Trivia

A special tribute was paid to 87-year-old Gertrude Astor on September 30, 1975 at Universal Studios. Among those in attendance who spoke included George Cukor, Allan Dwan and Henry Hathaway.

Played trombone on a Mississippi showboat.

According to Joe Collura in his in-depth Gertrude Astor article found on the pages of Classic Images (April, 2014), the actress ran away from home at the age of 12 and joined a musical troupe in the next town where she learned how to play the trombone and saxophone.

Supposedly lost the lead role opposite Rudolph Valentino's The Sheik (1921) because of her extreme height.

Born in Lakewood, Ohio on Lake Erie about five miles west of Cleveland. Was raised in Lima, Ohio, an industrial city.

She died on her 90th birthday.

Never married. When she died at age 90 in 1977, the only survivor was a godson, Rod Normond.

Performed in stock and minstrel shows throughout her teens before appearing in vaudeville.

Actor Robert Edeson convinced her to try films and introduced her to D.W. Griffith at Biograph Studios in which she appeared in Under Two Flags (1915). One of the first actresses to work for sign a long term contract with Universal in 1915, one of her earliest films at the studio was the short The Shadows of Suspicion (1916).

Extremely tall for her age (5'11"), she appeared mainly in second leads and support roles.

She was an Elks Club member and received an award in July of 1936 at their 72nd National Convention in Los Angeles.

Not related to Mary Astor who had real birth name of Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke.