# Melvyn Douglas

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 leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the romantic comedy Ninotchka (1939) with Greta Garbo. Douglas later played mature and fatherly characters, as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud (1963) and Being There (1979) and his Academy Award–nominated performance in I Never Sang for My Father (1970). Douglas was one of 24 performers to win the Triple Crown of Acting. In the last few years of his life Douglas appeared in films with supernatural stories involving ghosts, including The Changeling in 1980 and Ghost Story in 1981, his last completed film role.

## Early life

Douglas was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Lena Priscilla (née Shackelford) and Edouard Gregory Hesselberg, a concert pianist and composer. His father was a Jewish emigrant from Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire. His mother, a native of Tennessee, was Protestant and a Mayflower descendant.
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." His parents preferred to hide his Jewish heritage. His aunts, on his father's side, told him "the truth" when he was 14. He wrote that he "admired them unstintingly"; they in turn, treated him like a son.
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 Shakespearean repertory while in his teens and with stock companies in Sioux City, Iowa, Evansville, Indiana, Madison, Wisconsin and Detroit, Michigan. He served in the United States Army in World War I. He established an outdoor theatre in Chicago. He had a long theatre, film and television career as a lead player, stretching from his 1930 Broadway role in Tonight or Never (opposite his future wife, Helen Gahagan) until just before his death. Douglas shared top billing with Boris Karloff and Charles Laughton in James Whale's sardonic horror classic The Old Dark House in 1932.
Douglas appeared as the hero in the 1932 horror film The Vampire Bat and the sophisticated leading man in She Married Her Boss (1935). He appeared with Joan Crawford in several films, most notably A Woman's Face (1941), and starred 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 World War II, Douglas served first as a director of the Arts Council in the Office of Civilian Defense, and he then again served in the United States Army rising to the rank of major in the Special Services Entertainment Production Unit. According to his granddaughter Illeana Douglas, Melvyn Douglas first met Peter Sellers, his future Being There co-star while in Burma, when Sellers was serving in the Royal Air Force during the war. After the war, Douglas returned to films and more mature roles in The Sea of Grass (1947) and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948).
From 1952 to 1961, Douglas made no film appearances, concentrating instead on stage and television work. During November 1952 to January 1953, Douglas starred in the DuMont detective show Steve Randall (Hollywood Off Beat) which then moved to CBS. In the summer of 1953, he briefly hosted the DuMont game show Blind Date. In the summer of 1959, Douglas hosted eleven original episodes of a CBS Western anthology television series called Frontier Justice, a production of Dick Powell's Four Star Television.
Douglas returned to films in the 1960s. As he aged, he took on older-man and fatherly roles in movies such as Hud (1963), for which he won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, The Americanization of Emily (1964), the American Civil War comedy Advance to the Rear (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 ceremony because he could not bear having to compete against child actor Justin Henry for Kramer vs. Kramer.
In addition to his Academy Awards, Douglas won a Tony Award for his Broadway lead role in the 1960 The Best Man by Gore Vidal and an Emmy for his 1967 role in Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.
Douglas' final complete screen appearance was in the 1981 horror film Ghost Story. He died before completing all of his scenes for the film The Hot Touch (1982); 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 located at 6423 Hollywood Boulevard and another for television at 6601 Hollywood Boulevard.

## Personal life

Douglas, as Hesselberg, 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 Douglas (she began using her husband's name when she entered politics), as a three-term congresswoman, was Richard M. Nixon's unsuccessful opponent for the United States Senate seat from California in 1950. Nixon accused Gahagan Douglas of being soft on Communism because of her opposition to the House Un-American Activities Committee. Nixon went so far as to infamously call her "pink right down to her underwear". It was Gahagan Douglas who popularized Nixon's epithet nickname "Tricky Dick".
Melvyn and Helen Gahagan Douglas hired architect Roland Coate to design a home for them in 1938 on a 3-acre (1.2 ha) lot they owned in Outpost Estates, Los Angeles. The result was a one-story, 6,748-square-foot (626.9 m$^2$) home.
The Douglases had two children: Peter Gahagan Douglas (1933) and Mary Helen Douglas (1938). The couple remained married until Helen Gahagan Douglas's 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

Sources: Internet Broadway Database and Playbill
* 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).

