Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke
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Awards
Mary Astor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1941 for her role in The Great Lie. She also starred in classics such as The Maltese Falcon 1941, Red Dust 1932, and Dodsworth 1936. Born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke in Quincy, Illinois in 1906, she began her film career at age 14 and made over 120 films.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Mary Astor — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Mary Astor by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Mary Astor — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Signed by Hollywood moguls at age 14 after winning a beauty contest, Mary Astor fulfilled her parents’ ambitions. She was born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke on May 3, 1906 in Quincy, Illinois, to Helen Vasconcelles and Otto Ludwig Wilhelm Langhanke. Her father was a German immigrant; her mother had Portuguese and Irish ancestry. Her parents pushed her into beauty contests, and she attended Kenwood-Loring School in Chicago.
Mary Astor’s breakout came in 1924 when she played Lady Margery Alvaney opposite John Barrymore in Beau Brummel, launching her to stardom and sparking a lively affair with Barrymore. She transitioned to sound films after a brief setback, with hits like Red Dust 1932, The Prisoner of Zenda 1937, and Dodsworth 1936. In 1941, she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Sandra Kovac in The Great Lie, and that same year appeared in The Maltese Falcon. Despite a career slump in the 1950s due to personal struggles, she delivered her final film performance in Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte 1964, capping a career of 123 motion pictures.
Mary Astor was married four times: to director Kenneth Hawks 1928-1930, ended by his death in a plane crash, Dr. Franklyn Thorpe 1931-1935, Manuel del Campo 1937-1944, and Thomas Gordon Wheelock 1945-1955. She had two children: daughter Marylyn Thorpe born 1932 on a yacht in Honolulu and son Anthony Paul del Campo born 1939. Astor battled alcoholism for 20 years, attempted suicide, and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1951. She was a staunch liberal Democrat who supported presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Jimmy Carter.
Mary Astor’s performance in The Great Lie earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 14th Academy Awards in 1942, making her the 17th actress to win an Oscar. Six of her films have been selected for the National Film Registry: Red Dust 1932, Dodsworth 1936, The Prisoner of Zenda 1937, Midnight 1939, The Maltese Falcon 1941, and Meet Me in St. Louis 1944. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, and Turner Classic Movies honored her as Star of the Month in March 2014. Audiences remember Astor as a versatile and resilient star of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Her candid autobiography My Story 1959 became a bestseller.
The complete filmography of Mary Astor — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Mary Astor — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Mary Astor — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
A Painter Paints, a Musician Plays, a Writer Writes – but a Movie Actor Waits.
I Was Never Totally Involved in Movies. I Was Just Making My Father’s Dream Come True.
It’s Not Good to Make Sentimental Journeys. You See the Differences Instead of the Sameness.
Once You Start Asking Questions, Innocence Is Gone.
A Person Without Memory Is Either a Child or an Amnesiac. a Country Without Memory Is Neither a Child nor an Amnesiac, but Neither Is It a Country.
There Are Five Stages in the Life of an Actor: Who’s Mary Astor? Get Me Mary Astor. Get Me a Mary Astor Type. Get Me a Young Mary Astor. Who’s Mary Astor?
At Metro, You Practically Had to Go to the Front Office If You Wanted Something as Real as Having Your Hair Mussed. All Automobiles Were Shiny, a Picture Never Hung Crooked, a Door Never Squeaked, Stocking Seams Were Always Straight and No Actress Ever Had a Shiny Nose.
I Was Never Totally Involved in Movies. I Was Making Someone Else’s Dream Come True. Not Mine.
I Admire Nudity and I Like Sex, and so Did a Lot of People in the ’30S. But, to Me, Overexposure Blunts the Fun. Sex as Something Beautiful May Soon Disappear. Once It Was a Knife so Finely Honed the Edge Was Invisible Until It Was Touched and Then It Cut Deep. Now It Is so Blunt That It Merely Bruises and Leaves Ugly Marks. Nudity Is Fine in the Privacy of My Own Bedroom with the Appropriate Partner. or for a Model in Life Class at Art School. or as Portrayed in Stone and Paint. but I Don’t Like It Used as a Joke or to Titillate. or Be so Bloody Frank About.
