Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor

Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor (2018) is a reminder that sex scandals in the film industry are as old as the industry itself. From the very beginning of the medium, the public was fascinated with the private lives of people they would only see projected onto the silver screen. In the1930s, stars like Jean Harlow made headlines for her unmarried romances, but as she was known for playing sexy and comedic roles, her career survived outrage from the church women's groups. On the other hand, Mary Astor, best known to modern audiences as the scheming Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941), specialized in playing elegant women, and so was the unlikely subject of lurid headlines that might have been more believable for a Harlow or a Clara Bow. While filming Dodsworth (1936), in which she played Edith Cortright, a sympathetic and independent woman who falls in love with a married man (Walter Huston), Astor was fighting a child custody battle against her vindictive ex-husband, who sought revenge by taking away her young daughter, Marylyn. Although nude selfies have recently been used by an ex-husband to bring down his politician wife, and are occasionally used today to blackmail celebrities, Astor's 1930s version was a stolen, secret diary, full of explicit details of her love affairs that her husband leaked to the press. It threatened to cost Astor the custody of her child and destroy her career and damage that of her also-married and much older lover, the playwright George S. Kaufman. After working all day at the studio, Astor had to go to court to testify. Fearing that she wouldn't have the courage to withstand the prying eyes of the press and the questions of the attorneys, she borrowed the strength of her Dodsworth character Edith Cortright and essentially played her on the witness stand in a Los Angeles courtroom. Mary Astor might not be brave enough to do it, but Edith would. Although they were rivals onscreen, Ruth Chatterton, Astor's co-star in Dodsworth insisted on accompanying Astor to court after work after learning that she had no one else to support her emotionally. Producer, writer and director Alexa Foreman said in a recent interview that Astor's story is still relevant in the #MeToo era. Like many of the actresses who are now standing up to the studios and revealing tales of sexual assault, despite the consequences, Mary Astor stood up to all of the heads of the major studios on the same day. On the last day of filming on Dodsworth, Astor was ordered to Samuel Goldwyn's office, where she was confronted by the Hollywood moguls who were afraid of yet another scandal that could damage their business, as the Roscoe Arbuckle scandal had in the early 1920s. Astor stood up to all of these powerful men and refused to settle the case as they wanted. Later, Goldwyn considered that the story of a mother fighting for her child was not such a bad thing, after all. Foreman, a veteran TCM researcher, was inspired to make Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor after learning more about Astor's life when she was named as a TCM Star of the Month in 2014 at the suggestion of the late TCM host and film historian Robert Osborne. Foreman told Osborne about her idea of a documentary about Astor and he had been enthusiastic about the project, suggesting that she interview Los Angeles Times film critic Kevin Thomas. Osborne, to whom the film is dedicated, bequeathed money to Foreman in his will, which the director said paid for the licensing rights for film clips of Dodsworth, a film Osborne loved. Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor with narration by actress Lee Grant, was a two-year labor of love, encompassing several interviews, including film critics Molly Haskell and Leonard Maltin; David Wyler, son of Dodsworth director William Wyler; and Astor's 84-year-old daughter Marylyn Thorpe Roh, who was four years old at the time of the trial. Interviews were conducted in Atlanta, New York, Utah and Los Angeles. After the trial, Astor continued acting in both film and television, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Great Lie (1941). Later in the decade, she occasionally found herself playing iconic mothers in nostalgic wholesome family films like Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and Little Women (1949). When her film career ended in 1964 with Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Astor returned to writing, something she had done since childhood. This time, she wrote for public consumption, penning several successful novels and memoirs. Her most famous and mostly unread book--her secret diary--was destroyed by a court order as part of a settlement in July 1952. by Lorraine LoBianco SOURCES: Alexa Foreman and 'Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor' Premieres at the TCM Classic FilmFestival. (2018, April 23). Retrieved from https://ladailymirror.com/2018/04/23/alexa-foreman-and-scandal-the-trial-of-mary-astor-premieres-at-the-tcm-classic-film-festival/ Gordon K. Smith. (n.d.). TheaterJones | Documenting Scandal | Dallas VideoFest. Retrieved from http://www.theaterjones.com/ntx/features/20181009151242/2018-10-09/Documenting-Scandal New documentary reveals details of Mary Astor's Hollywood scandal. (2018, July 5). Retrieved from https://www.ajc.com/blog/talk-town/new-documentary-reveals-details-mary-astor-hollywood-scandal/rFzwDEBhZC8aP197hWmhTM/ Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor (2018). (2018, April 27). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8851346/ YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTHCPFglcRw