Mary Astor

[onehunglow]

If you have to ask, look her up. Too long to go into here.

[Ron Burgundy]

Oh yeah....she really dished it!

Nice bit in there about her affair with George Kaufman.

[johnny]

She was a also a good actress. Her performance in the Maltese Falcon is top notch.

[ST Moron]

She was a also a good actress. Her performance in the Maltese Falcon is top notch.

She was also a very sexy actress.

I don't know how many of you have seen The Palm Beach Story, but she had me thinking some very impure thoughts.

[Vamp]

May 3, 1906(1906-05-03)
Quincy, Illinois, U.S. Died September 25, 1987 (aged 81)
Woodland Hills, California, U.S. Years active 1921-1964 Spouse(s) Kenneth Hawks (1928-1930)
Franklin Thorpe (1931-1936)
Manuel del Campo (1936-1941)
Thomas Gordon Wheelock (1945-1955)

[show]

While there, enjoying a whirlwind social life, she met the playwright George Kaufman and had an affair, which she documented in her diary. Rumors circulated that the diary contained lurid details of affairs with male actors. She denied it contained any such details, an out-of-court settlement was made, and the court ordered the diary destroyed in 1952[2]..

[edit] Scandals

In March 1934, Astor was sued by her parents for support and a public family feud burst out violently. The Langhankes said they did not have enough money for the necessities of life; the only money they had received from their daughter in the last six months was $60 in grocery coupons, and they had to sell some of their furniture to survive. They also cited a foreclosure notice on their home, saying their daughter would not help them pay the mortgage.
However, despite the Depression, Otto had continued to improve their estate. He then took out an $18,000 loan and had a swimming pool installed, which Astor said neither of them ever used and was a waste of money, and he could not afford to pay on the remaining $15,000 incumbrance. Astor said that all of her earnings went to her parents until 1930, being deposited by the studio directly into their bank account, and she received a small allowance. She then decided it was necessary for her to look out for her own future. She gave them the house in June of that year, and for a year thereafter gave them $1,000 per month. In addition, in March 1931, she loaned them $2,515.19, which they did not repay and she never asked for.



The judge ruled that she should give her parents $100 per month. Moorcrest, now valued at $200,000, went on the auction block and sold for only $21,500. Otto was outraged and did not want to accept the bid, but the auctioneer said they had a signed contract, the buyer had deposited the proper deposit, and the sale was final.
In the meantime, Astor's marriage to Franklyn Thorpe continued to deteriorate. She learned from Kaufman that Thorpe had talked to him about their affair. When the inevitable confrontation came, Thorpe told her he would name Kaufman in a divorce suit. He said that if she would let him take their daughter, Marylyn, she could have her back after six months to keep for six months. She believed that later on she could get custody of Marylyn and avoid bad publicity.
In April 1935, Thorpe divorced her in an uncontested suit and gained sole custody of their daughter. In July 1936, while working on Dodsworth with Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton, Astor sued to gain sole custody, as well as for the recovery of stocks and property paid for by her movie earnings, or the monetary equivalent, and a vicious battle broke out that was also well documented by the press.
Thorpe cited her adultery with Kaufman and introduced excerpts of her diary as evidence of the affair. Astor said he had stolen her diary and that most of the passages submitted were forgeries. She said that she was intimidated into not contesting custody when he threatened to ruin her career. She said he assertedly threatened to deprive her of her daughter's companionship unless she transferred the securities to him, which she did shortly before the divorce. She further asserted that he was busy with his practice and unable to properly rear the child.
Excerpts of what she wrote about her marriage and affair with Kaufman were then released by Thorpe's lawyers to the press, who dubbed it the "purple diary," although it was actually penned in Aztec brown ink and not purple, and it became headline news. Although the excerpts in the papers were fairly harmless, with romantic and sentimental chatter and no intimate details, lurid tales of sexually explicit contents began to circulate. No one ever actually read the authentic diary, however, and such reports of its contents were purely speculative.
When Thorpe surrendered the diary to the court it was impounded and the full contents never revealed. The judge was only concerned with the welfare of the child. Astor wanted her diary back, while Thorpe asserted it should be returned to him. The judge ordered that the diary be stored in a safe deposit box, sealed against prying eyes.



Astor received joint custody of her daughter. Marylyn lived with her mother during the school year and with her father during summer vacation. She spent Christmas with both parents.

[



At the same time, Astor's drinking was getting much worse. She admitted to having a problem with alcohol as far back as the 1930s, but it had never interfered with her work schedule or performance. She hit bottom in 1949 and went into a sanitarium for alcoholics.
In 1951, she made a frantic call to her doctor and told him she had taken too many sleeping pills. She was taken to a hospital and the police reported that she had attempted suicide, this being her third overdose in two years, and the story made headline news. She maintained it had been an accident.
That same year, she joined Alcoholics Anonymous and converted to Roman Catholicism.

