Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies, appearing in such films as Charles Chaplin's A Woman of Paris, in which he played the lead role; Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory with Kirk Douglas; Ernst Lubitsch's The Marriage Circle; The Sheik with Rudolph Valentino; Morocco with Marlene Dietrich and Cary Cooper; and A Star is Born. He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Front Page in 1931.
[1947 HUAAC testimony] I believe that under certain circumstances a communistic director, a communistic writer, or a communistic actor, even if he were under orders from the head of a studio not to inject communism, or Un-Americanism or subversion into pictures, could easily subvert that order under the proper circumstances by a look, by an inflection, by a change in the voice. I think it could easily be done.
2
I'm a Red-baiter; I'm a witch-hunter if the witches are Communists.
3
It was my mustache that landed jobs for me. In those silent-film days it was the mark of a villain. When I realized they had me pegged as a foreign nobleman type I began to live the part, too. I bought a pair of white spats, an ascot tie and a walking stick.
4
My success has been as full of luck as a crapshooter's dream.
5
The [Marlon Brando] school are grabbers, not lovers. If it wasn't that the script says they get the girl, they wouldn't.
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Fact
1
Spoke French fluently (French being his father's tongue) and starred in several Hollywood-made French-language films in 1930.
2
The first Drive-In Theater was devised by Richard M. Hollingshead in Camden, New Jersey and opened on June 6, 1933. It had 400 slots and a 40 by 50 foot screen, and he advertised it with the slogan, "The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are." The first movie shown was "Wife Beware" starring Adolphe Menjou. His drive-in was in operation for only three years, but in that time the idea caught on in other states.
3
Menjou was also well known in the 1950s as a television pitch man for Drewrys Beer, and appeared in several Drewrys television commercials.
4
In 1919 Menjou produced a series of two-minute shorts for J. Van Buren entitles "Topics of the Day.".
5
In 1944 Menjou and Walt Disneyformed the militant anti-Communist organization called the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals.
6
Menjou was an avid and skilled golfer. Clark Gable was among his favorite partners on the links.
7
Menjou and fellow actor Edward Arnold shared the same birth date (February 18, 1890).
8
He died with an estate valued at $700,000.
9
Possessed enviable art and coin collections during his lifetime.
10
Staunch member of the John Birch Society.
11
Once boasted that his wardrobe included about 2,000 articles -- over 100 suits and 15 overcoats alone.
12
Was a (very) "friendly witness" for the House Committee on Un-American Activities' hearings into alleged "Communist subversion" in Hollywood. He willingly "named names" to HUAC during his 1947 testimony and was well-known for his ultra-right-wing political stances. He once said that all Communists should be taken out and shot, regardless of whether they were American citizens or not.
Distant cousin of author James Joyce--his mother was Joyce's first cousin.
15
Voted Best Dressed Man in America nine times over the years.
16
First-generation American of mixed French-Irish ancestry. His French-born father, Albert Menjou, was a successful hotel manager and his mother, Nora Joyce, was from Connemara, Ireland.
17
Adolphe attended the Culver Military Academy and eventually graduated from Cornell University with a degree in engineering. He also was a captain in the Ambulance Corps during World War I.
"Bridal Chorus Here Comes the Bride" 1850, uncredited
The Housekeeper's Daughter
1939
"Bridal Chorus Here Comes the Bride" 1850, uncredited
Golden Boy
1939
performer: "We're in the Money Now"
One in a Million
1936
performer: "We're Back in Circulation Again" 1936
The Great Lover
1931
performer: "Là ci darem la mano" 1787, "Ich liebe Dich" I Love You 1864, "Waltz Song" 1867 - uncredited
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Silent Barrier
1920
producer
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Merv Griffin Show
1962
TV Series
Himself
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
TV Series
Himself - Guest
The Jack Paar Tonight Show
1958-1962
TV Series
Himself
The Tonight Show
1962
TV Series
Himself - Actor
Here's Hollywood
1961
TV Series
Himself
The Square World of Jack Paar
1961
TV Movie
Himself (on film)
About Faces
1960
TV Series
Himself
The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
1956-1959
TV Series
Himself - Actor
Target
1958
TV Series
Himself - Host / Host / Himself - Henry Baile / ...
What's My Line?
1951-1957
TV Series
Himself - Guest Panelist / Himself - Mystery Guest
This Is Your Life
1956
TV Series
Himself
The George Gobel Show
1955
TV Series
Himself
Your Favorite Story
1953-1955
TV Series
Himself - Host / Himself - Narrator / Oliver Metcalfe / ...
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Mr. Movies
1952
Documentary short
Himself
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 6
1942
Documentary short
Himself
Screen Snapshots: Seeing Hollywood
1940
Documentary short
Himself - Rose Bowl Parade Spectator
20th Century Fox Promotional Film
1936
Documentary short
Himself (uncredited)
Hollywood on Parade No. A-13
1933
Short
Himself
Hollywood on Parade No. A-9
1933
Short
Himself (uncredited)
Wir schalten um auf Hollywood
1931
Himself
Fascinating Youth
1926
Himself - Adolphe Menjou
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Sinatra: All or Nothing at All
2015
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
Trumbo
2007
Documentary
Himself
American Masters
1993-2003
TV Series documentary
Himself
Classified X
1998
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life
1997
Documentary
Himself - Before HUAC (uncredited)
Biography
1995
TV Series documentary
Actor 'The Mighty Barnium'
Mo' Funny: Black Comedy in America
1993
TV Special documentary
Col. Carleton Carroway
Citizen Cohn
1992
TV Movie
Himself (uncredited)
Zelig
1983
Himself (uncredited)
Hollywood
1980
TV Mini-Series documentary
Hollywood on Trial
1976
Documentary
Himself
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
1969
TV Movie documentary
Actor 'A Star Is Born' (uncredited)
The Love Goddesses
1965
Documentary
Himself
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
1963
TV Series
Mr. Pendergast
Hollywood: The Great Stars
1963
TV Movie documentary
Actor 'Morning Glory' (uncredited)
Hollywood Without Make-Up
1963
Documentary
Himself
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story
1951
Documentary
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1960
Star on the Walk of Fame
Walk of Fame
Motion Picture
On 8 February 1960. At 6826 Hollywood Blvd.
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
1958
Golden Laurel
Laurel Awards
Top Male Supporting Performance
Paths of Glory (1957)
1931
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Actor in a Leading Role
The Front Page (1931)
Known for movies
Paths of Glory (1957) as Gen. George Broulard
Your Favorite Story (1953-1955) as Himself - Host / Narrator / Captain Harrison / College Dean / Himself / Himself - Narrator / Host / Oliver Metcalfe / Richard Rensslear, The Magician / The Canterville Ghost
$100,000
