Mary Astor was just marvelous in this role. Such maturity and dignity...true sexiness...qualities she brought to just about every role, which leads me to believe they were hers inherently. I can't imagine any other actress doing this character as much justice.
shareI can't imagine any other actress doing this character as much justice.Maybe Kay Francis could have done it. It would have been quite a contrast to the nasty wife she played in In Name Only the same year.
Mary Astor has been fabulous in everything I've seen her in. Very diverse roles, too. Check out her part in The Palm Beach Story. It's very different from the one she plays in this film!
shareAstor was as good as Walter Huston and should've received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role. She just brings a graceful light and life into the movie, giving a quietly poignant performance to a small role. It's no wonder that Sam leaves his wife for her. She was wonderful.
Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you *exactly* what to do, what to say?!
I agree, and yet, I couldn't help but laugh at how silly she looked/acted in the very last scene when you-know-who came sailing back to her. She looked just like a junior high school girl. It was truly hysterical. But I did love her performance overall.
"Today is NOT the first day of the rest of your life unless you admit that yesterday was the last day of the first part of your life. Clear??"
I think she was the best thing about this film, although I love the story and all the supporting actors surrounding Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton. I wasn't old enough to appreciate her in The Maltese Falcon which was the first time I saw her, but all the subsequent films I've seen only show how marvelous of an actress she was. She had such class... and you summed it up so well. Dignity and maturity while still being sexy.
"Waiter, will you serve the nuts? I mean, will you serve the guests the nuts?"
William Wyler who directed this movie was able to cast a spell with his use of Mary Astor. When we first meet her on the boat to England, we just hear her deep rich voice which sounds almost elderly. She is dressed in old -fashioned
rather matronly outfits. They are loose-fitting and slightly frumpy. Fran, who is the height of youthful fashion, refers to her a "common frump" after the dinner party in Paris. She is only transformed into her younger beautiful self after she and Sam have been living happily together and she realizes she is in love with him. Wyler is able to make us feel that love has rejuvenated her. Actually Mary Astor was only 30 years old at the time! We are just led to believe that she is much older. The strange thing is that Ruth Chatterton, whom we are supposed to believe is probably Mary Astor's age,was 36 when this movie was made.
Actually her bio puts her date of birth as 1893, which would have made her 43 in 1936. BTW, did you notice how well she danced in that scene with her last boyfriend-she started out as a chorus girl.
shareYes. Ruth Chatterton is a great dancer in that scene where she and Kurt waltz around the whole dance floor. Is she really 43? That makes her 13 years older than Mary Astor whom we are led to believe is about the same age.
shareShe is truly fantastic in this movie. I'm not really the biggest fan of hers, but she handles this part so well, never overplaying her emotion. She seems mature and irresistible. Dodsworth deserves to have someone like her; she's a terrific contrast to his horrible wife.
No, not the bore worms! http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=8093247
Mary Astor's grace and intelligence shine through in her two autobiographical works, My Story and A Life on Film. They are going for big bucks on Amazon, but if you're lucky your local library may have them (that's how I came across them, many years ago).
shareToo much 'forehead'. I've never seen her in a role in which her hair was cut in a way that reduced all that cranial real estate. Sorry if this sounds shallow but I've always found it too distracting ! Kinda like Babs' eyes. I can't concentrate on their acting when my eyes are drawn to their less then perfect facial characteristics. I'm talking about on the big screen here only. Nothing I would judge a person on in real life. I can't imagine how I'd appear to others on the 'big screen' LOL !
shareAnd.... she could be a femme fatale, comic actress, motherly type, or whatever else was asked of her.
I want to shake every limb in the Garden of Eden
and make every lover the love of my life
Her performance really made me support her character, who was the opposite of Dodsworth's Wife. I was glad her character got what she wanted in the end.
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".