Arabella And Co

The character actor has a special talent…

the ability to wrap a unique persona around a role to give it dimension, depth and mood soon identified with that actor alone. In the golden age of film, stars brought the audiences to the theater but often it was the character actors who kept them in their seats.

This gracious Dane spent his on-screen career as a leading character actor and his off-screen life as one of Hollywood’s foremost humanitarians. When he died, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him by creating a special Oscar in his name to be given annually to the film personality “whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry”.

Jean Hersholt was born on July 15 th, 1886 in Copenhagen, Denmark , the native country of another notable Dane, author Hans Christian Andersen. Jean’s parents were both famous actors and he spent his childhood touring the theaters of Europe with them…taking along his book of Andersen’s fairy tales. When he was older, he “trod the boards” in stage productions and, finally in 1906, made his screen debut in two Danish films “Konfirmanden” and “OplobPaFrederiksberg”. Eight years later, he married and left Denmark for the U.S.

In 1915, Jean made his American film debut as an extra in Thomas Ince’s “The Disciple” but within a year the roles began to get bigger and meatier. “The Desert” in 1916 was quickly followed by “Black Orchids”, “The Terror” and “The Showdown” in 1917. He joined Paramount-Famous Players -Lasky in the 1920s and soon became one of Hollywood’s most prolific character actors. His role as Marcus in Erich Von Stroheim’s “Greed” (1924) was considered on of his best.

With the advent of sound, Hersholt’s strong Danish accent limited him to character parts, but he added a personal touch to his portrayals by applying his own make-up. Then, in 1938, Jean got the role of Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, the country doctor who delivered the famous Dionne quintuplets. The film was “Five of a Kind” and it made Jean Hersholt a “doctor” for the rest of his career!

RKO wanted to create a series based on the role of Dafoe but the real Dr, Dafoe wouldn’t allow it. So Jean created his own character and named him Dr. Paul Christian (after Hans Christian Andersen). For the next 17 years he literally became Dr. Christian on both film and radio.

In 1939 Jean extended his kindly doctor persona to his off-screen pursuits when he helped form the Motion Picture

Relief Fund to help provide support and medical care for all those in the industry who had fallen on hard times. It would be the first steps to building the Motion Picture House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He also became president of the Academy holding that chair from 1945 to 1949.

But Jean left time for his other passion. …painstakingly translating 168 of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales into English. They were published in 1949 as a six volume set a year after King Christian X of Denmark knighted him for his work.

In 1956, Jean , who was dying of cancer, signed to appear on television’s new “Dr. Christian “ series and hand over the stethoscope to MacDonald Carey, the new doctor on the block. It was his last public appearance. He died of cancer on June 2nd, 1956 at the age of 69 and was interred at ForestLawnCemetery in Glendale, California. Outside of his tomb stands his last tribute to Hans Christian Andersen…a statue of “Klods Hans”, Andersen’s fabled hero who went out into the world looking for his princess.

Films (141) include “The Battle of the Sexes” (1928), “The Sin of Madelon Claudet” (1931), “Dinner at Eight” (1933), “Heidi” (1937), “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1938) and “Dancing in the Dark” (1949).

Jean married Via Andersen in 1914. They had one son. Jean is also the uncle of actor Leslie Nielsen.

Paramount-Famous Players -Lasky was the merger of W. W .Hodkinson’s Paramount Pictures Corporation with Adolph Zukor’s Famous Players Film Company and Jesse l. Lasky’s Feature Play Company. It later became Paramount Pictures . Today it is Paramount Communications and part of Viacom and the only major studio still located in Hollywood.