- Born
- Died
- Height5′ 10½″ (1.79 m)
- It was Lionel Barrymore who gave Louis Wolheim (Cornell '07) his start as an actor. Wolheim had had his face more or less smashed in and his nose nicely fractured while playing on a scrub Cornell football team. Later as a Cornell Instructor he found life none too easy. He had worked off and on as an extra in the Wharton studio but never received much attention. Barrymore had only to look at him once to realize that Wolhelm's face was his fortune. Through Barrymore, Wolheim gained an entree into New York theatrical life. On the legitimate stage he made a great success in "Welcome Wing" and "The Hairy Ape," climaxing these plays by his triumph in "What Price Glory". ~ Cornell Daily Sun, Issue 70, 5 January 1932, Page 2
- IMDb mini biography by: Cornell Daily Sun
- SpouseEthel Dane (stage actress)(May 1923 - February 18, 1931) (his death)
- Despite his crude, blue-collar looks, he was quite an intelligent man, speaking fluent French, German, Spanish and Yiddish.
- His trademark smashed nose was the result of a football injury while attending Cornell University.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- [on interviews] I can't see anything in this interview thing. Nobody cares about me. I never am interviewed.
- All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - $1,000 .00
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