Editing Louis Calhern (section)

==Career==
[[File:The Blot 01 1921.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Calhern and Claire Windsor in ''[[The Blot]]'' (1921) directed by [[Lois Weber]]]]
[[File:Louis Calhern in Annie Get Your Gun trailer.jpg|thumb|right|250px|As [[Buffalo Bill]] in the trailer for ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (film)|Annie Get Your Gun]]'' (1950)]]

Just before World War I, Calhern returned to New York to pursue an acting career. He began as a prop boy and bit player with various touring and burlesque companies. He became a matinee idol after being in a play titled ''Cobra''.{{Citation needed |date=January 2023}}  Calhern's burgeoning career was interrupted by [[World War I]]; he served in France in the [[143rd Field Artillery Regiment|143rd Field Artillery]] of the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Actor Favors Showing German War Pictures|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4304099/pittsburgh_postgazette/|newspaper=The Gazette Times|date=June 12, 1921|location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|page=44|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = February 13, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Due to the [[Anti-German_sentiment#United_States_2|anti-German sentiment during World War I]], he changed his German given name, Carl. His stage name is an amalgam of his adopted hometown of St. Louis and his first and middle names, Carl and Henry (Calhern).{{Citation needed |date=January 2023}}

Calhern began working in silent films for director [[Lois Weber]] in the early 1920s, the most notable being ''[[The Blot]]'' (1921). A newspaper article commented: "The new arrival in stardom is Louis Calhern, who, until Miss Weber engaged him to enact the leading male role in ''[[What's Worth While?]]'', had been playing leads in the Morosco Stock company of Los Angeles."<ref>{{cite news|title=Star Studies|newspaper=The Oregon Daily Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4303952/the_oregon_daily_journal/|agency=The Oregon Daily Journal|date=January 16, 1921|location=Oregon, Portland|page=44|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = February 13, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>

In 1923, Calhern left the movies, deciding to devote his career entirely to the stage. He returned to films early in the sound era where he was primarily cast as a character actor, while he continued to play leading roles on the stage. In 1945, Calhern won the [[Donaldson Awards|Donaldson Award for Best Actor in a Play]] for his performance in ''The Magnificent Yankee''.

Among Calhern's notable screen portrayals were as the partner in crime to [[Spencer Tracy]] and [[Bette Davis]] in ''[[20,000 Years in Sing Sing]]'' (1932), as Ambassador Trentino in the classic [[Marx Brothers]] comedy ''[[Duck Soup (1933 film)|Duck Soup]]'' (1933), as Major Dort in ''[[The Life of Emile Zola]]'' (1937), and as the spy boss of [[Cary Grant]] in [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[Notorious (1946 film)|Notorious]]'' (1946).

In 1948, Calhern joined [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] as a contract player, receiving wide acclaim for three diverse roles that he appeared in for the studio in 1950: a singing role as [[Buffalo Bill]] in the film version of the musical ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (film)|Annie Get Your Gun]]''; as a double-crossing lawyer and sugar daddy to a young  [[Marilyn Monroe]] in [[John Huston]]'s ''[[The Asphalt Jungle]]''; and his Oscar-nominated performance as [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.|Oliver Wendell Holmes]] in ''[[The Magnificent Yankee (1950 film)|The Magnificent Yankee]]'' (re-creating his role from the Broadway stage). He was subsequently cast in the [[Julius Caesar|title role]] of [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]]’s 1953 all-star [[Julius Caesar (1953 film)|film version]] of [[Shakespeare]]’s [[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]], earning more praise.

Calhern played the role of the devious George Caswell, the manipulative board member of Tredway Corporation, in the 1954 production of ''[[Executive Suite]]'', followed by the role of a jaded, acerbic high school teacher in ''[[Blackboard Jungle]]'' (1955). His performance as cheerfully lecherous Uncle Willie in ''[[High Society (1956 film)|High Society]]'' (1956), a musical remake of ''[[The Philadelphia Story (film)|The Philadelphia Story]]'', was his final film appearance.