Louis Wolheim (March 28, 1880 – February 18, 1931) was an American character actor.His trademark broken nose was the result of an injury sustained while playing football for Cornell University. Despite his rugged visage, Wolheim was intelligent and cultivated, speaking French, German, Spanish, and Yiddish. He was also a mathematics teacher at Cornell before entering silent films in 1914.On the advice of Lionel Barrymore and John Barrymore, Wolheim entered films. Both brothers also invited him to appear in the 1919 play The Jest in which the Barrymores co-starred. He appeared in at least three films with John Barrymore, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (1920), Sherlock Holmes (1922) and Tempest (1928). Wolheim's fearsome visage almost immediately typecast him in roles as gangsters, executioners (as in D. W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm) or prisoners. Towards the end of the 1920s he occasionally broke out of these stereotypes and played a comic Russian officer in Tempest and a rambunctious Sergeant in Howard Hughes's Two Arabian Knights. He also played a Chaneyesque gangster in Hughes's splendidly photographed The Racket.Wolheim acted primarily in silent films, because he died at the close of the silent era, but he also appeared in the talkies All Quiet on the Western Front and Danger Lights (both 1930) before he died.Later in his career, about 1924, Wolheim went into the theater. He received considerable acclaim as Yank in the original stage production of The Hairy Ape (1922) by Eugene O'Neill.According to the biography included in the DVD version of All Quiet on the Western Front, Wolheim wanted, at one point in his career, to play romantic leads instead of tough "heavies." To that end, he sought to have plastic surgery performed on his broken nose. Executives at United Artists successfully obtained a restraining order against him from doing so, however.Wolheim died in 1931 in Los Angeles, of stomach cancer.
[on interviews] I can't see anything in this interview thing. Nobody cares about me. I never am interviewed.
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Fact
1
Had a degree in mechanical engineering.
2
According to his marriage announcement in Time Magazine, Wolheim was at one time a mathematics instructor at Cornell University.
3
Died following six days of rehearsal for the film The Front Page (1931). Adolphe Menjou, the epitome of sartorial elegance and the polar opposite of the brutish-looking Louis, replaced him and was nominated for a "Best Actor" Oscar for his efforts.
4
Was a mathematics teacher before being brought to films by 'Lionel Barrymore'.
5
Jewish-American character actor considered by many as possessing one of the ugliest mugs in Hollywood, but also deemed one of its best performers, best known for his bravura performance in the classic anti-war epic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).
6
His trademark smashed nose was the result of a football injury while attending Cornell University.
7
Despite his crude, blue-collar looks, he was quite an intelligent man, speaking fluent French, German, Spanish and Yiddish.
8
Lionel Barrymore, his mentor, once told him, "With that face you could make a fortune in the theater." Wolhim tried the stage late in his career and won considerable attention in Eugene O'Neill's "The Hairy Ape." He later became O'Neill's friend.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Sin Ship
1931
Captain Sam McVey
Gentleman's Fate
1931
Frank Tomasulo
The Silver Horde
1930
George Balt
Danger Lights
1930
Dan Thorn
All Quiet on the Western Front
1930
Kat
The Ship from Shanghai
1930
Ted
Condemned!
1929
Jacques Duval
Frozen Justice
1929
Duke
The Wolf Song
1929
Gullion
Square Shoulders
1929
John 'Slag' Collins
The Shady Lady
1928
Professor Holbrook
The Awakening
1928
Le Bete
The Racket
1928
Nick Scarsi
Tempest
1928
Sgt. Bulba
Sorrell and Son
1927
Buck
Two Arabian Knights
1927
Sergeant Peter O'Gaffney
Lover's Island
1925
Capt. Joshua Dawson
Isn't Life Wonderful
1924
Minor Role (uncredited)
The Story Without a Name
1924
Kurder
America
1924
Capt. Hare
The Uninvited Guest
1924
Jan Boomer
Unseeing Eyes
1923
Laird
Little Old New York
1923
The Hoboken Terror
The Last Moment
1923
The Finn
The Go-Getter
1923
Daniel Silver
Enemies of Women
1923
scenes deleted
Love's Old Sweet Song
1923
Short
The Wanderer
The Face in the Fog
1922
Petrus
Sherlock Holmes
1922
Craigin
Determination
1922
Orphans of the Storm
1921
Executioner
Conceit
1921
Boxing Instructor (uncredited)
Experience
1921
Crime
Number 17
1920
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1920/I
Music Hall Proprietor
A Manhattan Knight
1920
Mangus O'Shea (as Louis R. Wolheim)
The Darkest Hour
1919
Louis Marcotte
The Carter Case
1919
Emanon (as Louis W. Wolheim)
The Poor Rich Man
1918
Wrestler
A Pair of Cupids
1918
Dirk Thomas
Opportunity
1918
Prizefight Spectator (uncredited)
Peg of the Pirates
1918
Flatnose Tim (as L. Walheim)
The House of Hate
1918
Patch-eye Pete
The Eyes of Mystery
1918
Brad Tilton (as Louis R. Wolheim)
The Avenging Trail
1917
Lefty Reed
The Eternal Mother
1917
Bucky McGhee (as Louis R. Wolheim)
The Belle of the Season
1917
Johnson
The Millionaire's Double
1917
Bob Holloway
The End of the Tour
1917
The Sunbeam
1916
Biff the Brute
The Brand of Cowardice
1916
Cpl. Mallin
Dorian's Divorce
1916
Capt. Ross (as L. Robert Wolheim)
The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford
1915
uncredited
The Romance of Elaine
1915
uncredited
The Shanghai Man
1914
Extra (uncredited)
The Warning
1914/II
Short
Policeman (uncredited)
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Washington Masquerade
1932
adaptation - uncredited
Together
1918
story "The Lone Dit" - as Louis R. Wolheim
The Greatest Power
1917
story - as Louis R. Wolheim
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Sin Ship
1931
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Screen Snapshots Series 9, No. 24
1930
Short
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Edición Especial Coleccionista
2011
TV Series
Kat Katczinsky
Movie Memories
1934
Documentary short
Himself
Known for movies
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) as Kat
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) as Music Hall Proprietor
$15 Million
