Mary Astor

American actress whose career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of concert pianist Sandra Kovak in The Great Lie (1941). Astor made 109 movies in a career spanning 45 years. She was the quintessential star of her era who maintained her career well into the next generation.

As a kid, Astor entered a Fame and Fortune contest given in a movie magazine. After she was named a semi-finalist, her dad decided that show biz did indeed represent fame and fortune through his finely featured daughter, with her huge eyes and classic profile. He moved his family to Chicago, then New York in 1920. A 14-year-old wanna-be did not open doors easily and they lived on short rations. She finally was signed to a six-month contract with Paramount, out of which nothing developed other than a new name, Mary Astor. However, in 1921 she was cast in a two-reeler, The Beggar Maid, which proved to be her first success. In 1922 she had her first feature role. She was dominated by her ambitious parents and dictatorial father, and the family moved to Hollywood in 1923.

Her first Hollywood role and her first love affair was with John Barrymore at 17, in Beau Brummel. She won an Oscar as the Best Supporting Actress in The Great Lie (1941).

After making 39 silent flicks, in 1929 her voice was deemed "too masculine" for talkies. She went ten months without work. She broke the jinx by acting in a local play in which her voice was praised as being low and vibrant. "Same girl. Same voice," she later wrote. Her first talkie, Ladies Love Brutes, with Fredric March, was released in 1930.

In later years Astor played innumerable mothers, as in Thousands Cheer (1943), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and Little Women (1949).

It took years to break free of her parents.