Adolphe Menjou(1890-1963)
- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
The words "suave" and "debonair" became synonymous with the name
Adolphe Menjou in Hollywood, both on- and off-camera. The epitome of
knavish, continental charm and sartorial opulence, Menjou, complete
with trademark waxy black mustache, evolved into one of Hollywood's
most distinguished of artists and fashion plates, a tailor-made
scene-stealer, if you will. What is often forgotten is that he was
primed as a matinée idol back in the silent-film days. With hooded,
slightly owlish eyes, a prominent nose and prematurely receding
hairline, he was hardly competition for
Rudolph Valentino, but he did possess
the requisite demeanor to confidently pull off a roguish and magnetic
man-about-town. Fluent in six languages, Menjou was nearly
unrecognizable without some type of formal wear, and he went on to earn
distinction as the nation's "best dressed man" nine times.
Born on February 18, 1890, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was
christened Adolphe Jean Menjou, the elder son of a hotel manager. His
Irish mother was a distant cousin of novelist / poet
James Joyce ("Ulysses") (1882-1941).
His French father, an émigré, eventually moved the family to Cleveland,
where he operated a chain of restaurants. He disapproved of show
business and sent an already piqued Adolphe to Culver Military Academy
in Indiana in the hopes of dissuading him from such a seemingly
reckless and disreputable career. From there Adolphe was enrolled at
Stiles University prep school and then Cornell University. Instead of
acquiescing to his father's demands and obtaining a engineering degree,
however, he abruptly changed his major to liberal arts and began
auditioning for college plays. He left Cornell in his third year in
order to help his father manage a restaurant for a time during a family
financial crisis. From there he left for New York and a life in the
theater.
Adolphe toiled as a laborer, a haberdasher and even a waiter in one of
his father's restaurants during his salad days, which included some
vaudeville work. Oddly enough, he never made it to Broadway but instead
found extra and/or bit work for various film studios (Vitagraph,
Edison, Biograph) starting in 1915. World War I interrupted his early
career, and he served as a captain with the Ambulance Corps in France.
After the war he found employment off-camera as a productions manager
and unit manager. When the New York-based film industry moved west, so
did Adolphe.
Nothing of major significance happened for the fledgling actor until
1921, an absolute banner year for him. After six years of struggle he
finally broke into the top ranks with substantial roles in
The Faith Healer (1921) and
Through the Back Door (1921),
the latter starring Mary Pickford. He
formed some very strong connections as a result and earned a Paramount
contract in the process. Cast by Mary's then-husband
Douglas Fairbanks as Louis XIII in the
rousing silent
The Three Musketeers (1921),
he finished off the year portraying the influential writer/friend Raoul
de Saint Hubert in Rudolph Valentino's
classic The Sheik (1921).
Firmly entrenched in the Hollywood lifestyle, it took little time for
Menjou to establish his slick prototype as the urbane ladies' man and
wealthy roué. Paramount, noticing how Menjou stole scenes from
Charles Chaplin favorite
Edna Purviance in Chaplin's
A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923),
started capitalizing on Menjou's playboy image by casting him as
various callous and creaseless matinée leads in such films as
Broadway After Dark (1924),
Sinners in Silk (1924),
The Ace of Cads (1926),
A Social Celebrity (1926) and
A Gentleman of Paris (1927).
His younger brother Henri Menjou, a minor
actor, had a part in Adolphe's picture
Blonde or Brunette (1927).
The stock market crash led to the termination of Adolphe's Paramount
contract, and his status as leading man ended with it. MGM took him on
at half his Paramount salary and his fluency in such languages as
French and Spanish kept him employed at the beginning. Rivaling
Gary Cooper for the attentions of
Marlene Dietrich in
Morocco (1930) started the ball rolling
for Menjou as a dressy second lead. Rarely placed in leads following
this period, he managed his one and only Oscar nomination for "Best
Actor" with his performance as editor Walter Burns in
The Front Page (1931). Not
initially cast in the role, he replaced
Louis Wolheim, who died ten days into
rehearsal. Quality parts in quality pictures became the norm for
Adolphe during the 1930s, with outstanding roles given him in
The Great Lover (1931),
A Farewell to Arms (1932),
Forbidden (1932),
Little Miss Marker (1934),
Morning Glory (1933),
A Star Is Born (1937),
Stage Door (1937) and
Golden Boy (1939).
The 1940s were not as golden, however. In addition to entertaining the
troops overseas and making assorted broadcasts in a host of different
languages, he did manage to get the slick and slimy Billy Flynn lawyer
role opposite Ginger Rogers' felon in the
"Chicago" adaptation
Roxie Hart (1942), and continued to
earn occasional distinction in such post-WWII pictures as
The Hucksters (1947) and
State of the Union (1948). His
last lead was in the crackerjack thriller
The Sniper (1952), in which he played
an (urbane) San Francisco homicide detective tracking down a killer who
preys on women in San Francisco, and he appeared without his mustache
for the first time in nearly two decades. Also active on radio and TV,
his last notable film was the classic anti-war picture
Paths of Glory (1957) playing the
villainous Gen. Broulard.
Adolphe's extreme hardcore right-wing Republican politics hurt his
later reputation, as he was made a scapegoat for his cooperation as a
"friendly witness" at the House Un-American Activities Commission
hearing during the
Joseph McCarthy Red Scare era.
Following his last picture, Disney's
Pollyanna (1960), in which he played an
uncharacteristically rumpled curmudgeon who is charmed by
Hayley Mills, he retired from acting. He
died after a nine-month battle with hepatitis on October 29, 1963,
inside his Beverly Hills home. Three times proved the charm for Adolphe
with his 1934 marriage to actress
Verree Teasdale, who survived him. The
couple had an adopted son named Peter. His autobiography, "It Took Nine
Tailors" (1947), pretty much says it all for this polished, preening
professional.
Adolphe Menjou in Hollywood, both on- and off-camera. The epitome of
knavish, continental charm and sartorial opulence, Menjou, complete
with trademark waxy black mustache, evolved into one of Hollywood's
most distinguished of artists and fashion plates, a tailor-made
scene-stealer, if you will. What is often forgotten is that he was
primed as a matinée idol back in the silent-film days. With hooded,
slightly owlish eyes, a prominent nose and prematurely receding
hairline, he was hardly competition for
Rudolph Valentino, but he did possess
the requisite demeanor to confidently pull off a roguish and magnetic
man-about-town. Fluent in six languages, Menjou was nearly
unrecognizable without some type of formal wear, and he went on to earn
distinction as the nation's "best dressed man" nine times.
Born on February 18, 1890, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was
christened Adolphe Jean Menjou, the elder son of a hotel manager. His
Irish mother was a distant cousin of novelist / poet
James Joyce ("Ulysses") (1882-1941).
His French father, an émigré, eventually moved the family to Cleveland,
where he operated a chain of restaurants. He disapproved of show
business and sent an already piqued Adolphe to Culver Military Academy
in Indiana in the hopes of dissuading him from such a seemingly
reckless and disreputable career. From there Adolphe was enrolled at
Stiles University prep school and then Cornell University. Instead of
acquiescing to his father's demands and obtaining a engineering degree,
however, he abruptly changed his major to liberal arts and began
auditioning for college plays. He left Cornell in his third year in
order to help his father manage a restaurant for a time during a family
financial crisis. From there he left for New York and a life in the
theater.
Adolphe toiled as a laborer, a haberdasher and even a waiter in one of
his father's restaurants during his salad days, which included some
vaudeville work. Oddly enough, he never made it to Broadway but instead
found extra and/or bit work for various film studios (Vitagraph,
Edison, Biograph) starting in 1915. World War I interrupted his early
career, and he served as a captain with the Ambulance Corps in France.
