The best secrets are the hardest to find.

In 1936, Mary Astor, star of The Maltese Falcon (1941), was the center of a Hollywood scandal so big, it knocked news of Hitler off the front page. Her estranged husband stole her private diaries ...

It was a diary, written by Mary Astor, a classically beautiful movie star and Columbia Pictures contract player embroiled in a battle for custody of her 2½-year-old daughter. Astor’s estranged ...

Mary Astor (May 3, 1906 - September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941) with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long ...

For detailed instructions, see our Slate Plus podcasts page. In 1936, actress Mary Astor (who had not yet made her most famous film, The Maltese Falcon) and her husband went to court to fight for ...