Leslie Howard

Leslie Howard

1893-04-03 – 1943-06-01 (age 50) Forest Hill, London, England, UK
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Biography

Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 1893 – 1 June 1943) was an English actor, director and producer. He wrote many stories and articles for The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair and was one of the biggest box-office draws and movie idols of the 1930s.

Active in both Britain and Hollywood, Howard played Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939). He had roles in many other films, often playing the quintessential Englishman, including Berkeley Square (1933), Of Human Bondage (1934), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), The Petrified Forest (1936), Pygmalion (1938), Intermezzo (1939), "Pimpernel" Smith (1941), and The First of the Few (1942). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Berkeley Square and Pygmalion.

Howard's World War II activities included acting and filmmaking. He helped to make anti-German propaganda and shore up support for the Allies—two years after his death the British Film Yearbook described Howard's work as "one of the most valuable facets of British propaganda". He was rumoured to have been involved with British or Allied Intelligence, sparking conspiracy theories regarding his death in 1943 when the Luftwaffe shot down BOAC Flight 777 over the Atlantic (off the coast of Cedeira, A Coruña), on which he was a passenger.

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Known For

Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind

1939

as Ashley Wilkes

In Which We Serve
In Which We Serve

1942

as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

49th Parallel
49th Parallel

1941

as Philip Armstrong Scott

Of Human Bondage
Of Human Bondage

1934

as Philip Carey

Pygmalion
Pygmalion

1938

as Henry Higgins

British Agent
British Agent

1934

as Stephen 'Steve' Locke

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

1983

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender

1997

as Self (archive footage)

Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet

1936

as Romeo

The Animal Kingdom
The Animal Kingdom

1932

as Tom Collier

"Pimpernel" Smith
"Pimpernel" Smith

1941

as Professor Horatio Smith

The First of the Few
The First of the Few

1942

as R.J. Mitchell

A Free Soul
A Free Soul

1931

as Dwight Winthrop

The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest

1936

as Alan Squier

Bogart: The Untold Story
Bogart: The Untold Story

1997

as Self (archive footage)

The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind

1988

as Self (archive footage)

The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel

1934

as Sir Percy Blakeney / The Scarlet Pimpernel

Intermezzo: A Love Story
Intermezzo: A Love Story

1939

as Holger Brandt

Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
It's Love I'm After
It's Love I'm After

1937

as Basil Underwood