Ex-father-in-law of Osa Massen.
Father of Jean Hersholt Jr. and Allan Hersholt.
He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Motion Pictures at 6501 Hollywood Boulevard and for Radio at 6701 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
In 1939 Hersholt helped to form the Motion Picture Relief Fund. This helped to support industry employees with medical care when they were down on their luck and was used to create the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. This led to the creation in 1956 of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian an honorary Academy Award given to an "individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.".
Interred at Forest Lawn (Glendale), Glendale, California, USA, just outside the Great Mausoleum.
President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 1945-49.
Translated over 160 of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales into English. These were published in 1949 in six volumes as "The Complete Andersen". Hersholt was knighted by King Christian X of Denmark in 1948, partly due to this endeavor. Hersholt's grave in Forest Lawn Memorial Park is marked with a statue of Klods Hans, a Hans Christian Anderson character who left Denmark to find his way in the the world - much as Hersholt himself did.
Uncle of actor Leslie Nielsen and Erik Nielsen.