ADOLPHE MENJOU BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Adolphe Menjou was born on February 18th, 1890 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with the birth name Adolphe Jean Menjou.  His father worked as a hotel manager and then the family relocated to Cleveland where his father managed a chain of restaurants.  Menjou attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana and then enrolled at Stiles University Prep School.  He then went to college at Cornell University as his father was doing everything in his power to discourage him from pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.  He was originally studying engineering, but mid way through he switched his degree to liberal arts and began getting involved in school stage productions.
 
He ended up leaving Cornell after three years when his father was in need of help running the business.  After he helped his father get out of the financial crisis he did not return to college, but instead relocated to New York City in pursuit of a stage career.  He worked odd end jobs to support himself while trying to find work on the stage, however he never actually got the opportunity to work on Broadway.  He did, however get some small parts in a number of films working with various studios such as Vitagraph, Edison and Biograph.
 
When World War I occurred, he braked from acting to serve as a captain with the Ambulance Corps in France.  When he completed his military service, he found employment back in the entertainment industry working as a production manager and unit manager.  He remained with this New York based film company and when they chose to relocate to Los Angeles, he followed along.
 
It took him almost six years to actually get his first substantial film role in the film, "The Faith Healer" (1921) starring Milton Sills, Ann Forrest and Fontaine La Rue, followed by, "Through the Back Door" (1921) starring Mary Pickford.  Adolphe finally earned a contract with Paramount and then got a role on the film, "The Three Musketeers" (1921) co-starring Douglas Fairbanks and Eugene Pallette with one more role in 1921 in the film, "The Sheik" starring with Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres and Loretta Young. 
 
He was earning the image of a suave debonair with a personality charm and distinctive fashion choice becoming completely enthralled in the Hollywood lifestyle.  He then began getting cast in a number of lead roles in such films as, "Broadway After Dark" (1924) also starring Anna Q. Nilsson nd Norma Shearer, "Sinners in Silk" (1924) co-starring Eleanor Boardman, Hedda Hopper, Conrad Nagel and Jean Hersholt, "The Ace of Cads" (1926), "A Gentleman in Paris" (1927) and "Blonde or Brunette" (1927) also starring Greta Nissen and Arlette Marchal.    

After the crash of the stock market, he lost his contract with Paramount but MGM picked him up, however at a much lower salary then he was accustomed to.  Some of his films he worked on were, "Morocco" (1930) starring with Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich, "The Front Page" (1931) which he recieved an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and co-starring Pat O'Brien, Mary Brian, Frank McHugh, Walter Catlett and Edward Everett Horton, "The Great Lover" (1931) starring with Irene Dunne, Neil Hamilton and Roscoe Ates, "A Farewell to Arms" (1932) also starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes, "Forbidden" (1932) starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ralph Bellamy, "A Star is Born" (1937) also starring Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Andy Devine, Lionel Stander, May Robson and Carole Landis and "Golden Boy" (1939) starring William Holden in his film debut with Barbara Stanwyck and Lee J. Cobb.  
 
As his career progressed, the films he was being chosen for were not at the level he was used to.  He did some work entertaining troops overseas and received a couple more film roles such as, "The Hucksters" (1947) starring Clark Gable, Deborah Kerr, Keenan Wynn, Sydney Greenstreet, Ava Gardner, Douglas Fowley, Edward Arnold, Connie Gilchrist and Frank Albertson and "State of the Union" (1948) starring alongside Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Van Johnson, Lewis Stone, Angela Lansbury, Margaret Hamilton, Art Baker and Irving Bacon.  Adolphe paired up again with Ckark Gable again in "Across the Wide Missouri" (1952) co-starring with Ricardo Montalban, John Hodiak, James Whitmore, Maria Elena Marques, J. Carrol Naish, Jack Holt, Richard Anderson, Howard Keel and George Chandler.  Also in 1952, he got his final lead in the film, "The Sniper" starring Arthur Franz, Gerald Mohr, Marie Windsor, Frank Faylen, Richard Kiley and Wally Cox with his final film roles in, "Paths of Glory" (1957) starring Kirk Douglas and Ralph Meeker, George Macready, Richard Anderson and Wayne Morris and Walt Disney's "Pollyanna" (1960) starring Hayley Mills, Agnes Moorehead, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden and Richard Egan.  He then decided it was his time to retire from the industry.
 
In 1963 he was diagnosed with hepatitis and after a nine month battle he succumbed to the disease passing away on October 29th, 1963 in Beverly Hills, California.  He was survived by his third wife, Veree Teasdale whom he married in 1934 and they had one adopted son together, Peter.  He had married twice before, first to Katherine Tinsley briefly and then to Kathryn Carver from 1928 through 1934.   

