Adolphe Menjou
American actor (1890–1963) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor, whose career spanned both silent films and talkies. He became a leading man during the 1920's, known for his debonair and sophisticated screen presence.[1] He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Front Page (1931).[2]
Adolphe Menjou | |
|---|---|
Menjou in 1938 | |
| Born | Adolphe Jean Menjou February 18, 1890 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | October 29, 1963 (aged 73) |
| Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
| Alma mater | Cornell University |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1914–1960 |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses | Katherine Conn Tinsley
(m. 1920; div. 1927) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | James Joyce |
He played prominent roles in The Sheik (1921), A Woman of Paris (1923), The Marriage Circle (1924), Morocco (1930), A Farewell to Arms (1932), Morning Glory (1933), and the original A Star Is Born (1937). Mainly a supporting actor after the 1940s, he played a prominent role as the antagonist of Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957). In 1960, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture industry.[1]
A lifelong Republican, Menjou was known for his right-wing political stances, and was a vocal supporter of the House Committee on Un-American Activities and a co-founder of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals.
Early life
Adolphe Jean Menjou was born on February 18, 1890, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a French father, Albert Menjou (1858–1917), and an Irish mother, Nora (née Joyce, 1869–1953).[3][4] His mother was the first cousin of James Joyce.[1] His brother, Henry Arthur Menjou (1891–1956), was a year younger and also an actor. His family was Roman Catholic.
Menjou attended the Culver Military Academy, and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in engineering. Attracted to the vaudeville stage, he made his movie debut in 1916 in The Blue Envelope Mystery. During World War I, he served as a captain in the United States Army Ambulance Service, for which he trained in Pennsylvania before going overseas.
Career and stardom
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After returning from the war, Menjou gradually rose through the ranks with small but fruitful roles in films such as The Faith Healer (1921) alongside supporting roles in prominent films such as The Sheik (1921) and The Three Musketeers (1921). By 1922, he was receiving top or near-top billing, with a selection of those films being with Famous Players–Lasky and Paramount Pictures, starting with Pink Gods (1922), although he did films for various studios and directors. His supporting role in 1923's A Woman of Paris solidified the image of a well-dressed man-about-town, and he was voted Best Dressed Man in America nine times.[5] He was noted as an example of a suave type of actor, one who could play lover or villain.[6] In 1929, he attended the preview of Maurice Chevalier's first Hollywood film Innocents of Paris, and personally reassured Chevalier that he would enjoy a great future, despite the mediocre screenplay.[7] He closed the end of the 1920s with star roles such as His Private Life (1928) and Fashions in Love (1929).
The crash of the stock market in 1929 meant that his contract with Paramount was cancelled, but he went on to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and continued on with films (now talkies) in a variety of ways, with his knowledge of French and Spanish helping at key times, although his starring roles declined by this point. In 1930, he starred in Morocco, with Marlene Dietrich. He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Front Page (1931), after having received the role upon the death of Louis Wolheim during rehearsals.[8][9] A variety of supporting roles in this decade were films such as A Farewell to Arms (1932), Morning Glory (1933), and A Star Is Born (1937).[10]
His roles decreased slightly in the 1940s, but he did overseas work for World War II alongside supporting roles in films like Roxie Hart (1942) and State of the Union (1948). Over the course of his career, he bridged the gap of working with several noted directors that ranged from Charlie Chaplin to Frank Borzage to Frank Capra to Stanley Kubrick.
Later career
Menjou had just eleven roles in the 1950s, but he managed to snag one last leading role with the film noir The Sniper (1952). Incidentally, the director of that film was Edward Dmytryk, who had been a member of the Hollywood Ten; as such he was blacklisted from the film industry for not testifying to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) during the 'Red scare' before deciding to testify and name names as a brief member of the Communist Party.
In 1955, Menjou played Dr. Elliott Harcourt in "Barrier of Silence", episode 19 of the first season of the television series Science Fiction Theatre. He guest-starred as Fitch, with Orson Bean and Sue Randall as John and Ellen Monroe, in a 1961 episode, "The Secret Life of James Thurber", based on the works of American humorist James Thurber (especially "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"), in the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He also appeared in the Thanksgiving episode of NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired on November 22, 1956.[11] Menjou ended his film career with such roles as French General George Broulard in Stanley Kubrick's film Paths of Glory (1957) and his final film role was that of the town curmudgeon in Disney's Pollyanna (1960).
