Louis Calhern
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- February 18, 1895
- Died
- May 12, 1956
- Birthplace
- Brooklyn [now in New York City], New York, USA
Carl Henry Vogt (February 19, 1895 – May 12, 1956), known professionally as Louis Calhern, was an American stage and screen actor. For portraying Oliver Wendell Holmes in the film The Magnificent Yankee (1950), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Calhern began working in silent films for director Lois Weber in the early 1920s; the most notable being The Blot in 1921. A 1921 newspaper article commented, "The new arrival in stardom is Louis Calhern, who, until Miss Weber engaged him to enact the leading male role in What's Worth While?, had been playing leads in the Morosco Stock company of Los Angeles." In 1923 Calhern left the movies, but would return to the screen eight years later after the advent of sound pictures. He was primarily cast as a character actor in films while he continued to play leading roles on the stage. He reached his peak in the 1950s as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player. Among his many memorable screen roles were Ambassador Trentino in the Marx Brothers classic Duck Soup (1933) and three that he appeared in at MGM in 1950: a singing role as Buffalo Bill in the film version of the musical Annie Get Your Gun, the double-crossing lawyer and sugar-daddy to Marilyn Monroe in John Huston's film noir The Asphalt Jungle, and his Oscar-nominated performance as Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Magnificent Yankee (re-creating his role from the Broadway stage). He was also praised for his portrayal of the title role in the John Houseman production of Julius Caesar (adapted from the Shakespeare play) in 1953, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Calhern also played the role of the devious George Caswell, the manipulative board member of Tredway Corporation in the 1954 production of Executive Suite. Calhern's other film roles included the grandfather in The Red Pony (1949), adapted from the novel by John Steinbeck and starring Robert Mitchum, and the spy boss of Cary Grant in the Alfred Hitchcock suspense classic Notorious (1946). A performance as Uncle Willie in High Society (1956), a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story, turned out to be his final film. Description above from the Wikipedia article Louis Calhern, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
Becoming Marilyn 2022
as (archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II 1976
as (archive footage)
High Society 1956
as Uncle Willie
Forever, Darling 1956
as Charles Bewell
The Prodigal 1955
as Nahreeb
Blackboard Jungle 1955
as Jim Murdock
Athena 1954
as Grandpa Mulvain
Betrayed 1954
as Gen. Ten Eyck
The Student Prince 1954
as King of Karlsberg
Men of the Fighting Lady 1954
as James A. Michener
Executive Suite 1954
as George Nyle Caswell
Rhapsody 1954
as Nicholas Durant
Main Street to Broadway 1953
as Self
Latin Lovers 1953
as Grandfather Eduardo Santos
Julius Caesar 1953
as Julius Caesar
Remains to Be Seen 1953
as Benjamin Goodman
Confidentially Connie 1953
as Opie Bedloe
The Bad and the Beautiful 1952
as Georgia Lorrison's Father (voice) (uncredited)
The Prisoner of Zenda 1952
as Col. Zapt
We're Not Married! 1952
as Freddie Melrose
Washington Story 1952
as Charles W. Birch
Invitation 1952
as Simon Bowker
The Man with a Cloak 1951
as Charles Theverner
It's a Big Country 1951
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
The Magnificent Yankee 1950
as Oliver Wendell Holmes
Two Weeks with Love 1950
as Horatio Robinson
A Life of Her Own 1950
as Jim Leversoe
Devil's Doorway 1950
as Verne Coolan
Annie Get Your Gun 1950
as Col. Buffalo Bill Cody
The Asphalt Jungle 1950
as Alonzo D. Emmerich
Nancy Goes to Rio 1950
as Gregory Elliott
The Red Danube 1949
as Colonel Piniev
The Red Pony 1949
as Grandfather
Arch of Triumph 1948
as Boris Morosov
Notorious 1946
as Paul Prescott
Up in Arms 1944
as Colonel Ashley
The Bridge of San Luis Rey 1944
as Don Andre - The Viceroy
Nobody's Darling 1943
as Curtis Farnsworth
Heaven Can Wait 1943
as Randolph Van Cleve
Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet 1940
as Dr. Brockdorf
I Take This Woman 1940
as Dr. Martin Sumner Duveen
Charlie McCarthy, Detective 1939
as Arthur Aldrich
Fifth Avenue Girl 1939
as Dr. Kessler
Juarez 1939
as LeMarc
Fast Company 1938
as Elias Z. Bannerman
The Life of Emile Zola 1937
as Major Dort
Her Husband Lies 1937
as Joe Sorrell
The Gorgeous Hussy 1936
as Leroy Sunderland
The Last Days of Pompeii 1935
as Prefect Allus Martius
Woman Wanted 1935
as Smiley
The Arizonian 1935
as Sheriff Jake Mannen
Sweet Adeline 1934
as Major Jim Day
The Count of Monte Cristo 1934
as De Villefort Jr.
The Affairs of Cellini 1934
as Ottaviano
The Man with Two Faces 1934
as Stanley Vance
Duck Soup 1933
as Ambassador Trentino
Diplomaniacs 1933
as Winkelreid
The World Gone Mad 1933
as Christopher Bruno
Strictly Personal 1933
as Jack Magruder
The Woman Accused 1933
as Leo Young
Frisco Jenny 1933
as Steve Dutton
20,000 Years in Sing Sing 1932
as Joe Finn
Afraid to Talk 1932
as Asst. District Attorney John Wade
They Call It Sin 1932
as Ford Humphries
Night After Night 1932
as Dick Bolton
Okay, America! 1932
as Mileaway Russell
Blonde Crazy 1931
as 'Dapper Dan' Barker
The Road to Singapore 1931
as Dr. George March
Stolen Heaven 1931
as Steve Perry
The Last Moment 1923
as Harry Gaines
The Blot 1921
as Phil West
Too Wise Wives 1921
as David Graham
What's Worth While? 1921
as 'Squire' Elton
Credits from TMDB.