Melvyn Douglas

Melvyn Douglas
MGM publicity photo of Douglas, c. 1939
Born
Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg

(1901-04-05)April 5, 1901
DiedAugust 4, 1981(1981-08-04) (aged 80)
OccupationActor
Years active1926–1981
Spouses
Rosalind Hightower
(m. 1925; div. 1930)
(m. 1931; died 1980)
Children3
RelativesIlleana Douglas (granddaughter)
Military career
Service / branch United States Army
Rank Major

Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg, April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981) was an American actor. Douglas came to prominence in 1929 as a suave leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the romantic comedy Ninotchka (1939) 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). Douglas was one of 24 performers to win the Triple Crown of Acting. In the last few years of his life Douglas appeared in films with supernatural stories involving ghosts, including The Changeling in 1980 and Ghost Story in 1981, his last completed film role.