Mary Astor (1906–1987)

Thinking about this honest exposition of Marty Astor's love life, drinking and pills addiction, and hatred of the movie & TV treadmill makes me consider My Wicked Wicked Ways. Is the salacious, tell-all autobiography a Hollywood invention of the mid-Twentieth Century?

Mary's story starts with parents, especially her father, that was incredibly ambitious for her; even maniacally so. Their plan succeeds and an incredibly sheltered Mary Astor becomes a contract player and has to individuate show more under artificial and extreme circumstances. Marriages and mania follow until Mary finds a path to peace through Catholicism and psychology. Both come from caring and competent priests. A divorce makes Mary's diary both a legal and public issue, but writing that caused so much stress is also an answer as this autobiography is the result of a therapeutic writing assignment.

Mary's honest and direct delivery makes this an engaging read. The only thing that keeps it from four starts for me is the architecture. The chapter divisions, for instance, seems just to segment material into even buckets. A little editing could have nudged this from very good to great. show less

Although I never completely cottoned to Mary Astor as an actress -- something about her appearance or manner unsettled me in a mild way -- she was a very good one, and she's a VERY good writer. Her career autobiography, A LIFE ON FILM, is filled with well-turned phrases and terrific insight not only into her work, but also into the interests of fans. She does what precious few actor autobiographies do, give the outsider a sense of what life as an actor is actually like. She seems to have show more little movie star ego, in the disagreeable sense, and she paints intriguing pictures of both the process of making movies and the people with whom she worked. Her descriptions of making THE GREAT LIE (for which she won an Oscar) and THE MALTESE FALCON are particularly fascinating. This was a very enjoyable read. show less

Excellent book on actress Mary Astor - probably best known from her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon and an Oscar winner for supporting actress in 1941's The Great Lie. The book details her early life with an overbearing father and an uninterested mother who she continued to support for many years. Astor struggles to become an actress and an early affair with John Barrymore are detailed. When she discusses several films, she cannot remember the titles and she does not spend show more much time discussing any of her co-stars but does feel The Maltese Falcon and The Great Lie were some of her best work. She hated the mother roles, as in Meet Me in St. Louis and Little Women. She struggled with alcohol most of her life and had several bad marriages. She seemed to hate acting at several points in her life. Her alcoholism, ill health, and bad relationships made her turn to the Catholic Church and she did seem to find peace and redemption. The book is more of a study into a person's decline and redemption than a book about Hollywood. I was mighty impressed and knowing now what she was struggling with when I see her films, I have a new respect for her. show less

In A Place Called Saturday by Mary Astor, a young newlywed named Cora is brutally raped by an unknown assailant and becomes pregnant. What follows is a story about the consequences of keeping the child when Cora doesn't know if it's her husband's or her rapist's child.

I loved this story and remember reading it years ago. I really felt for the characters and didn't want it to end. I give it an A+!