Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
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5 days ago · — Excerpts published in Kenneth Anger’s HollywoodBabylon, from the diary of actress Mary Astor, whose affair with the playwright and critic George S. Kaufman was exposed during her 1936 custody...
- Her Parents Were Control Freaks
- She Was Hauntingly Beautiful
- She Got "Discovered"
- Her Name Was Completely Different
- Her Mother Was Jealous
- She Was Her Parents' Pet
- She Got An Embarrassing Rejection
- Her Parents Kept Her Prisoner
- A Legend Fell in Lust with Her
- Her Co-Star Seduced Her
Mary Astor didn't exactly have a happy home life. Her controlling parents pushed her into teen beauty contests and stringent piano lessons in the hopes she would become a star. They even moved the whole family over to New York City so their daughter could try her hand at drama. It was a lot of pressure for a little girl...and as we’ll see, it had d...
As it turns out, Astor's horrible parents were still spot-on about their daughter's star potential. Nicknamed “Rusty” after her long red hair, Astor grew into a hauntingly beautiful woman with large, sad eyes. Astor also developed early, turning tall long before her classmates, so much so that it seemed like she was never a child. Oh, but she very ...
Mary Astor's origin story is right out of the Old Hollywood starlet playbook. When Astor was only around 16 years old, famed photographer Charles Albin saw her walking down the street in Manhattan and knew he had to snap a photo of her. It was a date with destiny. Albin's headshots made their way to the desk of Famous Players-Lasky Studio, who imme...
Astor might have been beautiful enough to catch the eye of Hollywood, but she had to undergo a transformation to keep Tinseltown's interest. In a meeting the young girl wasn't even invited to, studio heads changed her name from the "cumbersome" Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke to the pert "Mary Astor" we know today. Well, thanks, guys. It was probably...
Astor's mother had always wanted to be a famous actress herself, so you'd think seeing her daughter on the cusp of becoming one would have been heartwarming for the matron. Nothing could be further from the truth. Helen Marie de Vasconcellos only tightened her controlling grip more on her young daughter, insisting on chaperoning her everywhere. And...
Astor's parents lorded over every single detail of their daughter's life. Her mother accompanied her to set and would constantly re-tweak her makeup and costumes, while at home her father would open all of the letters she received. The poor girl wasn't even allowed to sendher own letters, let alone leave her house solo. This did not go well. Shutte...
At first, Astor let her parents suffocate her without complaint. It came with a high cost. Early on in her career, the legendary Lillian Gish took a shine to the starlet and screen-tested her for director D.W. Griffith. Although Astor was incandescent, Griffith took one look at her father and rejected her, warning, “The man’s a walking cash registe...
Eventually, Astor became a successful starlet—no thanks to her parents—and started pulling in big bucks. This, however, was its own kind of curse. After all, it was her good-for-nothing parents who had full control of her salary, and they had no qualms about spending it on themselves, buying an enormous mansion and keeping her as a virtual prisoner...
In 1924, Astor's beauty snagged her a big film. The debonair veteran actor John Barrymore caught sight of Astor in a photograph and demanded that she star alongside him in his upcoming silent film Beau Brummell. Charismatic and talented, Barrymore took Astor under his wing, giving her career a much-needed boost. But that wasn't all he did. Beau Bru...
In the timeworn tradition of creeps everywhere, the 40-year-old Barrymore wasted no time on set trying to woo his new, nubile co-star—after all, the stage icon had a notorious reputation around Hollywood as a boozy philanderer. Ever the smooth-talker, Barrymore told the teenaged Astor that she was so beautiful she made him “feel faint!” Astor's res...
In 1936, Astor's career was nearly destroyed by scandal. She had an affair with playwright George S. Kaufman and was branded an adulterous wife by her former husband during a custody fight over their daughter.
Apr 21, 2022 · Mary Astor's purple diary : the great American sex scandal of 1936. In 1936 newspapers were ablaze with a scandalous child custody trial taking place in Hollywood and starring the actress Mary Astor; the story pushed Hitler and Franco off the front pages.
Jun 2, 2016 · This was the sex scandal that fascinated and titillated the nation 80 years ago this summer. Mary Astor is best known today as the femme fatale in the Humphrey Bogart noir classic, "The Maltese...
Illustrator and Cartoonist Edward Sorel tells the story of Oscar-winning actress Mary Astor, including her many scandalous affairs.
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Nov 3, 2016 · Mary Astor’s Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936. By Edward Sorel. Liveright. 176 pp. Reviewed by Jennifer Bort Yacovissi. November 3, 2016. The legendary illustrator delivers a rip-roaring fan bio that reminds us coitus isn't a recent invention.
