Melvyn Douglas
Date of birth: 1901-04-05
Place of birth: Macon, Georgia, USA
Known for: Acting
Also known as: Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg
Biography
Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg; April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981) was an American actor. Douglas came to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the 1939 romantic comedy Ninotchka with Greta Garbo. Douglas later played mature and fatherly characters, as in his Academy Award–winning performances in Hud (1963) and Being There (1979) and his Academy Award–nominated performance in I Never Sang for My Father (1970). In the last few years of his life Douglas appeared in films with supernatural stories involving ghosts. Douglas appeared as "Senator Joseph Carmichael" in The Changeling in 1980 and Ghost Story in 1981 in his final completed film role.
Movie Credits
Ninotchka
1939-11-16
A stern Russian woman sent to Paris on official business finds herself attracted to a man who repres
Being There
1979-12-19
A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old
Billy Budd
1962-11-12
Billy is an innocent, naive seaman in the British Navy in 1797. When the ship's sadistic master-at-a
The Candidate
1972-06-29
Bill McKay is a candidate for the U.S. Senate from California. He has no hope of winning, so he is w
The Tenant
1976-05-26
A quiet and inconspicuous man rents an apartment in Paris where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit
The Old Dark House
1932-10-20
In a remote region of Wales, five travelers beset by a relentless storm find shelter in an old mansi
Ghost Story
1981-12-18
Four successful elderly gentlemen, members of the Chowder Society, share a gruesome, 50-year-old sec
Hud
1963-05-28
Hud Bannon is a ruthless young man who tarnishes everything and everyone he touches. Hud represents
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
1948-03-25
An advertising executive dreams of getting out of the city and building a perfect home in the countr
A Woman's Face
1941-05-09
A female blackmailer with a disfiguring facial scar meets a plastic surgeon who offers her the possi
The Changeling
1980-03-28
After a tragic event happens, composer John Russell moves to Seattle to try to overcome it and build
The Americanization of Emily
1964-10-27
American sailor Charlie Madison falls for a pretty Englishwoman while trying to avoid a senseless an
The Vampire Bat
1933-01-21
A German village is stricken by a series of murders that appear to be the work of vampires.
That Uncertain Feeling
1941-04-20
A happily married woman sees a psychoanalyst and develops doubts about her husband.
They All Kissed the Bride
1942-06-11
Margaret Drew runs her trucking company single-mindedly, if not ruthlessly. The only thorn in her si
Annie Oakley
1935-11-15
Awkward Annie loves her sharpshooting rival in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
That Certain Age
1938-10-06
Dashing reporter Vincent Bullit has just returned from covering the Spanish Civil War. His boss, new
The Guilt of Janet Ames
1947-03-06
A hard-drinking reporter tries to help the embittered widow of the soldier who had saved his life du
Angel
1937-10-29
While vacationing without her busy British diplomat husband, a married woman falls for another man.
Captains Courageous
1937-06-25
Harvey, the arrogant and spoiled son of an indulgent absentee-father, falls overboard from a transat
The Seduction of Joe Tynan
1979-08-17
Respected liberal Senator Joe Tynan is asked to to lead the opposition to a Supreme Court appointmen
Third Finger, Left Hand
1940-10-11
Magazine editor Margot Merrick pretends to be married in order to avoid advances from male colleague
She Married Her Boss
1935-09-19
A super-efficient secretary at a department store falls for and marries her boss, but finds out that
Theodora Goes Wild
1936-11-12
The small-town prudes of Lynnfield are up in arms over 'The Sinner,' a sexy best-seller. They little
Counsellor at Law
1933-12-25
A successful lawyer struggles to deal with his wife's unfaithfulness and his own hidden past.