Astor died on September 25, 1987, at age 81, of respiratory failure due to pulmonary emphysema while a patient in the hospital in the Motion Picture House complex.

[Mach2]

Mary was a babe in her younger days long before Maltese Falcon. The next time you watch MF pay attention to the dialogue between Astor and Bogart because Bogie is very funny. Cynical but damn funny.It's very hard to spot humor in a Film Noire.

[Vamp]

Mary was a babe in her younger days long before Maltese Falcon. The next time you watch MF pay attention to the dialogue between Astor and Bogart because Bogie is very funny. Cynical but damn funny.It's very hard to spot humor in a Film Noire.

That is part of the reason why The Maltese Falcon is one of my favorite films. I just think the "Purple" diary is hysterical. I am glad that the judge, even in those old fashion days, totally ignored it and granted Mary custody of her daughter.

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[Jack-O-Lantern]

LOVE Mary Astor. Her portrayal of 'Jewel Mayhew' in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte was one of the many highlights of that wonderful film.

[growl]

I absolutely love Mary Astor!!!!She was a great actress- See "The Great Lie" with Bette Davis and of course " The Maltese Falcon" She was a great character actress as she grew older, "Return to Peyton Place" as that awful mother, and "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" as Jewel Mayhew. She also was good in a movie with Robert Wagner and Joanne Woodward, (forgot the name) as another one of those awful mothers. Does anyone know of a good biography? I haven't been able to find much on amazon and nothing at the library. NL as always thanks for the great pics. The first thing I do when I get on FAD is look for your posts!

[Northern Lights]

NL as always thanks for the great pics. The first thing I do when I get on FAD is look for your posts!

You're welcome and thanks!

[Miss Chunk]

Ya know, for some reason lately, I have been absolutely fascinated by the story of Mary Astor. I watched her in 'The Lie' last week with Bette Davis, absolutely terrific movie, she was a great actress. I did a google search on her, and actually found a picture of her someone had taken as she is lying on a stretcher after taking an overdose, which she claimed later on, was not an attempt at suicide. She had a fascinating life - a lot of drama - therefore, I am going to the beginning of this thread and reading it from the start. Not a conventional beauty, but she sure had something about her. Apparently, she wrote a tell all book called 'My Life on Film' - but good luck finding it......anyone read it?

[VeuveClicquotNJ]

Here is an interview with Mary's daughter - Marylyn Roh:

http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/...frank-she.html

The blog is extremely well-written and a real treasure for we film fanatics.

VCNJ~

[cricket]

Was she related to John Jacob Astor who was on the Titanic?

[michihunt]

Here is an interview with Mary's daughter - Marylyn Roh:

http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/...frank-she.html

The blog is extremely well-written and a real treasure for we film fanatics.

VCNJ~

Awesome! Thanks for posting this!

[Buttercup]

Here is an interview with Mary's daughter - Marylyn Roh:

http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/...frank-she.html

The blog is extremely well-written and a real treasure for we film fanatics.

VCNJ~

What a great interview!

Does anyone know if Mary ever lived in Florida? Why I ask is I knew a former Flight Attendant who told me an interesting story about Mary. She told me she was on a layover in Florida (maybe Miami, but not sure) when she stopped off in a bar (this may have been sometime in the 1970's). She saw an older woman sitting there drinking. She was wearing a tiara, so she found that interesting and sat next to her. The older woman introduced herself as "Mary" and started talking about old Hollywood and stuff. When the flight attendant asked her if she was an actress, she said yes and introduced herself as Mary Astor. The attendant told me she had some great stories about Bogie and others and really believed she was who she said she was (she said she looked at pictures of her later to make sure, and says it was really her). She told me she was very funny, and really enjoyed talking to her.

Edited to add: I can't find anything about her spending time in Florida, so I don't know if this was the real Mary Astor. But the flight attendant believed she was.

[BillySmartsC]

She was a right bonny lass.

[VeuveClicquotNJ]

Marylyn also seems to have 2 Facebook accounts:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1543298087

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.p...00000682400400

She's as beautiful as her mother.

VCNJ~

[malaki]

The actresses of today can eat their hearts out!!!! She was wickedly gorgeous

[Forever-27]

Jesus - Northern Lights like to post pics
lol

She was a very attractive woman. Wow that must have been some big deal when her folks took her to court. Her daughters interview had me hooked. It was great

[Miss Chunk]

Yowza! Thanks for all the info - I am going to watch the interview right now! You are right - no actress today holds a candle to her. She always had a vulnerable look in her eye, no matter how 'tough' she appeared in her role. Imagine her parents taking her to court, that must have just been awful for her. I hope she was happy some times in her life...