Political beliefs
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Menjou was a staunch Republican who equated the Democratic Party with socialism. He supported the Hoover administration's policies during the Great Depression. Menjou told a friend that he feared that if a Democrat won the White House, they "would raise taxes [and] destroy the value of the dollar," depriving Menjou of a good portion of his wealth. He took precautions against this threat: "I've got gold stashed in safety deposit boxes all over town... They'll never get an ounce from me."[12] In the 1944 presidential election, he joined other celebrity Republicans at a rally in the Los Angeles Coliseum, organized by studio executive David O. Selznick, to support the Dewey–Bricker ticket and Governor Earl Warren of California, who would be Dewey's running mate in 1948. The gathering drew 93,000, with Cecil B. DeMille as the master of ceremonies and short speeches by Hedda Hopper and Walt Disney. Despite the rally's large turnout, most Hollywood celebrities who took public positions supported the Roosevelt–Truman ticket.[13]
In 1947, Menjou co-operated with the House Committee on Un-American Activities saying that Hollywood "is one of the main centers of Communist activity in America". He added: "it is the desire and wish of the masters of Moscow to use this medium for their purposes" which is "the overthrow of the American government".[14] Menjou was a leading member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a group formed to oppose "communist influence" in Hollywood, whose other members included John Wayne, Barbara Stanwyck (with whom Menjou costarred in Forbidden in 1932 and Golden Boy in 1939) and her husband, actor Robert Taylor.
Because of his political leanings, Menjou came into conflict with actress Katharine Hepburn, with whom he appeared in Morning Glory, Stage Door, and State of the Union (also starring Spencer Tracy). Hepburn was strongly opposed to the HUAC hearings, and their clashes were reportedly instant and mutually cutting. During a government deposition, Menjou said, "Scratch a do-gooder, like Hepburn, and they'll yell, 'Pravda'."[15] To this, Hepburn called Menjou "wisecracking, witty—a flag-waving super-patriot who invested his American dollars in Canadian bonds and had a thing about Communists."[15] In his book Kate, Hepburn biographer William Mann said that during the filming of State of the Union, she and Menjou spoke to each other only while acting.[15][citation needed]
Personal life
Menjou was married three times. His first marriage, in 1920 to Kathryn Conn Tinsley, ended in divorce. He married Kathryn Carver in 1928; they divorced in 1934. His third and final marriage, to Verree Teasdale, lasted from 1934 until his death on October 29, 1963; they had one adopted son, Peter Menjou. Menjou had adopted Tinsley's son, Harold Lawton Tinsley, but after his death, his will revealed that he had included only Peter Menjou as his heir.[16]
Menjou was an avid golfer, regularly playing with Clark Gable.
In 1948, Menjou published his autobiography, It Took Nine Tailors.
Death
Menjou died on October 29, 1963, of hepatitis in Beverly Hills, California.[17] He is interred beside Verree at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.[18]
Legacy
For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Menjou has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6826 Hollywood Boulevard.[1]
Cultural references
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Because of Menjou's public support of HUAC, the propaganda of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) often depicted their western opponents with Menjou-style moustaches, and it was considered a statement of political opposition to trim one's moustache that way. The style became a symbol for the resourceful criminal, and in Germany is still called Menjou-Bärtchen (Menjou beardlet). In German film and theatre, dubious men, opportunists, corrupt politicians, fraudulent persuaders, marriage impostors and other "slick" criminals often wear Menjou-Bärtchen. In real life, the style is often associated with opportunism.
Salvador Dalí admired Adolphe Menjou.[19] He declared "la moustache d'Adolphe Menjou est surréaliste"[20] and began offering fake mustaches from a silver cigarette case to other people with the words "Moustache? Moustache? Moustache?"[21]
One of the most famous photographs by the avant-garde photographer Umbo is titled "Menjou En Gros" ca. 1928.[22]
In the "Irresistible Andy" episode of The Andy Griffith Show, when Andy sees Barney dressed in fancy attire, Andy calls him "the Adolphe Menjou of Mayberry".
On the Season 2, Episode 11 Leave It To Beaver, Ward states the world might have missed out on another Adolphe Menjou.
In the movie Sunset Boulevard, Joe Gillis arrives to a young adult New Year's Eve party overdressed in a vicuna overcoat and a tailcoat. Artie Green surveys his outfit and asks, "Who'd you borrow that from? Adolphe Menjou?" Andrew Lloyd Webber carries the line over to the musical adaption of the film.
In the Mario Puzo novel The Godfather, character Jules Segall references the misdiagnosis of singer Johnny Fontane's throat troubles by an "Adolphe Menjou medical man..."
In the M*A*S*H episode, "Abyssinia, Henry," Henry Blake is departing the 4077th, attired in a comically dated suit and hat. Trapper tells him: "Henry, that suit is really you!" Hawkeye, after a perfectly timed beat, adds: "If you're Adolphe Menjou."