Rapture
1965-08-23
Agnes, a lonely teenage girl, and her father befriend an escaped convict, named Joseph, who arrives
A Woman's Secret
1949-01-13
A popular singer, Marian Washburn, suddenly and unexplainably loses her voice, causing a shake-up at
I Never Sang for My Father
1970-10-18
Hackman plays a New York professor who wants a change in his life, and plans to get married to his g
One Is a Lonely Number
1972-06-19
A young woman has difficulty understanding why her husband walks out on her. Alone for the first tim
The People's Enemy
1935-04-29
Money was what gangster Vince M. Falcone wanted most and he did lay hands on millions of dollars by
Twilight's Last Gleaming
1977-02-09
A renegade USAF general, Lawrence Dell, escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo n
My Own True Love
1948-07-01
Following World War II, a woman tries to help her fiance understand his son's traumatic experience a
Our Wife
1941-08-20
A musician's ex-wife wants him back after he finds love and success.
Two-Faced Woman
1941-12-31
A woman pretends to be her own twin sister to win back her straying husband.
The Sea of Grass
1947-04-25
On America's frontier, a St. Louis woman marries a New Mexico cattleman who is seen as a tyrant by t
Tonight or Never
1931-01-04
A young opera singer finds her career stalled because of her cold and passionless performances, unti
Tell No Tales
1939-06-12
A newspaper editor turns a kidnapping into the banner headlines and exclusive story that could save
My Forbidden Past
1951-04-25
An 1890s New Orleans heiress tries to buy a married doctor's love with her tainted family fortune.
Too Many Husbands
1940-04-03
Long-missing Bill Cardew returns to find his wife Vicky remarried...and in no hurry to settle for ju
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972-01-10
A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to t
Mary Burns, Fugitive
1935-11-15
A young woman who owns a coffee shop falls for a handsome young customer, unaware that he is a gangs
As You Desire Me
1932-05-28
Bar entertainer Zara is a discontented alcoholic who is pursued by many men but lives with novelist
The Gorgeous Hussy
1936-08-28
It's the early nineteenth century Washington. Young adult Margaret O'Neal, Peggy to most that know h
Good Girls Go to Paris
1939-06-20
Jenny Swanson, a waitress on a college campus, is dying to visit Paris. Thanks to English professor
The Shining Hour
1938-11-18
A nightclub dancer shakes the foundations of a wealthy farming family after she marries into it.
Arsène Lupin Returns
1938-02-25
A woman and a man vying for a woman's affection: the usual love trio? Not quite so since the belle i
I Met Him in Paris
1937-05-28
Kay Denham is off for a fling in Paris, leaving her suitor Berk behind. There, she meets two new sui
He Stayed for Breakfast
1940-08-31
Set in Paris, this romantic comedy revolves around the beautiful estranged wife of a wealthy banker
The Great Sinner
1949-06-29
A young man succumbs to gambling fever.
Advance to the Rear
1964-06-10
As punishment for their incompetence in battle, disgraced Union soldier Capt. Jared Heath and his ap
There's Always a Woman
1938-04-20
An investigator for the District Attorney's office quits to open his own detective agency. However,
The Amazing Mr. Williams
1939-11-22
Kenny Williams, a lieutenant on the homicide squad, is engaged to Maxine Carroll, the Mayor's secret
Prestige
1932-01-22
A woman joins her fiance at a Malaysian prison camp only to discover he's become an alcoholic.
I'll Take Romance
1937-11-17
Theater manager James Guthrie's (Melvyn Douglas) career depends on famed soprano Elsa Terry (Grace M
Dangerous Corner
1934-12-04
Friends uncover a dark secret when they compare notes about a theft and suicide.
The Toy Wife
1938-06-10
A Southern belle finds herself torn between two suitors.
Fast Company
1938-07-05
Married book-dealers Joel & Garda Sloane try to clear a friend in the murder of a rival book-seller.
And So They Were Married
1936-05-10
A bitter widow and a grumpy widower find themselves stuck in a hotel that is cut off from the outsid
On the Loose
1951-09-28
After years of living in her selfish parents' (Melvyn Douglas and Lynn Bari) egotistical shadows, de
Tell Me a Riddle
1980-12-15
A long-married couple embark on one last cross-country journey when it is discovered that the wife i
Woman in the Dark
1934-11-08
A recently released prisoner lives alone in his cabin so that his bad temper won't get him back in a
We Were Dancing
1942-04-30
A penniless former princess weds an equally cash-strapped baron, so they support themselves by becom
This Thing Called Love
1940-12-20
Two professional people marry, but the wife insists that they be celibate for the first three months
Death Takes a Holiday
1971-10-23
Death takes a human form and visits Earth to try to find out why humans want so desperately to cling
Hunters Are for Killing
1970-03-12
A man comes home after serving time in prison to claim his share of his deceased mother's estate. Ho
The Making of a President
1978-01-01
In wartime Sault Ste. Marie, the mayor invites the president of the Jewish congregation to speak at
Three Hearts for Julia
1943-05-21
When his wife threatens him with divorce, a reporter courts her again.
