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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Photos

Known For

Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind

1939

as Ashley Wilkes

Glorious Technicolor
Glorious Technicolor

1998

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

British Agent
British Agent

1934

as Stephen 'Steve' Locke

In Which We Serve
In Which We Serve

1942

as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet

1936

as Romeo

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

1983

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

49th Parallel
49th Parallel

1941

as Philip Armstrong Scott

The Animal Kingdom
Five and Ten
Five and Ten

1931

as Berry Rhodes

Of Human Bondage
Of Human Bondage

1934

as Philip Carey

The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest

1936

as Alan Squier

Intermezzo: A Love Story
Intermezzo: A Love Story

1939

as Holger Brandt

The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel

1934

as Sir Percy Blakeney / The Scarlet Pimpernel

The First of the Few
The First of the Few

1942

as R.J. Mitchell

"Pimpernel" Smith
"Pimpernel" Smith

1941

as Professor Horatio Smith

The Gentle Sex
The Gentle Sex

1943

as Narrator (voice)

Bookworms
Bookworms

1920

as Richard

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

1988

as Self (archive footage)

The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert
The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert

2005

as Self (archive footage)

Going Hollywood: The '30s
Going Hollywood: The '30s

1984

as (archive footage)