After the war he found employment off-camera as a productions manager
and unit manager. When the New York-based film industry moved west, so
did Adolphe.
Nothing of major significance happened for the fledgling actor until
1921, an absolute banner year for him. After six years of struggle he
finally broke into the top ranks with substantial roles in
The Faith Healer (1921) and
Through the Back Door (1921),
the latter starring Mary Pickford. He
formed some very strong connections as a result and earned a Paramount
contract in the process. Cast by Mary's then-husband
Douglas Fairbanks as Louis XIII in the
rousing silent
The Three Musketeers (1921),
he finished off the year portraying the influential writer/friend Raoul
de Saint Hubert in Rudolph Valentino's
classic The Sheik (1921).
Firmly entrenched in the Hollywood lifestyle, it took little time for
Menjou to establish his slick prototype as the urbane ladies' man and
wealthy roué. Paramount, noticing how Menjou stole scenes from
Charles Chaplin favorite
Edna Purviance in Chaplin's
A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923),
started capitalizing on Menjou's playboy image by casting him as
various callous and creaseless matinée leads in such films as
Broadway After Dark (1924),
Sinners in Silk (1924),
The Ace of Cads (1926),
A Social Celebrity (1926) and
A Gentleman of Paris (1927).
His younger brother Henri Menjou, a minor
actor, had a part in Adolphe's picture
Blonde or Brunette (1927).
The stock market crash led to the termination of Adolphe's Paramount
contract, and his status as leading man ended with it. MGM took him on
at half his Paramount salary and his fluency in such languages as
French and Spanish kept him employed at the beginning. Rivaling
Gary Cooper for the attentions of
Marlene Dietrich in
Morocco (1930) started the ball rolling
for Menjou as a dressy second lead. Rarely placed in leads following
this period, he managed his one and only Oscar nomination for "Best
Actor" with his performance as editor Walter Burns in
The Front Page (1931). Not
initially cast in the role, he replaced
Louis Wolheim, who died ten days into
rehearsal. Quality parts in quality pictures became the norm for
Adolphe during the 1930s, with outstanding roles given him in
The Great Lover (1931),
A Farewell to Arms (1932),
Forbidden (1932),
Little Miss Marker (1934),
Morning Glory (1933),
A Star Is Born (1937),
Stage Door (1937) and
Golden Boy (1939).
The 1940s were not as golden, however. In addition to entertaining the
troops overseas and making assorted broadcasts in a host of different
languages, he did manage to get the slick and slimy Billy Flynn lawyer
role opposite Ginger Rogers' felon in the
"Chicago" adaptation
Roxie Hart (1942), and continued to
earn occasional distinction in such post-WWII pictures as
The Hucksters (1947) and
State of the Union (1948). His
last lead was in the crackerjack thriller
The Sniper (1952), in which he played
an (urbane) San Francisco homicide detective tracking down a killer who
preys on women in San Francisco, and he appeared without his mustache
for the first time in nearly two decades. Also active on radio and TV,
his last notable film was the classic anti-war picture
Paths of Glory (1957) playing the
villainous Gen. Broulard.
Adolphe's extreme hardcore right-wing Republican politics hurt his
later reputation, as he was made a scapegoat for his cooperation as a
"friendly witness" at the House Un-American Activities Commission
hearing during the
Joseph McCarthy Red Scare era.
Following his last picture, Disney's
Pollyanna (1960), in which he played an
uncharacteristically rumpled curmudgeon who is charmed by
Hayley Mills, he retired from acting. He
died after a nine-month battle with hepatitis on October 29, 1963,
inside his Beverly Hills home. Three times proved the charm for Adolphe
with his 1934 marriage to actress
Verree Teasdale, who survived him. The
couple had an adopted son named Peter. His autobiography, "It Took Nine
Tailors" (1947), pretty much says it all for this polished, preening
professional.