Louis Calhern

Person

Louis Calhern

Acting February 18, 1895

Brooklyn [now in New York City], New York, USA

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…

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Known for

Popular titles

Notorious

Notorious

7.7 1946 Movie
Duck Soup

Duck Soup

7.3 1933 Movie
The Asphalt Jungle

The Asphalt Jungle

7.5 1950 Movie
The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show

6.8 1948 TV Show
The Bad and the Beautiful

The Bad and the Beautiful

7.3 1952 Movie
High Society

High Society

6.8 1956 Movie
Heaven Can Wait

Heaven Can Wait

6.9 1943 Movie
Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

7.1 1953 Movie
Blackboard Jungle

Blackboard Jungle

6.9 1955 Movie
The Life of Emile Zola

The Life of Emile Zola

6.7 1937 Movie
Annie Get Your Gun

Annie Get Your Gun

6.7 1950 Movie
Executive Suite

Executive Suite

7.1 1954 Movie

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Biography

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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

Movies and shows, newest first

  1. 2022
    Becoming Marilyn

    Movie (archive footage)

  2. 1976
    That's Entertainment, Part II

    Movie (archive footage)

  3. 1956
    High Society

    Movie Uncle Willie

  4. 1956
    Forever, Darling

    Movie Charles Bewell

  5. 1955
    The Prodigal

    Movie Nahreeb

  6. 1955
    Blackboard Jungle

    Movie Jim Murdock

  7. 1954
    Athena

    Movie Grandpa Mulvain

  8. 1954
    Betrayed

    Movie Gen. Ten Eyck

  9. 1954
    The Student Prince

    Movie King of Karlsberg

  10. 1954
    Men of the Fighting Lady

    Movie James A. Michener

  11. 1954
    Executive Suite

    Movie George Nyle Caswell

  12. 1954
    Rhapsody

    Movie Nicholas Durant

  13. 1953
    Main Street to Broadway

    Movie Self

  14. 1953
    Latin Lovers

    Movie Grandfather Eduardo Santos

  15. 1953
    Julius Caesar

    Movie Julius Caesar

  16. 1953
    Remains to Be Seen

    Movie Benjamin Goodman

More credits
  1. 1953
    Confidentially Connie

    Movie Opie Bedloe

  2. 1952
    The Bad and the Beautiful

    Movie Georgia Lorrison's Father (voice) (uncredited)

  3. 1952
    The Prisoner of Zenda

    Movie Col. Zapt

  4. 1952
    We're Not Married!

    Movie Freddie Melrose

  5. 1952
    Washington Story

    Movie Charles W. Birch

  6. 1952
    Invitation

    Movie Simon Bowker

  7. 1951
    The Man with a Cloak

    Movie Charles Theverner

  8. 1951
    It's a Big Country

    Movie Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

  9. 1950
    The Magnificent Yankee

    Movie Oliver Wendell Holmes

  10. 1950
    Two Weeks with Love

    Movie Horatio Robinson

  11. 1950
    A Life of Her Own

    Movie Jim Leversoe

  12. 1950
    Devil's Doorway

    Movie Verne Coolan

  13. 1950
    Annie Get Your Gun

    Movie Col. Buffalo Bill Cody

  14. 1950
    The Asphalt Jungle

    Movie Alonzo D. Emmerich

  15. 1950
    Nancy Goes to Rio

    Movie Gregory Elliott

  16. 1949
    The Red Danube

    Movie Colonel Piniev

  17. 1949
    The Red Pony

    Movie Grandfather

  18. 1948
    The Ed Sullivan Show

    TV show Self

  19. 1948
    Arch of Triumph

    Movie Boris Morosov

  20. 1946
    Notorious

    Movie Paul Prescott

  21. 1944
    Up in Arms

    Movie Colonel Ashley

  22. 1944
    The Bridge of San Luis Rey

    Movie Don Andre - The Viceroy

  23. 1943
    Nobody's Darling

    Movie Curtis Farnsworth

  24. 1943
    Heaven Can Wait

    Movie Randolph Van Cleve