"THE MARY ASTOR PURPLE DIARY SCANDAL" (032)

From Beneath the Hollywood Sign

EPISODE 32 - “The Mary Astor Purple Diary Scandal” - 04/22/2024

One of the most scandalous trials in early Hollywood history involved actress MARY ASTOR, who had made a name for herself playing virginal ingenues and good girls. Mary, who had kept a diary for most of her life, found her words used as a sensationalized weapon against her in her quest to regain custody of her 4-year-old child in 1936 after her acrimonious divorce from her doctor husband. The trial made worldwide headlines. Her sexy, salacious diary entries showed the world a more sensual side to our virginal Mary, and, in many ways, helped propel her career into the stratosphere. Listen as we discuss Mary Astor, her life, her career, and her shocking purple diaries that took center stage in a Los Angeles courtroom.

SHOW NOTES:

Sources:

Mary Astor: My Story (1960), by Mary Astor;

Mary Astor: A Life on Film (1972), by Mary Astor;

The Purple Diaries: Mary Astor and the Most Sensational Hollywood Scandal of the 1930s (2016), by Joseph Egan;

Mary Astor’s Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936 (2106), by Edward Sorel;

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com;

Movies Mentioned:

Beau Brummell (1924), starring John Barrymore and Mary Astor;

Dodsworth (1936), starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, and Mary Astor;

Red Dust (1932), starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Mary Astor:

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), starring Ronald Colman, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Madeleine Carroll, Mary Astor, David Niven, Raymond Massey, and C. Aubrey Smith:

The Maltese Falcon (1941), starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Lee Patrick, and Elisha Cook Jr;

The Palm Beach Story (1942), starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, and Rudy Vallee;

Act of Violence (1948), starring Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, and Phyllis Thaxter;

Little Women (1949), starring June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Margaret O’Brien, Mary Astor, and Peter Lawford;

Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorhead, Mary Astor, Victor Buono, Cecil Kellaway, and Bruce Dern;

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