‘the Gilded Age’ Cast Vs. Real Historical Figures: Vanderbilts, Astors | Invesloan.com

Alva Vanderbilt Belmont was a Gilded Age socialite who married a Vanderbilt railroad heir, William K. Vanderbilt. In 1882, the couple built a mansion that took up a whole city block on Fifth Avenue in New York City — much like the mansion the Russells move into in the series premiere.

Bertha isn’t exactly Alva, but the similarities are there, including Alva’s hunger and determination to be accepted by the upper crust of New York society, her strong personality, and love of the opera.

If there was any doubt that Bertha and Gladys were based on Alva and Consuelo, that ended when Gladys married off to a British duke against her will, in order to bring her family status and credibility.

While Gladys and Hector’s relationship was on a high at the end of season three, if you don’t want to know what could happen to Gladys, skip ahead.

In real life, Consuelo’s marriage to Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, was largely an unhappy one, though she and her husband mostly lived separately.

They separated in 1906 and were officially divorced in 1921. The marriage was annulled in 1926.

George is portrayed as a full-blown robber baron, much like Gould was. In fact, Gould is remembered as one of the most cutthroat railroad tycoons of the Gilded Age. As his Encyclopedia Britannica entry notes, he “remained ruthless, unscrupulous, and friendless to the end” before his death in 1892. George is similarly unafraid to cross anyone, as long as it benefits his bottom line.

And much like Gould, while George spares no feelings for his competition, he has shown great love for his wife and children — and, as fans of the show have pointed out, is quite handsome. They even call him “Railroad Daddy.”

One of the first things we learn about Peggy is that she’s an aspiring writer, and a talented one at that. It’s clear that “Gilded Age” creator Julian Fellowes was inspired by Julia C. Collins, the first Black female author to publish a novel.

Collins’ book, “The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride,” was published in serial form across eight months in 1865. However, she died of tuberculosis before she was able to finish it.

Thankfully, Peggy has fully recovered from the illness she contracted at the beginning of season three … and it introduced her to Dr. William Kirkland.

During the Gilded Age, the undisputed queen of New York was Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, who, despite the enormous wealth of her husband, William Backhouse Astor Jr., was actually the richer of the two due to her family’s wealth dating back to the first settlement of Manhattan by Dutch colonists in the 1600s.

Astor was the leader of a group called the Four Hundred, a list that contained anyone who was anyone in the late 1800s. Perhaps coincidentally, her townhouse’s ballroom could fit up to 400 people comfortably.

Murphy, a two-time Tony Award winner, brings needed gravitas to the role.

The real Charlotte Astor married J. Coleman Drayton in 1879, and their relationship made headlines in 1892 when he challenged another man, Hallet Alsop Borrowe, to a duel following rumors of an affair between Borrowe and Astor. The fight didn’t end up happening, but the Draytons did divorce in 1896.

The scandal gets its own storyline in “The Gilded Age.” The show depicts how divorce — as experienced by both Charlotte Astor and fellow socialite Aurora Fane (Kelli O’Hara) — sees women cast out of society. It is shocking to the establishment, therefore, when Bertha Russell invites both Charlotte and Aurora to her Newport ball, suggesting society is opening its arms to divorced women.

Carrie Astor has had a recurring role across “The Gilded Age,” popping up across three seasons mainly to convince her mother to let the Russells become part of their elite group of friends.

If the show follows what happened in real life, Carrie’s future marriage to banker Marshall Orme Wilson will cause quite a stir, as her parents did not approve of the match. In fact, according to a biography of the Astors, Carrie “starved herself into bulimia” until her mother acquiesced.

Fish is one of the first people we meet in “The Gilded Age,” as Bertha and George’s son Larry is invited to vacation at her home in Rhode Island.

In real life, Fish was another one of the most powerful socialites of the era alongside Alva Vanderbilt and Tessie Fair. The three ruled as the “Triumvirate” after Caroline Astor’s death in 1908.

In both fiction and real life, Fish loved to throw a lavish party.

McAllister is the one who dictated the official “Four Hundred” list to The New York Times in 1892.

In the show, Bertha has been seen sucking up to McAllister to help her get in good graces with the Astors.

But in the penultimate episode of season three, McAllister was officially put out to pasture by the ladies of NYC high society, as he published a tell-all book that did not endear him to, well, anyone.

This happened in real life, too — McAllister published his memoir, “Society as I Have Found It,” in 1890, which left him excommunicated from Manhattan’s elite.

After deciding not to take her name off her writing to be published in white newspapers, Peggy meets Fortune, the real publisher of The New York Age, a leading Black newspaper of the day (called The New York Globe in the show).

In both the show and reality, Fortune was married by the time of “The Gilded Age,” but it didn’t stop Peggy and Fortune from developing a relationship during season two.

If you’ve ever walked around Washington Square Park in Manhattan, you’ve seen one of White’s most renowned pieces of work: the Washington Square Arch.

In the show, White is also responsible for designing the Russells’ behemoth of a townhouse on Fifth Avenue.

In real life, White was involved in one of the era’s biggest scandals. When he was 48, he was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting 16-year-old Evelyn Nesbit, a model and actor.

In 1905, when Nesbit was 21, she married another prominent New York figure, Henry Kendall Thaw. When Thaw learned what White had done to his wife, he murdered him during a performance at Madison Square Garden (a building he designed).

The subsequent trial was a media circus and was even dubbed the trial of the century. Public opinion of White plummeted during the trial when the public learned about his private life. According to The New York Times, Vanity Fair even ran this headline: “Stanford White, Voluptuary and Pervert, Dies the Death of a Dog.”

Thaw was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

In season one, Marian (Louisa Jacobson) takes her aunts to a talk being given by Barton, a Civil War nurse, voting rights and equal rights activist, and key member of the American Red Cross.

The real Morgan was considered the greatest banker who ever lived, so it shouldn’t be surprising that George, in need of capital, would turn to him for help.

The famous playwright and author of “The Portrait of Dorian Gray” popped up in season two while his play “Vera; or, The Nihilists” premiered in New York. Of course, he found time to hit on John Adams (Claybourne Elder), as well.

Roebling essentially took over for her husband, Washington Roebling, as chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge after he developed decompression sickness and became bedridden.

The Brooklyn Bridge is unveiled during a season two episode, and George sends his son, Larry (Harry Richardson), to represent him at a trustees meeting, when he discovers that Emily is the one running the show.

Nicholls-King appeared in three episodes of season two as Garnet, a landmark figure in Black history, as she was a principal, the founder of the Equal Suffrage League, and owned her own seamstress shop.

There are two public schools in New York City named for Garnet today.

Washington is known for his work in advancing the education of Black Americans in a post-Civil War America, including as the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute, which is now the HBCU (Historically Black College or University), Tuskegee University.

Washington is in two episodes of the second season, when Peggy and Fortune make their way to Tuskegee to report on it for the newspaper.

Sargent’s season three appearance is in 1883, just before he became famous for his painting “Portrait of Madame X” in 1884 — in fact, he mentions the then-scandalous painting while speaking with Bertha, who notes that some scandal will only make him more expensive.

In the show and real life, this duke is desperate for a sizable dowry so he can continue upkeep on his castle (Sidmouth Castle in the show, Blenheim Palace in real life).

However, so far, Hector seems like he’ll be a better husband to Gladys than Charles Spencer-Churchill was to Consuelo Vanderbilt.

Peggy brings Harper to a ladies’ tea she’s hosting to help drum up support for the suffrage movement, much to the displeasure of the conservative Elizabeth Kirkland (Phylicia Rashad).

Harper was one of the first Black female authors to be published — and left behind a large body of work — and also was an activist for suffrage, temperance, and abolition.

When George is summoned to a meeting by J. P. Morgan, he meets other financiers, including Sage.

Sage, in real life, worked closely with Jay Gould (if you’ll recall, the basis for George’s character). The two managed railroads together. However, in “The Gilded Age,” the two have a much more adversarial relationship.

Sage is perhaps most famous for surviving an assassination attempt at his office by using one of his employees, William R. Laidlaw Jr., as a human shield. Laidlaw survived but sued Sage after he was permanently disabled.

As The New York Times put it, Sage was found to owe him $25,000, “simply because he used William R. Laidlaw, Jr., as a shield to save his gray hairs from being brought prematurely to the grave.”

Correction — August 4, 2025: An earlier version of this story misidentified the actor who plays Gladys Russell. She’s played by Taissa Farmiga, not Vera Farmiga.