Rex Lease

Rex Lease

1903-02-11 – 1966-01-03 (age 62) Central City [now part of Huntington], West Virginia, USA
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Biography

From Wikipedia

Rex Lloyd Lease (February 11, 1903 – January 3, 1966) was an American actor. He appeared in over 300 films, mainly in westerns.

Lease arrived in Hollywood in 1924. He found bit and supporting parts at Film Booking Office (FBO), Rayart, more, and was given the opportunity to play a few leads. His first film was A Woman Who Sinned (1924).

Rex's earliest westerns were a pair of Tim McCoy silents at MGM, one of which was The Law of the Range (1928) which had a very young Joan Crawford as the heroine and Rex as the "Solitaire Kid". Tim and Lease became friends, and over the next dozen or so years he appeared in seven more McCoy westerns.

He had a featured role in director Frank Capra's The Younger Generation (1929), a tale of a Jewish family that move to a more upscale neighborhood.

He successfully made the transition to talkies, and starred in melodramas, action flicks, old dark house mysteries, and comedies as well as a couple of western serials and about a dozen low-budget sagebrush yarns and outdoor adventures.

In between lead roles, Lease did featured parts in some B westerns. He was Hoot Gibson's brother in Cavalcade of the West (1936); Rex played the "Pecos Kid" in McCoy's Lightnin' Bill Carson (1936); and he worked in a couple of Tom Tylers, Ridin' On (1936) and Fast Bullets (1936). Rex's finale as a star had him teaming up with Rin-Tin-Tin Jr. in The Silver Trail (1937).

Though no longer afforded star billing, he continued in smaller roles into the 1950s in films and on TV.

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Known For

The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath

1940

as Cop (uncredited)

Saboteur
Saboteur

1942

as Plant Cafeteria Worker (uncredited)

Canyon Passage
Canyon Passage

1946

as Card Player (uncredited)

A Foreign Affair
A Foreign Affair

1948

as M.P. Lieutenant (uncredited)

A Chump at Oxford
A Chump at Oxford

1940

as Bank Robber (uncredited)

The Time of Their Lives
The Time of Their Lives

1946

as Sgt. Makepeace

The Gazebo
The Gazebo

1959

as Stage Manager (uncredited)

The Naughty Nineties
The Naughty Nineties

1945

as Sheriff Wright (uncredited)

Roarin' Guns
Roarin' Guns

1936

as Jerry

The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees

1942

as Spectator (uncredited)

Ride, Vaquero!
Ride, Vaquero!

1953

as Deputy

Frisco Tornado
Frisco Tornado

1950

as Henchman

Backlash
Backlash

1956

as Sergeant Blane (uncredited)

Buck Privates Come Home
Buck Privates Come Home

1947

as Appleby's Chauffeur (uncredited)

Fury Below
Fury Below

1936

as Joe Norsen

Corvette K-225
Corvette K-225

1943

as Coxswain

The Crimson Ghost
The Crimson Ghost

1946

as Bain

Singing Guns
Singing Guns

1950

as Stage Driver

Flame of Barbary Coast
Flame of Barbary Coast

1945

as Collingswood

The Wild North
The Wild North

1952

as Townsman (uncredited)