Mary Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke; May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Although her career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941).
Astor began her long motion picture career when a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s. When talkies arrived, her voice was initially considered too masculine and she was off the screen for a year. After she appeared in a play with her friend Florence Eldridge, film offers returned, and she resumed her career in sound pictures.
In 1936, Astor's career was nearly destroyed by scandal. She had an affair with the playwright George S. Kaufman and was branded an adulterous wife by her former husband during a custody fight over their daughter.