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)

Roarin' Guns
Roarin' Guns

1936

as Jerry

Desert Patrol
Desert Patrol

1938

as Dan Drury

Frisco Tornado
Frisco Tornado

1950

as Henchman

Phony Express
Phony Express

1943

as Red's Henchman

Saboteur
Saboteur

1942

as Plant Cafeteria Worker (uncredited)

The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees

1942

as Spectator (uncredited)

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Cannonball Express

1932

as Ned Logan

Fury Below
Fury Below

1936

as Joe Norsen

Canyon Passage
Canyon Passage

1946

as Card Player (uncredited)

The Gazebo
The Gazebo

1959

as Stage Manager (uncredited)

The Time of Their Lives
The Time of Their Lives

1946

as Sgt. Makepeace

Singing Guns
Singing Guns

1950

as Stage Driver

Backlash
Backlash

1956

as Sergeant Blane (uncredited)

Buck Privates Come Home
Buck Privates Come Home

1947

as Appleby's Chauffeur (uncredited)

A Foreign Affair
A Foreign Affair

1948

as M.P. Lieutenant (uncredited)

The Unholy Wife
The Unholy Wife

1957

as Mr. White (uncredited)

The Prodigal
The Prodigal

1955

as Purveyor (uncredited)

Midnight Intruder
Midnight Intruder

1938

as Track Spectator (uncredited)

The Naughty Nineties
The Naughty Nineties

1945

as Sheriff Wright (uncredited)