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Melvyn Douglas: Wife
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Charles A. Hogan, a friend of both Melvyn Douglas and his wife, Helen Gahagan Douglas, discusses his relationship with the couple. Hogan lived, at times, with the Douglases, writing speeches for Helen; Hogan and Melvyn Douglas engaged in long conversations, which revealed Douglas' intellectual nature and abilities. In addition, Hogan speaks of Gahagan Douglas' political career, and the political activities and beliefs of both the Douglases.
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Synopsis: Dumped by wife Ellen Drew, musician Melvyn Douglas goes into a creative slump. His gloom is lifted when he falls in love with Ruth Hussey (with a little help from Hussey's foxy papa Charles Coburn). Soaring to hitherto unimaginable heights of fame after marrying Hussey, Douglas suddenly becomesRead More
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After leaving the service in 1919, Douglas joined Shakespearean actor William Owen's acting school in Chicago, Illinois, as a scholarship student. Under Owen's guidance Douglas performed in The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, and As You Like It. In 1925 he joined Jessie Bonstelle's theater company in Detroit, Michigan, and at Bonstelle's request changed his name from Hesselberg to Douglas, his maternal grandmother's maiden name. In Detroit Douglas married his first wife, Rosalind Hightower. The couple had a son, Gregory, but divorced soon after. In 1931, while performing in Tonight or Never with David Belasco's theater company, he married his second wife, Helen Gahagan; their marriage lasted forty-nine years and produced two children. That same year Samuel Goldwyn signed Douglas to a contract to perform in the film version of Tonight or Never with Gloria Swanson.
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In 1931 Douglas married the actress Helen Gahagan. They became outspoken anti-Fascists because of a trip they took to Europe just before Roosevelt's re-election in 1936. They were horrified by French and German anti-Semitism. Their liberal politics exposed them to the homegrown variety. In August 1940, Gordon Garland, the Republican Speaker of the California State Assembly, called Douglas a Jewish ''Communist and Fifth Columnist.'' DOUGLAS and his wife were prominent Democrats. During World War II, while he served in the Army, she was elected to Congress.
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In this interview, Jackson Leighter speaks of his long-standing friendship with Melvyn Douglas, and his wife, Helen Gahagan Douglas. Leighter emphasizes Melvyn Douglas' intellectual nature and liberal political activism in such venues as Bundles for Britain and the Anti-Fascist League. In addition, Leighter describes Douglas' character, personality, sense of humor, and great acting ability.
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In the early 1950s, Douglas abandoned Hollywood to devote himself to the theater; after more than 10 years, he returned to filmmaking as a character actor in Billy Budd. In the interim, Douglas had developed into a distinguished dramatic actor and his Academy Award-winning performance in Hud was followed by a series of memorable roles. Of his late films, Tell Me a Riddle, in addition to being a stunning film, contains one of Douglas's most sensitive, humane, and touching portrayals as an elderly, conservative man, who, on the brink of his wife's death, is compelled to grapple with her feminist and socialist principles.
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