Stage Name: Mary Astor
Birth Name: Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke
Occupation: Movie and Stage Actress /Pinup Model
Years Active: 1920–1964
Notable Works: Working with Bette Davis Mary Astor won an Oscar for Best Supporting Supporting Actress in The Great Lie (1941). Probably the best role of her career was that of Brigid O'Shaughnessy in the The Maltese Falcon (1941) opposite Humphrey Bogart.
Date/Place Birth: May 3, 1906(1906-05-03); Quincy, Illinois, U.S.A.
Date/Death/Cause: Mary Astor died on September 25, 1987, at age 81, of respiratory failure due to pulmonary emphysema (heart attack / respiratory failure) while a patient in the hospital part of the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills California. She is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA. Specific Interment Location: N-L523-5.
Spouse(s) & Children: Kenneth Hawks (1928-1930 his death); Dr. Franklin Thorpe (1931-1936 divorced) The Thorpes had one child, a daughter born June 16, 1932 in Hawaii named Marylyn Hauoli Thorpe; Manuel del Campo (1936-1941 divorced); Thomas Gordon Wheelock (1945-1955 divorced) 1 child, son Anthony ("Tono") born in 1939..
Short Biography: Mary Astor was a gifted American actress born in Illinois the beautiful daughter of first generation German immigrants. Because of one of many beauty contests entered, she was noticed by a movie mogul and was signed up at a studio at the age of 14. In 1924, her movie career took off, after landing an exceptional part in Beau Brummell, a film with the legendary star, John Barrymore.
In the late twenties, she was one of the few actresses who transitioned into "Talkies" but not immediately it took a stint on the theatre stage where she developed and the critics discovered her deep vibrant voice and she already had a lot of movie experience and an incredibly strong screen presence. Mary Astor's golden era as an actress was during the 1930's. In later years Astor did many character roles. She overcame much mid 1930s scandal and trouble in her private life and worked on a film with the legendary Bette Davis where she won an Oscar for her supporting role as Sandra Kovak in The Great Lie (1941). This led to the best role of her career, that of the duplicitous Brigid O'Shaughnessy in the classic The Maltese Falcon (1941) opposite Humphrey Bogart. Mary's film career was prolific and lasted an incredible 44 years, during which time she ran the gamut from limpid ingénue to forceful character player altogether she has 123 motion pictures to her name. This is a great Mary Astor biography and Wikipedia’s biographical information is quite good and the IMDb has a couple of nice Mary Astor mini biographies too.