The Lone Wolf Returns
1935-12-31
Once a jewel thief always a jewel thief? Yes and no. Yes if you consider the fact that Michael Lanya
Murder or Mercy
1974-04-10
An attorney comes out of retirement to defend a prominent doctor, who has been accused of the mercy
The Hot Touch
1982-12-10
A master art forger and his partner in crime, an art expert who can vouch for the authenticity of th
Intimate Strangers
1977-11-11
The pressures of problems at home and at work are taking a tremendous toll on a middle-aged husband,
Hotel
1967-01-19
This is the story of the clocklike movements of a giant, big city New Orleans hotel. The ambitious y
There's That Woman Again
1938-12-24
Bill Reardon, a private detective, is working on a case involving stolen items from a local jewelry
The Going Up of David Lev
1973-04-25
A ten-year-old Israeli boy whose father died years earlier during the Six-Day-War is determined to f
The Plot to Kill Stalin
1958-09-25
In late 1952, an aging and increasingly paranoid Stalin puts in motion a purge against his doctors,
Old Man
1958-11-20
In the South, convicts get a temporary release to help during a flood.
The Greer Case
1957-01-31
When a rich woman dies without signing her new will, all kinds of problems ensue.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1967-10-17
Peter Schermann is angry at the world after his children move him into a nursing home. Still physica
Portrait of Grandpa Doc
1977-11-05
The story of a gentle and loving grandfather who encourages his grandson's ambition to be a painter.
Women of Glamour
1937-03-09
A girl with a reputation falls for a wealthy playboy.
Companions in Nightmare
1968-11-23
One of the patients in a group-therapy session conducted by a famous psychiatrist is a murderer.
Inherit the Wind
1965-11-18
A young man, Bert Cates, is arrested in a small Bible Belt town for teaching the theory of Evolution
The Wiser Sex
1932-03-14
A young woman goes undercover to gather evidence to free her boyfriend, an attorney who has been fra
Once Upon a Tractor
1965-09-09
Alan Bates and Diane Cilento play an odd couple fleeing across fictitious European countries with NY
The Broken Wing
1932-03-25
In a little Mexican village by the American border. However powerful big shot Captain Innocencio (a
The Death Squad
1974-01-08
When petty criminals start turning up murdered, a detective discovers they are being killed by a gro
The Crucible
1967-05-04
Landmark TV adaptation of the Arthur Miller play. Nominated for 3 Emmy awards.
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940-07-31
This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirl
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976-05-16
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time includi
From the Ends of the Earth
1939-05-28
An MGM short showing how materials are shipped by boat 'From the Ends of the Earth' to Hollywood. Fe
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
1990-06-04
This tribute to Myrna Loy is organized chronologically with a few photographs, many film clips, a ha
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
1988-10-01
This documentary revisits the making of Gone with the Wind via archival footage, screen tests, insig
Nagana
1933-02-01
A doctor searches for the cure for nagana, the sleeping sickness caused by the tsetse fly.
The Big Parade of Comedy
1964-09-02
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
Screen Snapshots Series 19, No. 1
1939-09-22
The four Westmore brothers work their make-up magic on a variety of Hollywood stars.
Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
1939-04-08
Ice skating is the theme; at the Tropical Ice Garden, in Westwood Hills, are seen a flock of skating
Judgment at Nuremberg
1959-04-16
Judgment at Nuremberg is an American television play broadcast live on April 16, 1959, as part of th
Garbo, by Joan Crawford
1969-11-06
Joan Crawford narrates this documentary about the career of Greta Garbo.
Stars of the Silver Screen - Greta Garbo
2014-06-11
Documentary providing a career overview of the great Greta Garbo.