NEW YORK (AP) – A movie producer gave another glimpse of philanthropist Brooke Astor’s life and mental decline Monday when he testified that despite her love for actor Matthew Broderick she didn’t recognize him when he spoke to her in a restaurant.

John Hart’s testimony about Astor’s encounter with Broderick – when she was 99 – was an attempt to show her mind had deteriorated so badly that she couldn’t have revised her will on her $198 million fortune by herself.

Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, and his estates lawyer Francis Morrissey are on trial in Manhattan after being accused of coercing her to change the will to enrich themselves.

Hart said Astor’s Broderick crush was so intense she saw him star in the Broadway play “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” five times during its run in the 1990s. Hart was the play’s producer.

In 2001, Hart said, he took her to see Broderick in “The Producers” and then to dinner. He said Broderick stopped by her table to say hello but she didn’t recognize him.

Astor asked, “Who are you?” said Hart, who also staged “The Producers.” He said the actor replied, “Brooke, I’m Matthew. You love me. How did you like the show?”

When Astor complained about the musical being too long, Broderick explained, “It’s shorter when Nathan (Lane) isn’t in it.”

Hart, who has produced movies including “Proof,” said another bizarre moment occurred during a meeting between former President Bill Clinton and Astor that the socialite perceived as flirtation. And he recalled a conversation in 2003 in which Astor said she was “gaga.”

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Loewy asked Hart whether Astor was always able to follow his conversations by 2002, and he said she wasn’t.

“Could she carry on a conversation with you in 2003?” Loewy asked.

“No,” Hart answered.

Astor died in 2007 at age 105. Her last will, created Jan. 30, 2002, left millions of dollars to her favorite charities.

But three later changes in the will, which prosecutors blame on the defendants, gave Marshall, her only child, most of her estate.

The defendants have denied any wrongdoing.

Hart is among witnesses called to state Supreme Court by prosecutors trying to show Astor did not know what was going on when her will was changed and she was about 102.

Witnesses so far have included Nancy Kissinger, wife of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; former Metropolitan Museum of Art director Philippe de Montebello; writer-lawyer Louis Auchincloss and Annette de la Renta, wife of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.

Hart said he first met Astor at her 90th birthday party.

“She was in my dinner party (at the same table), and we had a great time,” he said.

The producer said he often escorted Astor to social events. He said outside court that she “gave me entree into a world I would never have known.”

Hart said he was with Astor when Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998, when she was almost 96.

“She was very proud of that,” he said, adding, “She thought Clinton flirted with her.”

Outside court, Hart said Astor told friends Clinton had rubbed her lower back. He said, “She thought Clinton was a ladies’ man, and she didn’t mind.”

Prosecutors say Marshall’s push to get money for his wife, Charlene, whom Astor disliked, was his motivation for stealing from his mother.

Hart said he saw Astor several times a year, and by the late 1990s and 2000s she was frail and her memory was poor. He said staffers and friends would write notes for her to consult so she would know what she was supposed to be doing.

He said she told him in 2003, “I’m gaga,” to which he replied it was good she could say that because truly crazy people don’t admit they’re gaga.

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