Mary Astor (1906-1987) is best known today for her countless portrayals of matronly, but still very feminine wives and mothers. Especially in the 1940's, she was given the roles of the mother in films such as Meet Me in St. Louis in 1944 with Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien and Little Women in 1949 with June Allyson, Margaret O'Brien, and Elizabeth Taylor. Mary often complained about this typecasting, but she was darned good at these roles, and occasionally landed a role such as that of Barbara Willis in 1932's Red Dust when she had a chance to be a sweet little housewife with a bad-girl interior. In Red Dust, she was the wife of Gene Raymond, who portrayed Gary Willis. Dennis Carson (Clark Gable) seduces her, but soon realizes that prostitute Vantine (Jean Harlow) can be the only girl for him. Barbara shoots him in anger, even though she never should have been with Dennis in the first place. She shoots him while wearing a slinky robe over a transparent, lacy nightgown. Reviews were good for all the actors in Red Dust, and Mary had landed one of the best and most memorable roles of her career. Mary never became a real superstar, but her undying, classic beauty has been the thing that kept her popular from the 1920's through the 1960's. In The Prisoner of Zenda, she gets another plum role that is the fine line between a matron and a real guy's gal. She plays Antoinette de Mauban, who appears to be the faithful mistress of Black Michael. This seems all well and good, but some of the things she says to him (i.e. "I want to be your wife and make you happy!) can be further anylized as coming from a girl with a heart of unmined gold. And if she really was a lady-why did she let Rupert of Hentzau flirt with her the way he did? The Prisoner of Zenda would have lost some color if Mary hadn't been Antoinette.
