Adolphe Menjou

Adolphe Jean Menjou [/'ædɒlf 'mɒnʒuː/] (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor whose career spanned both silent films and talkies. He became a leading man during the 1920s, known for his debonair and sophisticated screen presence.^[1] He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Front Page (1931).^[2]

He played prominent roles in The Sheik (1921), A Woman of Paris (1923), The Marriage Circle (1924), Morocco (1930), A Farewell to Arms (1932), Morning Glory (1933), and the original A Star Is Born (1937). Mainly a supporting actor after the 1940s, he played a prominent role as the antagonist of Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957). In 1960, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture industry.^[1]

Adolphe Jean Menjou was born on February 18, 1890, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a French father, Albert Menjou, and an Irish mother, Nora (née Joyce). His brother, Henry Arthur Menjou, was a year younger and also an actor. His family was Roman Catholic.

Menjou attended the Culver Military Academy, and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in engineering. Attracted to the vaudeville stage, he made his movie debut in 1916 in The Blue Envelope Mystery. During World War I, he served as a captain in the United States Army Ambulance Service, for which he trained in Pennsylvania before going overseas.

After returning from the war, Menjou gradually rose through the ranks with small but fruitful roles in films such as The Faith Healer (1921) alongside supporting roles in prominent films such as The Sheik (1921) and The Three Musketeers (1921). By 1922, he was receiving top or near-top billing, with a selection of those films being with Famous Players–Lasky and Paramount Pictures, starting with Pink Gods (1922), although he did films for various studios and directors. His supporting role in 1923's A Woman of Paris solidified the image of a well-dressed man-about-town, and he was voted Best Dressed Man in America nine times.^[3] He was noted as an example of a suave type of actor, one who could play lover or villain.^[4] In 1929, he attended the preview of Maurice Chevalier's first Hollywood film Innocents of Paris, and personally reassured Chevalier that he would enjoy a great future, despite the mediocre screenplay.^[5] He closed the end of the 1920s with star roles such as His Private Life (1928) and Fashions in Love (1929).

The crash of the stock market in 1929 meant that his contract with Paramount was cancelled, but he went on to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and continued on with films (now talkies) in a variety of ways, with his knowledge of French and Spanish helping at key times. In 1930, he starred in Morocco, with Marlene Dietrich. He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Front Page (1931), after having received the role upon the death of Louis Wolheim during rehearsals.^[6][7] Up to the mid-1930s, he kept being cast as the romantic lead in a variety of productions, starring opposite Irene Dunne in The Great Lover (1931), with Barbara Stanwyck in Forbidden (1932), and opposite Elissa Landi in The Great Flirtation (1934). A variety of supporting roles in this decade were films such as A Farewell to Arms (1932), Morning Glory (1933), and A Star Is Born (1937).^[8]

His roles decreased slightly in the 1940s, but he did overseas work for World War II alongside supporting roles in films like Roxie Hart (1942) and State of the Union (1948). Over the course of his career, he bridged the gap of working with several noted directors that ranged from Charlie Chaplin to Frank Borzage to Frank Capra to Stanley Kubrick.

Menjou had just eleven roles in the 1950s, but he managed to snag one last leading role with the film noir The Sniper (1952). In 1955, Menjou played Dr. Elliott Harcourt in "Barrier of Silence", episode 19 of the first season of the television series Science Fiction Theatre. He guest-starred as Fitch, with Orson Bean and Sue Randall as John and Ellen Monroe, in a 1961 episode, "The Secret Life of James Thurber", based on the works of American humorist James Thurber (especially "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"), in the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He also appeared in the Thanksgiving episode of NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired on November 22, 1956.^[9] Menjou ended his film career with such roles as French General George Broulard in Stanley Kubrick's film Paths of Glory (1957) and his final film role was that of the town curmudgeon in Disney's Pollyanna (1960).

Menjou was a conservative. He supported the Hoover administration's policies during the Great Depression.

In 1947, Menjou gave a nuanced testimony at one House Committee on Un-American Activities hearing: "Menjou said he had studied communism and other "isms" extensively. But Menjou was cautious about identifying any individuals definitely as Communists. He said he knew of no members of the Screen Actors Guild who belong to the Communist party, but: "I know a lot of people who act an awful lot like Communists." Most movie producers [however], he said, are patriotic Americans."^[10] He actively opposed discriminating against artists based on their political views: "[Menjou] would not go along with the idea that contracts of known Communist actors or writers should not be renewed. Many Communist writers are splendid writers, he said, they "just have to be watched, that's all. (...) I'm not afraid of communism in America if it is out in the open," he explained."^[11] He further asserted, "I am not here to smear. I am here to defend the industry in which I have spent the greatest part of my life (...). If we make an anti-Fascist picture, we should make an anti-Communist picture. I'm also anti-Fascist as well as anti-Communist."^[12]

Menjou was a member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, whose other members included John Wayne, Barbara Stanwyck (with whom Menjou costarred in Forbidden in 1932 and Golden Boy in 1939) and her husband, actor Robert Taylor.

Because of his political leanings, Menjou came into conflict with actress Katharine Hepburn, with whom he appeared in Morning Glory, Stage Door, and State of the Union (also starring Spencer Tracy). In his book Kate, Hepburn biographer William Mann said that during the filming of State of the Union, she and Menjou spoke to each other only while acting.^[13]

Menjou was married three times. His first marriage, in 1920 to Kathryn Conn Tinsley, ended in divorce. He married Kathryn Carver in 1928; they divorced in 1934. His third and final marriage, to Verree Teasdale, lasted from 1934 until his death on October 29, 1963; they had one adopted son, Peter Menjou. Menjou had adopted Tinsley's son, Harold Lawton Tinsley, but after his death, his will revealed that he had included only Peter Menjou as his heir.^[14]

Menjou was an avid golfer, regularly playing with Clark Gable.

In 1948, Menjou published his autobiography, It Took Nine Tailors.

Menjou died on October 29, 1963, of hepatitis in Beverly Hills, California.^[15] He is interred beside Verree at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.^[16]

For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Menjou has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6826 Hollywood Boulevard.^[1]

Salvador Dalí admired Adolphe Menjou.^[17] He declared "la moustache d'Adolphe Menjou est surréaliste"^[18] and began offering fake mustaches from a silver cigarette case to other people with the words "Moustache? Moustache? Moustache?"^[19]

One of the most famous photographs by the avant-garde photographer Umbo is titled "Menjou En Gros" ca. 1928.^[20]

• List of actors with Academy Award nominations

• Works by or about Adolphe Menjou at the Internet Archive
• Adolphe Menjou at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Adolphe Menjou at IMDb
• Adolphe Menjou at the TCM Movie Database
• Photographs of Adolphe Menjou