For his contribution to the Motion Picture Industry Adolphe Menjou has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 
Filmography

1961 The DuPont Show with June Allyson
1960 Pollyanna 
1958 Target
1958 I Married a Woman 
1957 Paths of Glory 
1957 The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown 
1956 Bundle of Joy 
1956 The Ambassador's Daughter 
1955 Science Fiction Theatre
1955 Timberjack 
1953-1954 Your Favorite Story
1953 Man on a Tightrope 
1952 The Sniper 
1951 Across the Wide Missouri 
1951 The Tall Target 
1950 To Please a Lady 
1949 Dancing in the Dark 
1949 My Dream Is Yours 
1948 State of the Union 
1947 The Hucksters 
1947 Mr. District Attorney 
1947 I'll Be Yours 
1946 The Bachelor's Daughters 
1946 Heartbeat 
1945 Man Alive 
1944 Step Lively 
1943 Sweet Rosie O'Grady 
1943 Hi Diddle Diddle 
1942 You Were Never Lovelier 
1942 Syncopation 
1942 Roxie Hart 
1941 Father Takes a Wife 
1941 Road Show 
1940 A Bill of Divorcement 
1940 Turnabout 
1939 That's Right - You're Wrong 
1939 The Housekeeper's Daughter 
1939 Golden Boy 
1939 King of the Turf 
1938 Thanks for Everything 
1938 Letter of Introduction 
1938 The Goldwyn Follies 
1937 Stage Door 
1937 One Hundred Men and a Girl 
1937 Café Metropole 
1937 A Star Is Born 
1936 One in a Million 
1936 Wives Never Know 
1936 Sing, Baby, Sing 
1936 The Milky Way 
1935 Broadway Gondolier 
1935 Gold Diggers of 1935 
1934 The Mighty Barnum 
1934 The Human Side 
1934 The Great Flirtation 
1934 Little Miss Marker 
1934 The Trumpet Blows 
1934 Journal of a Crime 
1934 Easy to Love 
1933 Convention City 
1933 The Worst Woman in Paris? 
1933 Morning Glory 
1933 The Circus Queen Murder 
1932 A Farewell to Arms  
1932 The Night Club Lady 
1932 Blame the Woman 
1932 Bachelor's Affairs 
1932 Wives Beware 
1932 Prestige 
1932 Forbidden 
1931 Friends and Lovers 
1931 The Parisian 
1931 The Great Lover 
1931 The Front Page 
1931 Men Call It Love 
1931 The Easiest Way 
1930 New Moon 
1930 Morocco 
1930 L'énigmatique Monsieur Parkes 
1930 Amor audaz 
1930 Mon gosse de père 
1930 Soyons gais 
1929 Fashions in Love 
1929 Marquis Preferred 
1928 His Private Life 
1928 His Tiger Wife 
1928 A Night of Mystery 
1927 Serenade 
1927 A Gentleman of Paris 
1927 Service for Ladies 
1927 Evening Clothes 
1927 Blonde or Brunette 
1926 The Sorrows of Satan 
1926 The Ace of Cads 
1926 A Social Celebrity 
1926 The Grand Duchess and the Waiter 
1925 The King on Main Street 
1925 Lost: A Wife 
1925 Are Parents People? 
1925 A Kiss in the Dark 
1925 The Swan 
1924 Forbidden Paradise 
1924 The Fast Set 
1924 Open All Night 
1924 Sinners in Silk 
1924 Broken Barriers 
1924 For Sale 
1924 Broadway After Dark 
1924 The Marriage Cheat 
1924 Shadows of Paris 
1924 The Marriage Circle 
1923 The Spanish Dancer 
1923 A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate 
1923 Rupert of Hentzau 
1923 Bella Donna 
1923 The World's Applause 
1922 Singed Wings 
1922 Clarence 
1922 Pink Gods 
1922 The Eternal Flame 
1922 The Fast Mail 
1922 Head Over Heels 
1922 Is Matrimony a Failure? 
1922 Arabian Love 
1921 The Sheik 
1921 Queenie 
1921 The Three Musketeers 
1921 Courage 
1921 Through the Back Door 
1921 The Faith Healer 
1920 What Happened to Rosa 
1917 The Moth 
1917 An Even Break 
1917 The Amazons 
1917 Wild and Woolly
1917 The Valentine Girl 
1916 The Blue Envelope Mystery
1916 The Kiss 
1916 The Scarlet Runner 
1916 The Reward of Patience 
1916 Manhattan Madness 
1916 The Devil at His Elbow 
1916 The Crucial Test 
1916 The Habit of Happiness 
1916 The Price of Happiness 
1916 Nearly a King 
1916 A Parisian Romance 
1914 The Man Behind the Door 
1914 The Acid Test