Louis Calhern

Also Known As: Carl Henry Vogt, Louis Calhearn

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.

Department: Acting

Place of Birth: Brooklyn [now in New York City], New York, USA

Birthday: February 18, 1895

Deathday: May 12, 1956

Adult: No

Gender: Male

Popularity:

1.00%

Known For:

Notorious
Duck Soup
The Last Moment
It's a Big Country
We're Not Married!
High Society
The Red Pony
Annie Get Your Gun
Blackboard Jungle
Devil's Doorway
Forever, Darling
The Prisoner of Zenda
Arch of Triumph
The Red Danube
Blonde Crazy
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Executive Suite
Two Weeks with Love
The Count of Monte Cristo
Sweet Adeline
Fifth Avenue Girl
The Asphalt Jungle
Julius Caesar
The Student Prince
Heaven Can Wait
The Woman Accused
Okay, America!
Afraid to Talk
Night After Night
Frisco Jenny
The Man with Two Faces
The Man with a Cloak
Betrayed
Men of the Fighting Lady
Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet
The Magnificent Yankee
Rhapsody
Athena
The Gorgeous Hussy
The World Gone Mad
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
The Affairs of Cellini
Up in Arms
Invitation
Nancy Goes to Rio
The Prodigal
Fast Company
Stolen Heaven
The Arizonian
I Take This Woman
The Last Days of Pompeii
Washington Story
Latin Lovers
A Life of Her Own
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
The Road to Singapore
Remains to Be Seen
Her Husband Lies
Woman Wanted
Charlie McCarthy, Detective
The Blot
They Call It Sin
Diplomaniacs
Main Street to Broadway
Confidentially Connie
The Bad and the Beautiful
Strictly Personal
Juarez
Nobody's Darling
The Life of Emile Zola
Too Wise Wives
That's Entertainment, Part II
What's Worth While?