Witness: Brooke Astor Didn't Recognize Matthew Broderick

As they have since the beginning of the trial, prosecutors continued to present witnesses who say that Brooke Astor's mental faculties were on the decline in her later years. Astor's son Anthony Marshall, along with his lawyer Francis X. Morrissey, is accused of changing her will and forging her signature on a codicil, which gave him more money, and selling her artwork (allegedly telling her she was broke). Broadway and film producer John Hart testified that in spite of Astor meeting actor Matthew Broderick many times, she didn't recognize him at a post-Producers dinner; he recalled the actor saying, "Brooke, I’m Matthew. You love me. What did you think of the play?” Hart also said that during a 2003 visit with her, she told him, "I am gaga," apparently recognizing her problems. Hart added that Astor seemed to agree with Andrew Carnegie's belief that no good came from inherited wealth (the Rockefellers being the exception).