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1914 | The Acid Test | Extra | Short film Lost film |
| 1914 | The Man Behind the Door | Ringmaster | Lost film |
| 1916 | A Parisian Romance | Julianai | |
| 1916 | Nearly a King | Baron | |
| 1916 | The Price of Happiness | Howard Neal | |
| 1916 | The Habit of Happiness | Society Man | |
| 1916 | The Crucial Test | Count Nicolai | Lost film |
| 1916 | The Devil at His Elbow | Wilfred Carleton | |
| 1916 | The Reward of Patience | Paul Dunstan | |
| 1916 | Manhattan Madness | Minor Role | |
| 1916 | The Scarlet Runner | Lost film | |
| 1916 | The Kiss | Pennington | |
| 1916 | The Blue Envelope Mystery | Lost film | |
| 1917 | The Valentine Girl | Joe Winder | |
| 1917 | Wild and Woolly | ||
| 1917 | The Amazons | Lost film | |
| 1917 | An Even Break | Bit Part | |
| 1917 | The Moth | Teddy Marbridge / The Husband | Lost film |
| 1920 | What Happened to Rosa | Reporter Friend of Dr. Drew | |
| 1921 | The Faith Healer | Dr. Littlefield | Lost film |
| 1921 | Courage | Bruce Ferguson | |
| 1921 | Through the Back Door | James Brewster | |
| 1921 | The Three Musketeers | Louis XIII | |
| 1921 | Queenie | Count Michael | Lost film |
| 1921 | The Sheik | Dr. Raoul de St. Hubert | |
| 1922 | Head Over Heels | Sterling | |
| 1922 | Arabian Love | Captain Fortine | Lost film |
| 1922 | Is Matrimony a Failure? | Dudley King | |
| 1922 | The Fast Mail | Cal Baldwin | |
| 1922 | The Eternal Flame | Duc de Langeais | Partly lost film |
| 1922 | Pink Gods | Louis Barney | Lost film |
| 1922 | Clarence | Hubert Stein | |
| 1922 | Singed Wings | Bliss Gordon | |
| 1923 | The World's Applause | Robert Townsend | |
| 1923 | Bella Donna | Mr. Chepstow | |
| 1923 | Rupert of Hentzau | Count Rischenheim | Lost film |
| 1923 | A Woman of Paris | Pierre Revel | |
| 1923 | The Spanish Dancer | Don Salluste | |
| 1924 | The Marriage Circle | Prof. Josef Stock | |
| 1924 | Shadows of Paris | Georges de Croy | Lost film |
| 1924 | The Marriage Cheat | Bob Canfield | Lost film |
| 1924 | Broadway After Dark | Ralph Norton | Lost film |
| 1924 | For Sale | Joseph Hudley | Lost film |
| 1924 | Broken Barriers | Tommy Kemp | Lost film |
| 1924 | Sinners in Silk | Arthur Merrill | Lost film |
| 1924 | Open All Night | Edmund Durverne | |
| 1924 | The Fast Set | Ernest Steel | Lost film |
| 1924 | Forbidden Paradise | Chancellor | |
| 1925 | A Kiss in the Dark | Walter Grenham | Partly lost film |
| 1925 | The Swan | Albert von Kersten-Rodenfels | |
| 1925 | Are Parents People? | Mr. Hazlitt | |
| 1925 | Lost: A Wife | Tony Hamilton | Lost film |
| 1925 | The King on Main Street | King Serge IV of Molvania | |
| 1926 | The Grand Duchess and the Waiter | Albert Durant | |
| 1926 | Fascinating Youth | Himself | Lost film |
| 1926 | A Social Celebrity | Max Haber | Lost film |
| 1926 | The Ace of Cads | Chappel Maturin | Lost film |
| 1926 | The Sorrows of Satan | Prince Lucio de Rimanez | |
| 1927 | Blonde or Brunette | Henri Martel | |
| 1927 | Evening Clothes | Lucien d'Artois | Lost film |
| 1927 | Service for Ladies | Albert Leroux | Lost film |
| 1927 | A Gentleman of Paris | Marquis de Marignan | |
| 1927 | Serenade | Franz Rossi | Lost film |
| 1928 | A Night of Mystery | Captain Ferreol | Lost film |
| 1928 | His Tiger Lady | Henri | Lost film |
| 1928 | His Private Life | Georges St. Germain | Lost film |
| 1929 | Marquis Preferred | Marquis d'Argenville | |
| 1929 | Fashions in Love | Paul de Remy | |
| 1930 | Soyons gais | Bob Brown | |
| 1930 | My Childish Father | Jérome | |
| 1930 | Amor audaz | Albert d'Arlons | |
| 1930 | Mysterious Mr. Parkes | Courtenay Parkes | |
| 1930 | Morocco | Monsieur La Bessiere | |
| 1930 | New Moon | Governor Boris Brusiloff | |
