
Gertrude Astor
Actor · 1887 – 1977 · Lakewood, Ohio, USA
Gertrude Astor (Born Gertrude Eyster November 9, 1887 – November 9, 1977) was an American motion picture character actress, who began her career playing trombone on a riverboat. Born in Lakewood, Ohio, Astor at the age of 12 ran off and joined a woman's band as a trombone player and toured the states. In New York she left the band to obtain film work and got a job as an extra before her career took off. Astor was a prolific performer, between 1915 and 1962 she appeared in over 250 movies. Her first known credit is in a Biograph short in 1915. She then became a contract player at Universal. A tall, angular and beautiful woman, Astor frequently towered over the leading men of the era; thus, she was most frequently utilized in comedy roles as aristocrats, golddiggers and "heroine's best pal". Her best-known silent appearances were as the visiting stage star in Stage Struck (1925) with Gloria Swanson, as the vamp who plants stolen money on Harry Langdon in The Strong Man (1926), and as Laura LaPlante's wisecracking travelling companion in The Cat and the Canary (1927). Astor worked prolifically at Hal Roach studios with such headliners as Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang, and especially Charley Chase. She was also kept busy at Columbia Pictures' short subjects unit. She continued to play bits in feature films throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. She was briefly glimpsed as the first murder victim in the Sherlock Holmes adventure The Scarlet Claw and was among the ranks of dress extras in 1956's Around the World in Eighty Days. Her last appearance was in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. In her later years, Astor was a welcome guest at several Sons of the Desert gatherings, and became an honorary member of the Way Out West tent. She died in Woodland Hills, California from a stroke. She is interred in the Abbey of Psalms in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, CA.
Movies24
Movie7.7DramaFamilyIn the years before World War II, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children and brings a new love of life and music into the home.
The Sound of Music
1965 · 3.8K votes
Movie8.3DramaA hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.
Sunset Boulevard
1950 · 3K votes
Movie8.1DramaFrom the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo's director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.
All About Eve
1950 · 1.8K votes
Movie7.8WesternQuestions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance. As the territory's safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962 · 1.3K votes
Movie6.7AdventureComedyBased on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.
Around the World in 80 Days
1956 · 607 votes
Movie7.3DramaRomanceA young social climber wins the heart of a beautiful heiress but his former girlfriend's pregnancy stands in the way of his ambition.
A Place in the Sun
1951 · 430 votes
Movie7.0HorrorDramaAfter his brother's death, Larry Talbot returns home to his father and the family estate. Events soon take a turn for the worse when Larry is bitten by a werewolf.
The Wolf Man
1941 · 699 votes
Movie7.1DramaMusicA movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.
A Star Is Born
1954 · 340 votes
Movie7.7DramaRomanceIt's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946 · 769 votes
Movie6.8WesternThree outlaws on the run discover a dying woman and her baby. They swear to bring the infant to safety across the desert, even at the risk of their own lives.
3 Godfathers
1948 · 217 votes
Movie6.9WesternWarA Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail supply center. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and the commander. The secret plan for the mission is overheard by a southern belle who must be taken along to assure her silence.
The Horse Soldiers
1959 · 291 votes
Movie7.7ComedyCrimeThe film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been laid-off. To make money for his wife and child, he marries wealthy widows and then murders them. His crime spree eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine.
Monsieur Verdoux
1947 · 494 votes
Movie7.5DramaThrillerA socialite marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her.
Leave Her to Heaven
1945 · 290 votes
Movie6.4AdventureActionThe Florida Keys in 1840, where the implacable hurricanes of the Caribbean scream, where the salvagers of Key West, like the intrepid and beautiful Loxi Claiborne and her crew, reap, aboard frail schooners, the harvest of the wild wind, facing the shark teeth of the reefs to rescue the sailors and the cargo from the shipwrecks caused by the scavengers of the sea.
Reap the Wild Wind
1942 · 65 votes
Movie5.7ComedyThe buoyant Molly Brown has survived the first crisis of her life—a flood. Sixteen years later she sets out to make her way in the world. She assures the Leadville saloon keeper that she can sing and play the piano, and learns quickly. Soon she marries Johnny Brown, who in a few years will be able to replace the original cigar wrapper wedding ring with a replica in gold and gemstones. The Browns head for Europe and bring a few crowned heads back to Denver for a party that turns into a ballroom brawl. Molly goes to Europe alone, returning on the Titanic. She didn't survive a flood as a baby for the story to end here.
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
1964 · 47 votes
Movie6.4Science FictionDramaWhen a group of astronomers calculate a star is on a course to slam into Earth, a few days before, it's accompanying planet will first pass close enough to the Earth to cause havoc on land and sea. They set about building a rocket so a few selected individuals can escape to the planet.
When Worlds Collide
1951 · 214 votes
Movie7.2ComedyDramaA happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.
The Women
1939 · 184 votes
Movie7.0DramaHistorySir Walter Raleigh overcomes court intrigue to win favor with the Queen in order to get financing for a proposed voyage to the New World.
The Virgin Queen
1955 · 32 votes
Movie6.4RomanceWealthy American, Jervis Pendleton has a chance encounter at a French orphanage with a cheerful 18-year-old resident, and anonymously pays for her education at a New England college. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor regularly, but he never writes back. Several years later, he visits her at school, while still concealing his identity, and—despite their large age difference—they soon fall in love.
Daddy Long Legs
1955 · 97 votes
Movie6.0ComedyRomanceAfter the sudden death of magazine publisher Colonel Ryder, his nephew, Tony inherits the magazine and has big plans to expand it. While negotiating a loan from the bank, Tony gets a call from a detective surrounding his uncle's death. It turns out Colonel Ryder died in his hotel room with a smile on his face and a young woman was seen fleeing his room wearing only a towel. Suspicious of this woman and afraid the magazine's wholesome image may be tarnished and their loan denied, Tony asks the detective to stick around and find her.
All in a Night's Work
1961 · 22 votes
Movie7.1DramaCrimeAmbulance driver Frank Jessup is ensnared in the schemes of the sensuous but dangerous Diane Tremayne.
Angel Face
1953 · 194 votes
Movie6.4WesternTwo tough westerners bring home a group of settlers who have spent years as Comanche hostages.
Two Rode Together
1961 · 161 votes
Movie6.3DramaRomanceAn exposé of the lives and loves of Madison Avenue working girls and their higher-ups.
The Best of Everything
1959 · 45 votes
Movie6.6ThrillerDramaCleve Marshall, an assistant district attorney, falls for Thelma Jordon, a mysterious woman with a troubled past. When Thelma becomes a suspect in her aunt's murder, Cleve tries to clear her name.
The File on Thelma Jordon
1949 · 68 votes
Series2
TV7.9ComedyFamilyCuban Bandleader Ricky Ricardo would be happy if his wife Lucy would just be a housewife. Instead she tries constantly to perform at the Tropicana where he works, and make life comically frantic in the apartment building they share with landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz, who also happen to be their best friends.
I Love Lucy
1951 · 265 votes
TV4.8ComedySci-Fi & FantasyThe story of the relationship between a man and his mother, the latter having been reincarnated as a 1928 Porter automobile.
My Mother the Car
1965 · 11 votes