Louis Calhern

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 Whats 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 MetroGoldwynMayer 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 doublecrossing lawyer and sugardaddy to Marilyn Monroe in John Hustons film noir The Asphalt Jungle and his Oscarnominated performance as Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Magnificent Yankee recreating 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 Calherns 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 CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia