Trivia of Mary Astor

 Trivia of Mary Astor (3 May 1906 - 25 September 1987)

*Her controlling parents pushed her into teen beauty contests and stringent piano lessons in the hopes she would become a star. They even moved the whole family over to New York City so their daughter could try her hand at drama.She nicknamed “Rusty” after her long red hair.

*Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s. When talkies arrived, her voice was initially considered too masculine and she was off the screen for a year.She debuted in her first talkie, Ladies Love Brutes (1930) at Paramount, in which she co-starred with her friend Fredric March.

*Astor is perhaps best known for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in the film noir classic "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), opposite Humphrey Bogart.For decades this film could not be legally shown on US television stations because of its underlying suggestions of illicit sexual activity among the characters (i.e., O'Shaughnessy's promiscuity and indications that Joel Cairo was a homosexual).

*Bette Davis was originally cast as Sandra Kovak, the hot-tempered but talented pianist, in The Great Lie (1941) but instead opted for the smaller role of Maggie Van Allen in a bid to let her good friend Astor save her film career. As a result, Astor won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.Mary Astor 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).

*Her personal life was the subject of a scandal in 1930's, when her ex-husband tried to use her private diary as evidence in a custody battle over their daughter. The diary contained explicit details about Astor's affairs, and the resulting trial was dubbed "The Scandal of the Century".She admitted having affairs with famous men such as John Barrymore, George S. Kaufman, and Joseph Kennedy, Sr.

*She play role as Judy Garland's mother twice in movies : Listen Darling (1938) and Meet Me in St. Louis (1944).However after shooting Little Women (1949) as mother of June Allyson, Astor decided against renewing her contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as she had grown tired of playing humdrum mothers.

*Because her love tragedy, alcoholism, a suicide attempt, and a persistent heart condition, Mary got smaller roles in movies. In the whole of the 1950s she appeared in only five productions. Her final fling with the silver screen was as Jewell Mayhew in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964).