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Joan Leslie

Joan Leslie

Actor · 1925 – 2015 · Detroit, Michigan, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joan Leslie (born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel; January 26, 1925 – October 12, 2015) was an American actress, dancer, and vaudevillian who, during the Hollywood Golden Age, appeared in such films as High Sierra, Sergeant York, and Yankee Doodle Dandy. Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel was born on January 26, 1925, in Highland Park, Michigan, the youngest child of John and Agnes Brodel. At 15, Leslie had her first significant role as the crippled girl in High Sierra (1941), starring Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino. The same year she played in Sergeant York as York's fiancée. Leslie had a supporting role in The Male Animal (1942) as Olivia de Havilland's younger sister. In Yankee Doodle Dandy (also 1942) she portrayed George M. Cohan's girlfriend/wife. By now, Leslie had become a star whose on-screen image was described as "sweet innocence without seeming too sugary." Leslie was in four motion pictures released during 1943: The Hard Way, starring Ida Lupino and Dennis Morgan; The Sky's the Limit (1943), starring with Fred Astaire; the wartime film This Is the Army (1943) with Ronald Reagan; and finally Thank Your Lucky Stars. During World War II, she was a regular volunteer at the Hollywood Canteen, where she danced with servicemen and signed hundreds of autographs. She was featured with Robert Hutton, among many others, in the Warner Bros. film Hollywood Canteen (1944). In 1946 Leslie's career took a dive when she took Warner Brothers to court in order to get released from her contract based on moral and religious grounds because of the parts they kept giving her. She wanted more serious and mature roles. In 1947, the Catholic Theatre Guild gave Leslie an award because of her "consistent refusal to use her talents and art in film productions of objectionable character." As a result of this, Jack Warner used his influence to blacklist her from other major Hollywood studios. From this point on Leslie had a more irregular film career. In 1947, she signed a two-picture contract with the poverty row studio Eagle-Lion Films. The first one was Repeat Performance (1947), a film noir. The other was Northwest Stampede (1948) in which she performed with James Craig. In 1952, she signed a short-term deal with Republic Pictures. One of the films she made for Republic was Flight Nurse (1953). Her last film was The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956). However, she continued making sporadic appearances in television shows while her children were at school. She retired from acting in 1991, after appearing in the TV film Fire in the Dark. Leslie died on October 12, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. She was 90. Her survivors include her two children and one sister, Betty. On October 8, 1960, Joan Leslie received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street. In 1999, she was one of the 250 actresses nominated for the American Film Institute's selection of the 25 greatest female screen legends to have debuted before 1950. On August 12, 2006, she received a Golden Boot Award for her contributions to Western television shows and movies.

Movies24

  • Movie7.2

    Sergeant York

    1941 · 239 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Foreign Correspondent

    1940 · 463 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Camille

    1936 · 157 votes

  • Movie7.1

    High Sierra

    1941 · 367 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Love Affair

    1939 · 132 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Yankee Doodle Dandy

    1942 · 237 votes

  • Movie8.0
  • Movie6.5
  • Movie6.0

    Born to Be Bad

    1950 · 42 votes

  • Movie6.1

    Repeat Performance

    1947 · 40 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Thank Your Lucky Stars

    1943 · 39 votes

  • Movie
  • Movie6.6
  • Movie5.7

    This Is the Army

    1943 · 25 votes

  • Movie5.4

    Men with Wings

    1938 · 5 votes

  • Movie6.0

    The Great Mr. Nobody

    1941 · 5 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Hollywood Canteen

    1944 · 29 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Hellgate

    1952 · 10 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Man in the Saddle

    1951 · 25 votes

  • Movie6.9
  • Movie6.3

    The Sky's the Limit

    1943 · 22 votes

  • Movie6.5

    The Hard Way

    1943 · 23 votes

  • Movie10.0

    Showbiz Goes to War

    1982 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Nancy Drew... Reporter

    1939 · 32 votes

Series11

  • TV7.5

    Murder, She Wrote

    1984 · 471 votes

  • TV6.7

    Charlie's Angels

    1976 · 241 votes

  • TV6.7

    Simon & Simon

    1981 · 99 votes

  • TV7.2

    The Incredible Hulk

    1977 · 514 votes

  • TV6.0
  • TV7.0

    Police Story

    1973 · 20 votes

  • TV6.8

    Branded

    1965 · 18 votes

  • TV6.7

    Lux Video Theatre

    1950 · 7 votes

  • TV7.0

    Shades of L.A.

    1990 · 2 votes

  • TV6.8
  • TV7.2