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1931 | Tonight or Never | Jim Fletcher | |
| 1931 | Prestige | Captain Andre Verlaine | |
| 1932 | The Wiser Sex | David Rolfe | |
| 1932 | The Broken Wing | Philip 'Phil' Marvin | |
| 1932 | As You Desire Me | Count Bruno Varelli | |
| 1932 | The Old Dark House | Mr. Penderel | |
| 1933 | The Vampire Bat | Karl Brettschneider | |
| 1933 | Counsellor at Law | Roy Darwin | |
| 1933 | Nagana | Dr. Walter Tradnor | |
| 1934 | Dangerous Corner | Charles Stanton | |
| 1934 | Woman in the Dark | Tony Robson | |
| 1935 | The People's Enemy | George R. "Traps" Stuart | |
| 1935 | She Married Her Boss | Richard Barclay | |
| 1935 | Mary Burns, Fugitive | Barton Powell | |
| 1935 | Annie Oakley | Jeff Hogarth | |
| 1935 | The Lone Wolf Returns | Michael Lanyard | |
| 1936 | And So They Were Married | Stephen Blake | |
| 1936 | The Gorgeous Hussy | John Randolph | |
| 1936 | Theodora Goes Wild | Michael Grant | |
| 1937 | Women of Glamour | Richard "Dick" Stark | |
| 1937 | Captains Courageous | Frank Burton Cheyne | |
| 1937 | I Met Him in Paris | George Potter | |
| 1937 | Angel | Anthony "Tony" Halton | |
| 1937 | I'll Take Romance | James Guthrie | |
| 1938 | Arsène Lupin Returns | Arsène Lupin | |
| 1938 | There's Always a Woman | William Reardon | |
| 1938 | The Toy Wife | George Sartoris | |
| 1938 | Fast Company | Joel Sloane | |
| 1938 | That Certain Age | Vincent Bullitt | |
| 1938 | The Shining Hour | Henry Linden | |
| 1938 | There's That Woman Again | William Reardon | |
| 1939 | Tell No Tales | Michael Cassidy | |
| 1939 | Good Girls Go to Paris | Ronald Brooke | |
| 1939 | Ninotchka | Count Léon d'Algout | |
| 1939 | The Amazing Mr. Williams | Police Lieutenant Kenny Williams | |
| 1940 | Too Many Husbands | Henry Lowndes | |
| 1940 | He Stayed for Breakfast | Paul Boliet | |
| 1940 | Third Finger, Left Hand | Jeff Thompson | |
| 1940 | This Thing Called Love | Tice Collins | |
| 1941 | That Uncertain Feeling | Larry Baker | |
| 1941 | A Woman's Face | Dr. Gustaf Segert | |
| 1941 | Our Wife | Jerome "Jerry" Marvin | |
| 1941 | Two-Faced Woman | Larry Blake | |
| 1942 | We Were Dancing | Nicholas Eugen August Wolfgang "Nikki" Prax | |
| 1942 | They All Kissed the Bride | Michael "Mike" Holmes | |
| 1943 | Three Hearts for Julia | Jeff Seabrook | |
| 1947 | The Sea of Grass | Brice Chamberlain | |
| 1947 | The Guilt of Janet Ames | Smithfield "Smitty" Cobb | |
| 1948 | Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House | Bill Cole | |
| 1948 | My Own True Love | Clive Heath | |
| 1949 | A Woman's Secret | Luke Jordan | |
| 1949 | The Great Sinner | Armand de Glasse | |
| 1951 | My Forbidden Past | Paul Beaurevel | |
| 1951 | On the Loose | Frank Bradley | |
| 1962 | Billy Budd | The Dansker | |
| 1963 | Hud | Homer Bannon | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Laurel Award for Top Male Supporting Performance National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture |
| 1964 | Advance to the Rear | Col. Claude Brackenbury | |
| 1964 | The Americanization of Emily | Adm. William Jessup | Nominated—Laurel Award for Best Male Supporting Performance |
| 1965 | Rapture | Frederick Larbaud | |
| 1965 | Once Upon a Tractor | Martin | Short |
| 1967 | Hotel | Warren Trent | |
| 1970 | I Never Sang for My Father | Tom Garrison | New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (2nd Place) Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Nominated—Laurel Award for Best Male Dramatic Performance |
| 1972 | One Is a Lonely Number | Joseph Provo | |
| 1972 | The Candidate | John J. McKay | |
| 1976 | The Tenant | Monsieur Zy | |
| 1977 | Twilight's Last Gleaming | Zachariah Guthrie | |
| 1977 | Intimate Strangers | Donald's father | |
| 1979 | The Seduction of Joe Tynan | Senator Birney | |
| 1979 | Being There | Benjamin Rand | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (2nd Place) New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 1980 | The Changeling | Senator Joe Carmichael | Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 1980 | Tell Me a Riddle | David | |
| 1981 | The Hot Touch | Max Reich | |
| 1981 | Ghost Story | Dr. John Jaffrey | Final film role |

## 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" |
| 1950 | 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" |
| 1952 | 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" |
| 1963 | 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 | Hallmark Hall of Fame 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" |
| 1966 | 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 |
| 1967 | The Crucible | Governor Danforth | TV movie |
| 1968 | Companions in Nightmare | Dr. Lawrence Strelson | TV movie |
| 1970 | The Choice | | TV movie |
| 1970 | 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 |
| 1974 | 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

## Radio appearances

| Year | Program | Episode/source |
| 1942 | Philip Morris Playhouse | No Time for Comedy |
| 1942 | Philip Morris Playhouse | Take a Letter, Darling |