Mary Astor (May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an
American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in
The Maltese Falcon (1941) with
Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long
motion picture career as a teenager in the
silent movies of the early
1920s.
She eventually made a successful transition to
talkies, but almost saw her career destroyed due to public scandal in the mid-1930s. She was sued for support by her parents and was later branded an adulterous wife by her ex-husband during a custody fight over her daughter. Overcoming these stumbling blocks in her private life, Astor went on to even greater success on the screen, eventually winning the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Sandra Kovak in
The Great Lie (1941). She was a
MGM contract player through most of the 1940s and continued to act in movies, on
television and on
stage until her retirement from the screen in 1964. Astor was the
author of five
novels. Her
autobiography became a
bestseller, as did her later book,
A Life on Film, which was specifically about her career.