Although he acted in motion pictures from the early 1930s to the late 1970s, Melvyn Douglas was never especially fond of most of the more than three score and ten movies in which he starred. He much preferred the theater and returned to the stage whenever he got the chance. A versatile actor, he excelled in both dramatic and comedy roles. He appeared in horror films, mysteries, and melodramas, but is best remembered for playing opposite Greta Garbo in the comedy Ninotchka (1939). Later in his screen career, when he'd ceased doing dapper leading man roles and was showing up in character parts, Douglas earned two supporting actor Oscars. A dedicated liberal, he was active in politics and his wife, Helen Gahagan Douglas, ran against Richard Nixon for the United States Senate but was defeated.

Born Melvyn Hesselberg in Macon, Georgia, he grew up in...