Saturday, October 27, 2007

MARY ASTOR --ACTRESS SUPREME


Actress Mary Astor, whom I alluded to from her great work in "The Palm Beach Story", had an astonishing career that started in the silents and included a lot of very good television work. In between, she is remembered for her appearances in numerous classics, notably "The Maltese Falcon", "The Great Lie", for which she won an Academy Award and held her own with Bette Davis, no easy thing. She also appeared in "Dodsworth", a great 30s classic, "Meet Me In St.Louis" and in a remake of "Little Women". In between these landmarks, she played just about every kind of role, large and small and any film in which she appeared improved immeasurably however humble the material. She also wrote novels and survived much personal scandal retiring in the 60s after playing a small but critical role in another Bette Davis film, "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte." Any movie fan seeking out her work will be in for a wonderful time.

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