Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg; April 5, 1901 β August 4, 1981) was an American actor. Douglas came to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the 1939 romantic comedy Ninotchka with Greta Garbo. Douglas later played mature and fatherly characters, as in his Academy Awardβwinning performances in Hud (1963) and Being There (1979) and his Academy Awardβnominated performance in I Never Sang for My Father (1970). In the last few yea...