner's slow-on-the-uptake mom in A Kiss Before Dying (1956). A lifelong aspiring writer, Astor wrote two entertaining and insightful books on her career, My Story and A Life on Film. Retiring after the film Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (1966), Astor fell victim to health complications and financial tangles, compelling her to spend her last years in a small but comfortable bungalow on the grounds of the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide less

Find videos of Mary AstorFree Mary Astor videos

Movies (96)
Videos

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
...
next >

Youngblood Hawke (1964)
Cast: Werner Klemperer Eva Gabor
Tags: Romantic Drama Melodrama Drama
Length: 137min
Youngblood Hawke (James Franciscus) is a Kentucky truck driver who comes to New York City to make it as a writer. He meets editor Jeanne Green (Suzanne Pleshette), who sees talent in Hawke's work. Jeanne falls for the handsome Kentuckian and helps him...
Find Videos

Return to Peyton Place (1961)
Cast: Tuesday Weld José Ferrer
Tags: Ensemble Film Drama Melodrama
Length: 122min
If anything, this star-studded sequel is even sillier than the original, adding to its problems by completely recasting all the roles, combining several of them into existing characters. Carol Lynley is the heroine this time, and she leaves Peyton...
Find Videos

A Stranger in My Arms (1959)
Cast: June Allyson Charles Coburn
Tags: Drama Melodrama
Length: 88min
Though billed fifth, Mary Astor is the one to watch in the Ross Hunter-produced soapera Stranger in My Arms. Astor portrays a neurotically possessive mother who'll stop at nothing to win a posthumous medal of honor for her son. But air force major...
Find Videos

This Happy Feeling (1958)
Cast: Debbie Reynolds Blake Edwards Henry Mancini
Tags: Romantic Drama Drama Romance
Length: 83min
This Happy Feeling is based on the F. Hugh Herbert play For Love or Money. Debbie Reynolds plays impulsive Janet Blake, who develops a crush on retired stage star Preston Mitchell (Curt Jurgens). Rejuvenated by Janet's ardor, Mitchell decides to...
Find Videos

The Devil's Hairpin (1957)
Tags: Drama Sports Drama
Length: 82min
Actor Cornel Wilde branched out into directing with The Devil's Hairpin--reserving the starring role for himself. Wilde plays a motor racing champion who ruins his career through his reprehensible behavior on and off the track. Thrown off the racing...
Find Videos

A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
Tags: Thriller Psychological Thriller
Length: 94min
Budd Corliss (Robert Wagner) is an ambitious, poor boy from the wrong-side-of-the-tracks who murders his girlfriend Dorothy (Joanne Woodward) -- making the death look like a suicide -- when her pregnancy eliminates his chances of being accepted by her...
Find Videos

Any Number Can Play (1949)
Cast: Clark Gable Mary Astor Frank Morgan
Tags: Drama Thriller Family Drama
Length: 102min
In this light drama, Clark Gable once again played his stock-in-trade role of a rogue with a heart of gold. Charlie King (Gable) runs a casino, but, in a business that thrives among the unscrupulous, Charlie takes pride in running an honest game and...
Find Videos

Act of Violence (1949)
Cast: Fred Zinnemann Janet Leigh
Tags: Crime Drama Film Noir Drama
Length: 82min
An unusually disturbing oir from a director better known for more mainstream fare like High Noon and From Here to Eternity, Act of Violence focuses on a WWII veteran haunted by his past. A film that was close to the director's heart, he said that it...
Find Videos

Cass Timberlane (1947)
Cast: Spencer Tracy Lana Turner
Tags: Melodrama Marriage Drama Drama Romance
Length: 119min
A visibly uneasy Spencer Tracy plays the title role in this lavish MGM screen version of Sinclair Lewis' 1945 magazine serial. A small-town bachelor judge, Cass Timberlane, takes a personal interest in beautiful stenographer Jinny Marshland (Lana...
Find Videos

Fiesta (1947)
Cast: Akim Tamiroff
Tags: Adventure Drama Adventure Drama
Length: 44min
Esther Williams moves from the swimming pool to the bull ring in this musical drama. Antonio Morales (Fortunio Bonanova) was once a champion bullfighter; now in retirement, Antonio and his wife (Mary Astor) have high hopes that their son Mario...
Find Videos

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
...
next >

Mary Astor

Biography: Mary Astor

Searching for videos...

Related Clips

Share This Page

Video Search