Editing Adolphe Menjou (section)

==Career and stardom==
[[File:Adolphe Menjou, film actor (SAYRE 1363).jpg|thumb|right|upright|Menjou in ''[[The Spanish Dancer]]'' (1923)]]

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 (film)|The Sheik]]'' (1921) and ''[[The Three Musketeers (1921 movie)|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.<ref>{{cite web| last=Brumburgh| first=Gary| title=Adolphe Menjou| website=FullMovieReview| url=http://adolphe-menjou.fullmoviereview.com/| access-date=April 10, 2011}}</ref> He was noted as an example of a suave type of actor, one who could play lover or villain.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://hollywoodforever.com/story/adolphe-menjou/| title=Adolphe Menjou| website=Hollywood Forever| access-date=April 8, 2025}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book| title=With Love, the Autobiography of Maurice Chevalier| url=https://archive.org/details/withlove00chev/page/232/mode/2up?q=menjou| publisher=Little, Brown| location=Boston| year=1960| page=232| url-access=registration}}</ref> He closed the end of the 1920s with star roles such as ''[[His Private Life (1928 film)|His Private Life]]'' (1928) and ''[[Fashions in Love]]'' (1929).

[[File:Adolphe Menjou in A Star is Born.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Menjou in ''[[A Star Is Born (1937 film)|A Star Is Born]]'' (1937)]]
[[File:Adolphe Menjou in Stage Door trailer.jpg|thumb|right|[[Trailer (promotion)|Trailer]] for ''[[Stage Door]]'' (1937)]]

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, although his starring roles declined by this point. In 1930, he starred in ''[[Morocco (1930 film)|Morocco]]'', with [[Marlene Dietrich]]. He was nominated for an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for ''[[The Front Page (1931 film)|The Front Page]]'' (1931), after having received the role upon the death of [[Louis Wolheim]] during rehearsals.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://archive.org/stream/silverscreen01unse#page/n419/mode/2up| title=The Final Fling| first=Ruth| last=Waterbury| page=82| magazine=[[Silver Screen (magazine)|Silver Screen]]| date=November 1930| access-date=April 8, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Louis Wolheim |url=http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/77200/Louis-Wolheim/biography |date=August 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823151740/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/77200/Louis-Wolheim/biography |archive-date=23 August 2014 |url-status=dead |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |department=Movies & TV |access-date=July 24, 2022}}</ref> A variety of supporting roles in this decade were films such as ''[[A Farewell to Arms (1932 film)|A Farewell to Arms]]'' (1932), ''[[Morning Glory (1933 film)|Morning Glory]]'' (1933), and ''[[A Star Is Born (1937 film)|A Star Is Born]]'' (1937).<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.hollywoodsgoldenage.com/actors/adolphe-menjou.html| title=Adolphe Menjou| website=Hollywood's Golden Age}}</ref>

His roles decreased slightly in the 1940s, but he did overseas work for [[World War II]] alongside supporting roles in films like ''[[Roxie Hart (film)|Roxie Hart]]'' (1942) and ''[[State of the Union (film)|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]].

===Later career===
Menjou had just eleven roles in the 1950s, but he managed to snag one last leading role with the film noir ''[[The Sniper (1952 film)|The Sniper]]'' (1952). Incidentally, the director of that film was [[Edward Dmytryk]], who had been a member of the [[Hollywood Ten]]; as such he was [[blacklist]]ed from the film industry for not testifying to the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC) during the [[Second Red Scare|'Red scare']] before deciding to testify and name names as a brief member of the Communist Party.

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 [[Columbia Broadcasting System|CBS]] [[anthology series]] ''[[The DuPont Show with June Allyson]]''. He also appeared in the [[Thanksgiving]] episode of [[NBC]]'s ''[[The Ford Show|The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford]],'' which aired on November 22, 1956.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ernieford.com/TEFTVGuests.htm|title=The Ford Show Episode Guide| website=Ernieford.com| access-date=November 23, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128190749/http://ernieford.com/TEFTVGuests.htm| archive-date=November 28, 2010| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref> 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 film)|Pollyanna]]'' (1960).