Louis Calhern
Acting • Born 1895-02-18 – Died 1956-05-12
Biography
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
74 credits
Notorious
Movie • 1946
Captain Paul Prescott
Duck Soup
Movie • 1933
Ambassador Trentino
The Last Moment
Movie • 1923
Harry Gaines
It's a Big Country
Movie • 1951
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
High Society
Movie • 1956
Uncle Willie
We're Not Married!
Movie • 1952
Freddie Melrose
The Red Pony
Movie • 1949
Grandfather
Annie Get Your Gun
Movie • 1950
Col. Buffalo Bill Cody
Blackboard Jungle
Movie • 1955
Jim Murdock
Devil's Doorway
Movie • 1950
Verne Coolan
Forever, Darling
Movie • 1956
Charles Y. Bewell
The Prisoner of Zenda
Movie • 1952
Col. Zapt
Arch of Triumph
Movie • 1948
Boris Morosov
The Red Danube
Movie • 1949
Colonel Piniev
Blonde Crazy
Movie • 1931
'Dapper Dan' Barker
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Movie • 1932
Joe Finn
Executive Suite
Movie • 1954
George Nyle Caswell
Two Weeks with Love
Movie • 1950
Horatio Robinson
The Count of Monte Cristo
Movie • 1934
De Villefort Jr.
Sweet Adeline
Movie • 1934
Major Jim Day
Fifth Avenue Girl
Movie • 1939
Dr. Kessler
The Asphalt Jungle
Movie • 1950
Alonzo D. Emmerich
Julius Caesar
Movie • 1953
Julius Caesar
The Student Prince
Movie • 1954
King of Karlsberg
Heaven Can Wait
Movie • 1943
Randolph Van Cleve
The Woman Accused
Movie • 1933
Leo Young
Okay, America!
Movie • 1932
Mileaway Russell
Afraid to Talk
Movie • 1932
Asst. District Attorney John Wade
Night After Night
Movie • 1932
Dick Bolton
Frisco Jenny
Movie • 1933
Steve Dutton
The Man with Two Faces
Movie • 1934
Stanley Vance
The Man with a Cloak
Movie • 1951
Charles Theverner
Betrayed
Movie • 1954
Gen. Ten Eyck
Men of the Fighting Lady
Movie • 1954
James A. Michener
Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet
Movie • 1940
Dr. Brockdorf
The Magnificent Yankee
Movie • 1950
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Rhapsody
Movie • 1954
Nicholas Durant
Athena
Movie • 1954
Grandpa Ulysses Mulvain
The Gorgeous Hussy
Movie • 1936
Leroy Sunderland
The World Gone Mad
Movie • 1933
Christopher Bruno
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Movie • 1944
Don Andre - The Viceroy
The Affairs of Cellini
Movie • 1934
Ottaviano
Up in Arms
Movie • 1944
Colonel Ashley
Invitation
Movie • 1952
Simon Bowker
Nancy Goes to Rio
Movie • 1950
Gregory Elliott
The Prodigal
Movie • 1955
Nahreeb
Fast Company
Movie • 1938
Elias Z. Bannerman
Stolen Heaven
Movie • 1931
Steve Perry
The Arizonian
Movie • 1935
Sheriff Jake Mannen
I Take This Woman
Movie • 1940
Dr. Martin Sumner Duveen
The Last Days of Pompeii
Movie • 1935
Prefect Allus Martius
Washington Story
Movie • 1952
Charles W. Birch
Latin Lovers
Movie • 1953
Grandfather Eduardo Santos
A Life of Her Own
Movie • 1950
Jim Leversoe
The Road to Singapore
Movie • 1931
Dr. George March
Remains to Be Seen
Movie • 1953
Benjamin Goodman
Her Husband Lies
Movie • 1937
Joe Sorrell
Woman Wanted
Movie • 1935
Smiley
Charlie McCarthy, Detective
Movie • 1939
Arthur Aldrich
The Blot
Movie • 1921
Phil West
They Call It Sin
Movie • 1932
Ford Humphries
Diplomaniacs
Movie • 1933
Winkelreid
Main Street to Broadway
Movie • 1953
Self
Confidentially Connie
Movie • 1953
Opie Bedloe
The Bad and the Beautiful
Movie • 1952
Georgia Lorrison's Father (voice) (uncredited)
Strictly Personal
Movie • 1933
Jack Magruder
Juarez
Movie • 1939
LeMarc
Nobody's Darling
Movie • 1943
Curtis Farnsworth
The Life of Emile Zola
Movie • 1937
Major Dort
Too Wise Wives
Movie • 1921
David Graham
That's Entertainment, Part II
Movie • 1976
(archive footage)
What's Worth While?
Movie • 1921
'Squire' Elton
Becoming Marilyn
Movie • 2022
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self