Adolph Menjou is an Oscar nominee American actor.
On his father, the performer was French, from his mother he inherited Irish ancestors. On the maternal side, Menju was related to the poet and writer James Joyce, the author of Ulysses.
The path to the dream
Adolphe Jean Menjou was born in Pittsburgh in 1890, on February 18, in the family of a successful hotel manager. The family moved to Cleveland, where the head opened his own restaurants.
Adolf's father did not recognize show business. When he noticed that his son was passionate about the theater, he sent the young man to the Indiana military academy.
After graduation, the young man began classes at a preparatory school. He then became a student at Cornell University.
He fully complied with the requirement of his father. However, at the same time as receiving an engineering education, Menzhu Jr. began his theater courses.
The university had to leave after three years: the father needed help in managing the family business due to financial difficulties. The young man had to do different jobs.
The path to cinematography
In New York, finally, he was able to go to pursue a theatrical career. At the suggestion of friends, Adolf began her test of strength on the stage of musical theaters and in vaudeville.
He had never been to Broadway. From 1912 Menge became interested in the developing film industry.
By 1915, the young actor began to play small roles in films for film studios. In 1916, the aspiring actor made his film debut in the Blue Envelope Mystery.
Career development was interrupted by conscription. He was in the First World War in France as a captain in the Medical Corps, in an ambulance.
After the end of the war, Menzhu found work in film studios. He became a stage director. Along with the move of the film industry to the west, Menzhu went after everyone. The acting career left behind only memories in the form of small episodes and small roles of a passing character.
This situation continued until 1921. By the beginning of the year, after six years of hard work, he managed to gain a foothold in the top lines of the film titles.
In the 1921 paintings "The Witch Doctor" and "Through the Back Door" Adolf got not the last characters. He played alongside Mary Pickford.
The performer has got very good and strong connections. As a result, the actor received a contract with Paramount.
An exemplary filmmaker
The brilliant performance of Pierre Revel, a gentleman from modern France, cemented the actor with the role of the man who is the best in clothes.
Since that moment, the artist has changed the image. In more than a hundred works, he appeared before the cameras as a person tired of world problems, understandable to compatriots trying to seek consolation.
The work of the actor continued throughout the twenties. He played a betrayed spouse in Lubich's Marriage Circle in 1924, and showed the character of a young father in the 1925 film Are Parents People.
The picture was re-shot after the appearance of the talkie, changing the name. It was played by Shirley Temple in 1934. Menge made a sleek devil for the 1926 film "Tribulation of Satan."
The image of the playboy actor was strengthened by Paramount's filming of the actor on Broadway After Dark, The Parisian Gentleman, Sinners in Silks. In the 1927 film project "Blonde, Brunette" with Adolf, his younger brother Anri was filmed, who also chose an actor's career, but did not achieve much fame.
With the advent of the era of sound pictures, the voice became Menj's ticket to the world of the new film format. For several years he has worked in notable films.
Challenges and victories
The first success was an invitation to work in the Cypriot Morocco project in 1930. He got the usual role of a successful Don Juan. The rival in the plot was Gary Cooper.
The exoticism of the desert, wealth versus the elegance of a legionnaire and the romantic love of both for the beauty in the image of Marlene Dietrich made the victory of the tall handsome Cooper understandable.
For the attention of the actress, Menjou competed with Gary and off-screen. But he did not win here either.
The following year earned Adolph an Oscar for Burns' shameless front-page editor. But Menge got the image by accident, since the character was originally intended for Louis Volheim, ten days before the work began to the deceased.
In the thirties, high quality of the offered roles became the norm for Menju. The number of filming decreased by the forties.
Since the beginning of the war, the number of performances of the actor in radio programs has increased. Since this person who received an excellent education spoke six languages, this knowledge was very useful in his activities.
Last years
The performer in 1942 became a sneaky attorney at Roxy Hart, where he played with Ginger Rogers. He starred in "You've Never Been More Delightful" with Fred Astor, with Dina Durbin starred in "I'll Be Yours," with Frank Sinatra in "Walk More Fun." However, in all musical films the roles went to Menzh.
Adolf's reputation was markedly damaged by his loyalty to the Republicans, the right wing of the party. He later became a real defendant for loyalty after the arrival of Joseph McCartney. In 1947 Menjou, on the UN House Committee, testified before the country's government in closed hearings. He talked about his involvement in the Hollywood communist hunt.
Due to political views, the actor began a conflict with Katharine Hepburn, a staunch radical left. In the films "Married" and "The Door to the Stage" both spoke to each other only the phrases prescribed in the script.
In 1951 and 1952, in The Sniper and Beyond the Missouri, the audience first saw Menzhu without his famous mustache. The last notable work of the actor, in addition to his television and radio activities, was in 1957 the anti-war classic "Path of Glory". He reincarnated as the villain Gene Broland.
After participating in the filming of "Polyanna" in 1960, the performer parted with big cinema.
Adolphe Menjou was married twice. The wedding with actress Catherine Carver took place in 1928. Together they lived until 1934 and separated.
After the divorce, Menzhu's new wife was again the actress Verri Tizdale. They had one child, a son, Peter.
The second marriage ended with the death of Adolf. The actor died in 1963, at the end of October.
