Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Douglas | |
|---|---|
MGM publicity photo of Douglas, c. 1939 | |
| Born | Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg April 5, 1901 Macon, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | August 4, 1981 (aged 80) , U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1926–1981 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Illeana Douglas (granddaughter) |
| Military career | |
| Service/ |  United States Army |
| Rank |  Major |
Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg, April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981) was an American actor. Douglas came to prominence in 1929 as a suave
Early life
Douglas was born in
Douglas, in his autobiography, See You at the Movies (1987), wrote that he was unaware of his Jewish background until later in his youth: "I did not learn about the non-Christian part of my heritage until my early teens," as his parents preferred to hide his Jewish heritage. It was his aunts, on his father's side, who told him "the truth" when he was 14. He writes that he "admired them unstintingly"; and they in turn treated him like a son.[1]
Though his father, a prominent concert pianist, taught music at a succession of colleges in the U.S. and Canada, Douglas never graduated from high school. He took the surname of his maternal grandmother and became known as Melvyn Douglas.
Career
Douglas developed his acting skills in
He was the hero in the 1932 horror film The Vampire Bat and the sophisticated leading man in 1935's She Married Her Boss. He played opposite Joan Crawford in several films, most notably A Woman's Face (1941), and appeared opposite Greta Garbo in three films: As You Desire Me (1932), Ninotchka (1939) and Garbo's final film Two-Faced Woman (1941). One of his most sympathetic roles was as the belatedly attentive father in Captains Courageous (1937).
During
.From November 1952 to January 1953, Douglas starred in the
.As he aged, Douglas took on older-man and fatherly roles, in such movies as Hud (1963), for which he won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, The Americanization of Emily (1964), an episode of The Fugitive (1966), I Never Sang for My Father (1970), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, and The Candidate (1972). He won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the comedy-drama Being There (1979). However, Douglas confirmed in one of his final interviews that he refused to attend the 52nd Academy Awards because he could not bear competing against child actor Justin Henry for Kramer vs. Kramer.[5]
In addition to his Academy Awards, Douglas won a
Douglas' final completed screen appearance was in Ghost Story (1981). He did not finish shooting all of his scenes for the film The Hot Touch (1982) before his death; the film had to be edited to compensate for Douglas' incomplete role.
Douglas has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for movies at 6423 Hollywood Blvd. and one for television at 6601 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life
Douglas was married briefly to artist Rosalind Hightower, and they had one child, (Melvyn) Gregory Hesselberg, in 1926. Hesselberg, an artist, is the father of actress Illeana Douglas.
In 1931, Douglas married actress-turned-politician Helen Gahagan. They traveled to Europe that same year, and "were horrified by French and German anti-Semitism". As a result, they became outspoken anti-fascists.
Gahagan, as a three-term
The couple hired architect Roland Coate to design a home for them in 1938 on a three-acre lot they owned in Outpost Estates, Los Angeles. The result was a one-story, 6,748-square-foot home.[7]
Douglas and Gahagan had two children: Peter Gahagan Douglas (1933) and Mary Helen Douglas (1938). The couple remained married until Helen Gahagan Douglas' death in 1980 from cancer. Melvyn Douglas died a year later, in 1981, aged 80, from pneumonia and cardiac complications in New York City.
Broadway roles
- A Free Soul (1928) as Ace Wilfong
- Back Here (1928) as Sergeant "Terry" O'Brien
- Now-a-Days (1929) as Boyd Butler
- Recapture (1930) as Henry C. Martin
- Tonight or Never (1931) as the Unknown Gentleman
- No More Ladies (1934) as Sheridan Warren
- Mother Lode (1934) as Carey Ried (also staged)
- De Luxe (1935) as Pat Dantry
- Tapestry In Gray (1935) as Erik Nordgren
- Two Blind Mice (1949) as Tommy Thurston
- The Bird Cage (1950) as Wally Williams
- The Little Blue Light (1951) as Frank
- Glad Tidings (1951) as Steve Whitney
- Time Out for Ginger (1952) as Howard Carol
- Inherit the Wind (1955) as Henry Drummond (replacement)
- The Waltz of the Toreadors (1958) as General St. Pé
- Juno (1959) as "Captain" Jack Boyle
- The Gang's All Here (1959) as Griffith P. Hastings
- The Best Man (1960) as William Russell
- Spofford (1967) as Spofford
Douglas also staged Moor Born (1934), Mother Lode (1934) and Within the Gates (1934-1935) and produced Call Me Mister (1946-1948).
