Douglas, Melvyn ()
Although he acted in motion pictures from the early s to the late s, Melvyn Douglas was never especially fond of most of the more than three score and ten movies in which he starred. He much preferred the theater and returned to the stage whenever he got the chance. A versatile actor, he excelled in both dramatic and comedy roles. He appeared in horror films, mysteries, and melodramas, but is best remembered for playing opposite Greta Garbo in the comedy Ninotchka (). Later in his screen career, when he'd ceased doing dapper leading man roles and was showing up in character parts, Douglas earned two supporting actor Oscars. A dedicated liberal, he was active in politics and his wife, Helen Gahagan Douglas, ran against Richard Nixon for the United States Senate but was defeated.
Born Melvyn Hesselberg in Macon, Georgia, he grew up in the Midwest. He served in the Army during World War I, but never went overseas—"The closest I personally came to death was in the kitchen, narrowly avoiding a meat cleaver thrown at me by a furious cook," he remembered in See You at the Movies. After the war, he joined his family—his father was a modestly successful concert
Biography: Melvyn Douglas
Collection Inventory
Arthur, Josephine H. , December 30,
No(s):
Creator: Arthur, Thomas H.
Physical Description: 30 pages; 1 reel, 3 3/4 ips, 1 hour 10 minutes; no index
Scope and Content Note: Josephine Arthur, a family friend of Melvyn Douglas, knew the actor for the majority of his life. They met in Chicago and Douglas spent a lot of time with her family during the earlier days of his career. She discusses some of her childhood memories with Melvyn and his family, some of the plays that he acted in in Chicago, his visits to her college, and Douglas's feelings about Judaism.
Indexed Terms:
- Places:
- Occupations:
- Subjects:
- acting
- Inherit the Wind
- Judaism
- Theater
- theatrical plays
- Time Out for Ginger
- Corporate Bodies:
- Family Names:
- People:
- Douglas, George
- Hightower, Rosalind
Access Status: Open
Arthur, Thomas H. , May, , June, , January, , February, , March,
No(s):
Creator: Arthur, Thomas H.
Physical Description: 72 pages; 2 reels, 3 3/4 ips, 3 hours; no index
Scope and Content Note: Thomas H. Arthur shares his personal impressions of many of the people he interviewed for his biograp
Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Douglas was an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony award–winning actor, whose film career began during the rush for &#;talkie&#; performers in the early s. Born in Georgia, Douglas first experienced the spotlight when his parents entered him in baby shows throughout the state.
Early Life
Melvyn Douglas was born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg on April 5, , in Macon. His father, Edouard Hesselberg, was a musician who emigrated from Russia to the United States, where he met Douglas&#;s mother, Lena Shakelford. After a few years in Georgia, during which time Douglas won first prize in the Georgia State Fair Baby Show, his family moved to Toronto, Ontario, then Lincoln, Nebraska, where his father supported the family through piano lessons and performances. At the age of seventeen Douglas joined the army and served at Fort D. A. Russell in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in a venereal disease ward.
After leaving the service in , Douglas joined Shakespearean actor William Owen&#;s acting school in Chicago, Illinois, as a scholarship student. Under Owen&#;s guidance Douglas performed in TheMerchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, and As You Like It. In he joined Jessie Bonstelle&
Two-time Oscar-winner Melvyn Douglas was one of America's finest actors, and would enjoy cinema immortality if for no other reason than his being the man who made Greta Garbo laugh in Ernst Lubitsch's classic comedy Ninotchka (), but he was much, much more.
Melvyn Douglas was born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg on April 5, , in Macon, Georgia. His father, Edouard Gregory Hesselberg, a noted concert pianist and composer, was a Latvian Jewish emigrant, from Riga. His mother, Lena Priscilla (Shackelford), from Clark Furnace, Tennessee, was from a family with deep roots in the United States, and the daughter of Col. George Taliaferro Shackelford. Melvyn's father supported his family by teaching music at university-based conservatories. Melvyn dropped out of high school to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.
He made his Broadway debut in the drama "A Free Soul " at the Playhouse Theatre on January 12, , playing the role of a raffish gangster (a part that would later make Clark Gable's career when the play was adapted to the screen as A Free Soul () ). "A Free Soul" was a modest success, running for performances. His next three plays were flops: &
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