| 1931 | The Easiest Way | William Brockton | |
| 1931 | Men Call It Love | Tony | |
| 1931 | The Front Page | Walter Burns | |
| 1931 | The Great Lover | Jean Paurel | |
| 1931 | The Parisian | Jérome Rocheville | |
| 1931 | Friends and Lovers | Captain Geoffrey Roberts | |
| 1931 | Prestige | Capt. Remy Bandoin | |
| 1931 | Wir schalten um auf Hollywood | Himself | |
| 1932 | Forbidden | Bob | |
| 1932 | Wives Beware | Maj. Carey Liston | First film ever shown at a drive-in[23][24][25] |
| 1932 | Bachelor's Affairs | Andrew Hoyt | |
| 1932 | Diamond Cut Diamond | Dan McQueen | |
| 1932 | The Night Club Lady | Police Commissioner Thatcher Colt | |
| 1932 | A Farewell to Arms | Rinaldi | |
| 1933 | The Circus Queen Murder | Thatcher Colt | |
| 1933 | Morning Glory | Louis Easton | |
| 1933 | The Worst Woman in Paris? | Adolphe Ballou | |
| 1933 | Convention City | T.R. (Ted) Kent | Lost film |
| 1934 | Easy to Love | John | |
| 1934 | Journal of a Crime | Paul Moliet | |
| 1934 | The Trumpet Blows | Pancho Montes / Pancho Gomez | |
| 1934 | Little Miss Marker | Sorrowful Jones | |
| 1934 | The Great Flirtation | Stephan Karpath | |
| 1934 | The Human Side | Gregory Sheldon | |
| 1934 | The Mighty Barnum | Bailey Walsh | |
| 1935 | Gold Diggers of 1935 | Nicolai Nicoleff | |
| 1935 | Broadway Gondolier | Professor Eduardo de Vinci | |
| 1935 | The Milky Way | Gabby Sloan | |
| 1936 | Sing, Baby, Sing | Bruce Farraday | |
| 1936 | Wives Never Know | J. Hugh Ramsey | |
| 1936 | One in a Million | Tad Spencer | |
| 1937 | A Star Is Born | Oliver Niles | |
| 1937 | Café Metropole | Monsieur Victor | |
| 1937 | One Hundred Men and a Girl | John Cardwell | |
| 1937 | Stage Door | Anthony Powell | |
| 1938 | The Goldwyn Follies | Oliver Merlin | |
| 1938 | Letter of Introduction | John Mannering | |
| 1938 | Thanks for Everything | J. B. Harcourt | |
| 1939 | King of the Turf | Jim Mason | |
| 1939 | Golden Boy | Tom Moody | |
| 1939 | The Housekeeper's Daughter | Deakon Maxwell | |
| 1939 | That's Right—You're Wrong | Stacey Delmore | |
| 1940 | Turnabout | Phil Manning | |
| 1940 | A Bill of Divorcement | Hilary Fairfield | |
| 1941 | Road Show | Colonel Carleton Carroway | |
| 1941 | Father Takes a Wife | Senior | |
| 1942 | Roxie Hart | Billy Flynn | |
| 1942 | Syncopation | George Latimer | |
| 1942 | You Were Never Lovelier | Eduardo Acuña | |
| 1943 | Hi Diddle Diddle | Col. Hector Phyffe | |
| 1943 | Sweet Rosie O'Grady | Tom Moran | |
| 1944 | Step Lively | Wagner | |
| 1945 | Man Alive | Kismet | |
| 1946 | Heartbeat | Ambassador | |
| 1946 | The Bachelor's Daughters | Alexander Moody | |
| 1947 | I'll Be Yours | J. Conrad Nelson | |
| 1947 | Mr. District Attorney | Craig Warren | |
| 1947 | The Hucksters | Mr. Kimberly | |
| 1948 | State of the Union | Jim Conover | |
| 1949 | My Dream Is Yours | Thomas Hutchins | |
| 1949 | Dancing in the Dark | Melville Crossman | |
| 1950 | To Please a Lady | Gregg | |
| 1951 | The Tall Target | Colonel Caleb Jeffers | |
| Across the Wide Missouri | Pierre | ||
| 1952 | The Sniper | Police Lt. Frank Kafka | |
| 1953 | Man on a Tightrope | Fesker | |
| 1955 | Timberjack | 'Sweetwater' Tilton | |
| 1956 | The Ambassador's Daughter | Senator Jonathan Cartwright | |
| Bundle of Joy | J.B. Merlin | ||
| 1957 | The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown | Arthur Martin | |
| Paths of Glory | Major General Georges Broulard | ||
| 1958 | I Married a Woman | Frederick W. Sutton | |
| 1960 | Pollyanna | Mr. Pendergast |
Radio appearances
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Screen Guild Players | Experiment Perilous[26] |
| 1946 | This Is Hollywood | The Bachelor's Daughters[27] |
See also
References
External links
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