Trivia

Gave birth to her daughter Marylyn two months premature on her yacht in Honolulu, Hawaii. Both mother and daughter almost lost their lives.

Thanked both Bette Davis and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in her acceptance speech for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1941 for Le grand mensonge (1941).

After shooting Les quatre filles du Dr March (1949), Astor decided against renewing her contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as she had grown tired of playing humdrum mothers.

Converted to Roman Catholicism in 1951 following a suicide attempt.

Having suffered from alcoholism for 20 years, Astor finally checked into a sanitarium for alcoholics in 1949.

In 1959, she penned her frank autobiography, "My Story", which was a bestseller, a tell-all in which she openly discussed her battle with alcohol and her failed marriages, but, interestingly, avoided the subject of her film career. In 1971, she also wrote five novels and came out with a memoir, "A Life on Film", in which she DID discuss her film career. This was also a bestseller.

Lived with her son Tono in Fountain Valley, California after filming Chut...chut...chère Charlotte (1964) until 1971 when she moved to a small cottage on the grounds of the Motion Picture and Television Country House in Woodland Hills due to her chronic heart condition.

Lived with her close friend Florence Eldridge and her husband Fredric March following the sudden death of her husband Kenneth Hawks.

Bette Davis was originally cast as Sandra Kovak, the hot-tempered but talented pianist, in Le grand mensonge (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.

Although Chut...chut...chère Charlotte (1964) will show as Miss Astor's final film on a chronological list of her work, Youngblood Hawke (1964) was actually the last film she worked on. "Hawke" was released on November 4, 1964, before "Charlotte"; which was released about 7 weeks later, on December 24.

According to "Reel Facts: The Movie Book of Records", Astor earned $500 per week in the early 1920s at Famous Players and rose to $3750 per week at 20th Century Fox during the 40 week 1928-1929 season.

Was almost fired from Jeunesse perdue (1936) following the revelation of her affair with George S. Kaufman, but Samuel Goldwyn insisted she remain in the picture.

Her son Anthony was born five weeks premature.

Her nickname "Rusty" came from her dark auburn hair. One fan magazine described her hair color as "Titian, which photographs black, and her eyes are very dark".

She has appeared in six films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: La belle de Saïgon (1932), Jeunesse perdue (1936), Le prisonnier de Zenda (1937), La Baronne de minuit (1939), Le faucon maltais (1941) and Le chant du Missouri (1944).

Her father Otto died in February 1943 of a heart attack and her mother Helen died in January 1947 of a heart ailment.

Had two children: daughter Marylyn Hauoli Thorpe (Marilyn Thorpe; b. June 15, 1932) with ex-husband Dr. Franklyn Thorpe, and son Anthony Paul Del Campo (June 5, 1939 - May 26, 2014) with ex-husband Manuel Del Campo.

Attended and graduated from Kenwood-Loring School in Chicago, Illinois.

Acording to an August 1924 Topeka Capital article, Mary Astor (Lucille Langhanke) grew up and attended school in Topeka. Her father was a window dresser at the Crosby Brothers store.

Sister-in-law of Howard Hawks and William B. Hawks, cousin-in-law of Carole Lombard.

WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) Baby Star on 1926.

Had appeared with Henry O'Neill in five films: Meurtre au chenil (1933), The World Changes (1933), Vengeance d'artiste (1934), Upperworld (1934) and Dinky (1935).

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6701 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

Was the 17th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Le grand mensonge (1941) at The 14th Academy Awards on February 26, 1942.

On August 26, 2019, she was honored with a day of her film work during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 38-40. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

Following her death, she was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Became pregnant by her 1st husband Kenneth Hawks in July 1928, but she underwent an abortion.

In her book "A Life on Film," Mary Astor recalled that by the time the film Jeunes idées (1943) came along, she was beginning to be disturbed about the direction her career was taking, having signed a term contract with MGM. She was pushed into a long line of what she called "Mothers for Metro", and when informed that in this film, she would be playing Susan Peters' mother, she thought, "Swell; what do I do as Susan Peters mother: change her diaper or console her because she wasn't asked to the prom?".

She was a staunch liberal Democrat who was active in the women's chapter of the Hollywood Democratic Committee as well as the campaigns of such liberal presidents as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter.

Grandmother to Frances (b. March 11, 1951), Clare (b. July 16, 1955), Gabrielle (b. October 15, 1957) and John (b. November 28, 1961) via daughter Marylyn and her husband, Frank Roh.

Wrote her autobiography 'My Story'.

In March 2014, she was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month.

Grandmother to Krystin (b. August 29, 1970) and Michael (b. December 11, 1974) via son Tono and his wife, Patrica Leuty.

She died only seven days before her Le prisonnier de Zenda (1937) co-star Madeleine Carroll.

Is one of 6 actresses to have won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing a character who is pregnant at some point during the film, hers being for Le grand mensonge (1941). The others are Kim Hunter for Un tramway nommé désir (1951), Mary Steenburgen for Melvin et Howard (1980), Brenda Fricker for My Left Foot (1989), Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener (2005), and Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006).

Mary Astor was twice the screen mother of Judy Garland ("Listen. darling" and "Meet me in St. Louis"), Margaret O'Brien ("Meet me in St. Louis" and "Little women"), and Elizabeth Taylor ("Cynthia" and "Little women").

As an underage starlet in the early 1920s Mary Astor was under the physical and financial control of her father, Otto. When she turned 26, she gained control of her personal life and her finances. Her parents then sued her for financial support.

During the transition of the American film industry to the "talkies" (sound films), Astor had to go through a sound test by the Fox Film Corporation to determine whether her voice was suitable for the medium. She failed because the studio found her voice to be too deep for a woman. The studio released her from her contract and she found herself out of work for eight months in 1929. After receiving voice training and singing lessons (and after playing the second female lead in hit play), Astor's voice was praised as "low and vibrant" and she was recommended for speaking roles.

For several years, Astor lived in the mansion Moorcrest. Her parents had bought the mansion in 1925 with the initial profits from her film career. Designed by the self-taught Theosophist architect Marie Russak, Moorcrest was unique in style. It combined architectural elements from the Moorish Revival and Mission Revival styles with windows and decorative elements from the Arts and Crafts movement.