Born Lucille Langhanke, the transplanted Illinois
native proved a durable actress in Hollywood features from the
early '20s through the '40s, with her screen credits extending
well into the 1960s. Patrician beauty, intelligence, and an undeniable
erotic spark all came into play whether playing ingénues,
femmes fatales, or comic variations on those personae. She underlined
these characters with a steely glint of toughness, although she
would later demur in matronly roles. Astor was the focal point
of a media scandal when a 1936 custody battle for her daughter
uncovered an eye-opening (and uninhibited) personal diary. After
that, she soldiered on in roles that traded smartly on that worldliness,
most notably her indelible Brigid O'Shaughnessy, the lovely, lethal
antiheroine of John Huston's classic The Maltese Falcon. Mary
Astor films include
The Maltese Falcon
The Palm Beach Story
Dodsworth
Red Dust
Across the Pacific
Meet Me in St. Louis
Kiss Before Dying
Our recommendations for the best CD's from the best
artists.
Whether you're thinking of exploring an unfamiliar style or already
building a focused collection, our Essentials pages can streamline
your musical search. From alternative music to zydeco, bebop to
hip-hop, the Essentials will lead you to the hundreds of artists
and thousands of recordings that matter.
