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Posted: |
Oct 19, 2015 - 1:55 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Actress Joan Leslie died on 12 October 2015 in Los Angeles. Leslie was born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel on
January 26, 1925 in Detroit. She first appeared on stage at the age of two. Subsequently, she became part of a vaudeville act with her older sisters, Mary and Betty, touring extensively through Canada and the U.S. East Coast. Her first screen role was a bit part in Greta Garbo's CAMILLE (1936), and over the next 5 years she appeared in about a dozen films, either uncredited or under her given name of Joan Brodel.
In 1941, at the age of 16, she changed her stage name to Joan Leslie, and obtained her first major role, in Humphrey Bogart's HIGH SIERRA. She married Dr. William Caldwell in 1950, and quit her acting career to raise her identical twin daughters Patrice and Ellen. Both daughters are now doctors teaching at universities.
Following are a few career highlights.
In 1941's HIGH SIERRA, Joan Leslie played "Velma," the granddaughter of "Ma and Pa Goodhue," who "Roy Earle" (Bogart) meets on the road, after they have had an accident.
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Posted: |
Oct 19, 2015 - 2:13 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Howard Hawks' SERGEANT YORK was based on the life of the World War I hero. Joan Leslie played Gracie Williams, a young woman who Alvin York (Gary Cooper) meets one day while hunting, and instantly decides to marry. Leslie was 16 when she made this film, the same age as the real Gracie. The real Alvin C. York had made it clear that he didn't want any actress with any sort of notoriety portraying his wife. He specifically said, "No Ooomph Girls!", a clear reference to Warner Bros. contract player Ann Sheridan. Incredibly, Jane Russell was considered, but the wholesome Leslie was ultimately chosen.
Discussing her working relationship with the 39-year-old Cooper, Leslie said "Gary Cooper gave me a doll on the set. That's how he saw me." The Screen Guild Theater broadcast a 30-minute radio adaptation of the movie on 18 January 1942 with Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, and Joan Leslie reprising their film roles.
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Posted: |
Oct 19, 2015 - 2:54 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Leslie appeared in her third straight Warner Bros. wartime musical with 1944's HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN. In this film, Joan was among the myriad of stars appearing as themselves, but she was still the focal point of the film. In the story, "Slim Green" (Robert Hutton), a corporal stationed in the South Pacific, is enamored of actress Joan Leslie. After he is injured in battle, he and his pal, "Sergeant Nolan" (Dane Clark), are sent to Southern California, for rest and recreation before they ship out again. When Slim mentions his desire to see movie stars, he is directed to the Hollywood Canteen, a gathering place for soldiers that is run by motion picture actors and actresses. Learning that Slim has a crush on Joan Leslie, canteen president Bette Davis and Jane Wyman arrange for the two to meet. Leslie's real-life sister, Betty Brodel, had a bit part in the film, which was a top money-maker for Warners.
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Posted: |
Oct 19, 2015 - 4:52 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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During the 1945 production year, Warners put Leslie in several more lead roles in B-pictures, albeit with top directors. In CINDERELLA JONES, it was Busby Berkeley. In JANIE GETS MARRIED, it was Vincent Sherman. TWO GUYS FROM MILWAUKEE reunited stars Leslie and Dennis Morgan and director David Butler, all from THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS. TWO GUYS FROM MILWAUKEE completed production in early February 1946.
On March 6, 1946 Joan Leslie was signed by Nero Films, Inc. to play the role of "Lorna" in their production of the Robert Cummings film noir THE CHASE, which was to be released by United Artists. However, Leslie was still under contract to Warner Bros. and had not obtained a release from them. The studio refused to lend her and obtained a restraining order on April 18, 1946 to prevent her from appearing in pictures for other producers. Leslie attempted to void her studio contract, which still had three years to run, claiming that since she had signed the initial contract when she was a minor, she had the right to disaffirm her contract when she reached the age of consent, as she had on January 26, 1946, her 21st birthday. On April 23, 1946, a court lifted the restraining order, and Leslie was freed from her Warner Bros. contract.
TWO GUYS FROM MILWAUKEE opened during the week of July 27, 1946. Leslie, who was under the impression that she had the lead role in the film, was surprised to find that she was billed second to Dennis Morgan. On August 19, 1946, Leslie filed a $2,725,000 suit against Warner Bros., charging that the studio reduced her billing from star to featured player after she had won the suit breaking her contract. On October 29, 1946, the studio filed an answer denying the charges and asking for dismissal of the suit with court costs. Warner Bros. argued that star billing was "optional based on merit, proficiency and drawing power." The outcome of that suit is not known. Meanwhile, Warners also appealed the lifting of its restraining order on Leslie. But on October 26, 1947, the district appeals court ruled in Leslie's favor and the case was over.
While these court battles raged on, production on THE CHASE proceeded without Leslie. Michèle Morgan played the part of "Lorna."
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Posted: |
Oct 20, 2015 - 1:27 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Now an independent, Joan Leslie first appeared in two pictures for Eagle-Lion Films. The first, 1947's REPEAT PERFORMANCE, marked Eagle-Lion's first foray into "big budget" film-making. The film opens as Broadway actress "Sheila Page' (Leslie) shoots her husband "Barney" (Louis Hayward) and then rushes to see her friend, "William Williams" (Richard Basehart, in his feature film debut). Alfred Werker directed the film, which was scored by George Antheil.
Leslie's second Eagle-Lion film was 1948's NORTHWEST STAMPEDE. Leslie had the lead role, as the foreman of a Canadian ranch, who gets involved with the owner's son (James Craig) after the owner dies. Of Craig, Leslie once said: "He was a pill . . . not easy to work with. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder and it showed in everything he did." Albert S. Rogell directed the film, and Paul Sawtell provided the score.
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I saw her for the first time recently in STAGE DOOR CANTEEN, then soon after in THIS IS THE ARMY.
And she died on my birthday.
Sniff.
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THE SKY'S THE LIMIT happens to be my favorite -- and most a-typical -- Fred Astaire musical, and it was a great pleasure in recent years to get to meet Miss Leslie at Academy and Cinematheque events. I believe her last one was the Egyptian Theater screening of YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, (also a pretty good musical, as I recall). What a sweetheart lady she was.
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