ASTREA – One of the most enigmatic figures from the Silent Film Era. No precise birth or death dates are known. Her surname was supposedly Barbieri but not even that is certain.
Astrea’s background is equally murky with some sources claiming she was a circus strongwoman before becoming an actress, but other sources claiming she was a Countess from Venice. In one movie she was credited as “Principessa Astrea.”
What IS known is that from 1919 to 1922 this remarkable lady starred as a butt-kicking heroine of incredible strength. Astrea was called “the female Maciste” in reference to the strongman character in the Italian silent movie Cabiria (1914). I call her “the Gina Carano of the Silent Era.”
Her films:
JUSTITIA (1919) – Astrea’s most well-known movie. She plays a prim, ladylike noblewoman who becomes a fiery, two-fisted champion of justice when need be.
Astrea totals a half-dozen villains in this 47-minute film, in addition to the Big Bad, Baron Max, who tries to defraud a pair of innocent lovebirds of their inheritance. Ferdinand “Polidor” Guillaume directed and played Birillo, our heroine’s comic relief sidekick.
The Bioscope praised the stunt work and Astrea’s dynamic performance, calling her “a female knight roaming the world to set wrong situations right with the force of her muscles.” Continue reading
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