Little-known facts about Mary Astor — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
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 The Great Lie.
After shooting Little Women 1949, Astor decided against renewing her contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as she had grown tired of playing humdrum mothers.
After suffering from alcoholism for 20 years, Astor finally checked into a sanitarium for alcoholics in 1949.
Converted to Roman Catholicism in 1951 following a suicide attempt.
Lived with her son Tono in Fountain Valley, California after filming Hush…Hush, Sweet 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 in The Great Lie 1941 but instead opted for a smaller role to let her friend Astor save her film career, resulting in Astor’s Oscar win.
Although Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte 1964 appears as her final film on a chronological list, Youngblood Hawke 1964 was actually the last film she worked on.
In 1959, she penned her frank autobiography My Story, a bestseller that openly discussed her battle with alcohol and failed marriages but avoided her film career.
In 1971, she wrote a memoir A Life on Film discussing her film career, which also became a bestseller.
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 1928-1929 season.
The revelation of her affair with George S. Kaufman nearly got Astor fired from Dodsworth 1936, 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, described by a fan magazine as Titian which photographs black, with very dark eyes.
She has appeared in six films selected for the National Film Registry: Red Dust 1932, Dodsworth 1936, The Prisoner of Zenda 1937, Midnight 1939, The Maltese Falcon 1941, and Meet Me in St. Louis 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 born 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.
According to an August 1924 Topeka Capital article, Mary Astor Lucille Langhanke grew up and attended school in Topeka, where 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.
Played opposite Henry O’Neill in five films: The Kennel Murder Case 1933, The World Changes 1933, The Man with Two Faces 1934, Upperworld 1934, and Dinky 1935.
Awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6701 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.
17th actress to receive an Academy Award; won Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Great Lie 1941 at the 14th Academy Awards on February 26, 1942.
Biography in The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 38-40.
On August 26, 2019, she was honored with a day of her film work during Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.
Following her death, she was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
In her book A Life on Film, Astor recalled her frustration with playing Mothers for Metro at MGM, including playing Susan Peters’ mother in Young Ideas 1943.
Became pregnant by her first husband Kenneth Hawks in July 1928 but underwent an abortion.
Grandmother to Frances born 1951, Clare born 1955, Gabrielle born 1957, and John born 1961 via daughter Marylyn and her husband Frank Roh.
She was a staunch liberal Democrat active in the women’s chapter of the Hollywood Democratic Committee and supported presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter.
Wrote her autobiography My Story.
As an underage starlet in the early 1920s, Mary Astor was under the physical and financial control of her father Otto, and when she turned 26 she gained control; her parents then sued her for financial support.
In March 2014, she was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month.
Died seven days before her The Prisoner of Zenda 1937 co-star Madeleine Carroll.
Grandmother to Krystin born 1970 and Michael born 1974 via son Tono and his wife Patricia Leuty.
One of six actresses to win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing a character who is pregnant at some point during the film, for The Great Lie 1941. The others include Kim Hunter, Mary Steenburgen, Brenda Fricker, Rachel Weisz, and Jennifer Hudson.
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.
Failed a sound test by Fox Film Corporation in 1929 because her voice was deemed too deep; after voice training, her voice was praised as low and vibrant.
For several years, Astor lived in the mansion Moorcrest, bought by her parents in 1925 with her film profits. The mansion combined Moorish Revival and Mission Revival styles.
Appeared in two films nominated for Best Picture Oscar: Dodsworth 1936 and The Maltese Falcon 1941.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Mary Astor.
Celebrities similar to Mary Astor — same craft, ranked by reach.
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