Sources: Internet Broadway Database[8] and Playbill[9]
Filmography
Source: Internet Movie Database[10]
Partial television credits
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse
|
Richard Gordon | Episodes: "The Five Lives of Richard Gordon" and "The Strange Christmas Dinner" |
| 1950 | Lux Video Theatre | James Strickland | Episode: "To Thine Own Self" |
| Pulitzer Prize Playhouse | Eugene Morgan Martin Luther Cooper |
Episode: "The Magnificent Ambersons" Episode: "Mrs. January and Mr. Ex" | |
| 1952 | Celanese Theatre | Archduke Rudolph von Habsburg | Episode: "Reunion in Vienna" |
| Steve Randall | Steve Randall | 12 episodes | |
| 1955 | The Ford Television Theatre
|
George Manners | Episode: "Letters Marked Personal" |
| 1955–1956 | The Alcoa Hour | Charles Turner Jim Conway |
Episode: "Man on a Tiger" Episode: "Thunder in Washington" |
| 1957–1958 | The United States Steel Hour | Census Taker Dr. Victor Payson/Narrator |
Episode: "Second Chance" Episode: "The Hill Wife" |
| 1957–1959 | Playhouse 90 | General Parker Ansel Gibbs Stalin Howard Hoagland |
Episode: "Judgment at Nuremberg" Episode: "The Return of Ansel Gibbs" Episode: "The Plot to Kill Stalin" Episode: "The Greer Case" |
| 1959 | Frontier Justice | Host | 11 episodes |
| 1960 | Sunday Showcase | Mark Twain | Episode: "Our American Heritage: Shadow of a Soldier" |
| 1963 | Ben Casey | Burton Strang | Episode: "Rage Against the Dying Light" |
| Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Pat Konke | Episode: "A Killing at Sundial" | |
| 1964 | A Very Close Family | Father | TV movie |
| 1965 | Inherit the Wind | Henry Drummond | TV movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama |
| 1966 | The Fugitive | Mark Ryder | Episode: "The 2130" |
Lamp at Midnight
|
Galileo Galilei | TV movie | |
| 1967 | CBS Playhouse | Peter Schermann | Episode: "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama |
| The Crucible | Governor Danforth | TV movie | |
| 1968 | Companions in Nightmare | Dr. Lawrence Strelson | TV movie |
| 1970 | The Choice | TV movie | |
| Hunters Are for Killing | Keller Floran | TV movie | |
| 1971 | Death Takes a Holiday | Judge Earl Chapman | TV movie |
| 1972 | Circle of Fear
|
Grandpa | Episode: "House of Evil" |
| 1973 | The Going Up of David Lev | Grandfather | TV movie |
| 1974 | The Death Squad | Police Captain Earl Kreski | TV movie |
| Murder or Mercy | Dr. Paul Harelson | TV movie | |
| 1975 | Benjamin Franklin
|
Benjamin Franklin | Miniseries |
| 1977 | ABC Weekend Special | Grandpa Doc | Episode: "Portrait of Grandpa Doc" |
Source: Internet Movie Database[10]
Radio appearances
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Philip Morris Playhouse | No Time for Comedy[11] |
| 1942 | Philip Morris Playhouse | Take a Letter, Darling[12] |
References
- ^ a b c Nissenson, Hugh (January 18, 1987). "He Almost Made Garbo Laugh". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- ^ "1". ancestry.com. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- ^ p.58 Zimmers, Tighe E.Lyrical Satirical Harold Rome: A Biography of the Broadway Composer-Lyricist McFarland; Illustrated edition November 1, 2013
- San Francisco Gate. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- ^ Burstein, Patricia (14 April 1980). "Oscar Nominee Melvyn Douglas Recalls 49 Years in Hollywood—and Reagan as a Democrat". People. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ Mitchell, Gregory (1998-01-01). "Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady: Richard Nixon vs. Helen Gahagan Douglas--Sexual Politics and the Red Scare, 1950". The New York Times. On the web. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
- ISBN 9780999666418.
- ^ Melvyn Douglas at the Internet Broadway Database
- ^ "Roles List: Melvyn Douglas". Playbill.com. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
- ^ IMDb
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
Sources
- Douglas, Melvyn; Tom Arthur (1986). See You at the Movies: The Autobiography of Melvyn Douglas. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. ISBN 0-8191-5390-7.
External links
- Melvyn Douglas at IMDb
- "Melvyn Douglas (1901–1981)" Archived 2013-05-17 at the Wayback Machine at the New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Melvyn Douglas at Turner Classic Movies
- Melvyn Douglas at the Internet Broadway Database
- Melvyn Douglas Papers Archived 2013-12-10 at archive.today at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
- Photographs and literature on Melvyn Douglas
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