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Joan Leslie

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Joan Leslie
Leslie in Too Young to Know (1945)
Born
Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel

(1925-01-26)January 26, 1925
DiedOctober 12, 2015(2015-10-12) (aged 90)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, vaudevillian
Years active1934–1991
Known for
Spouse
Dr. William G. Caldwell
​
​
(m. 1950; died 2000)​
Children2
RelativesBetty Brodel (sister)
AwardsGolden Boot Awards
2006 Lifetime Achievement
Hollywood Walk of Fame
1560 Vine Street

Joan Leslie (born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel; January 26, 1925 – October 12, 2015) was an American actress and vaudevillian, who during the Hollywood Golden Age, appeared in such films as High Sierra (1941), Sergeant York (1941), and Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).

Early life

[edit]

Leslie was born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel, the youngest child in her family. Her father was a bank clerk.[1]

Joan's two older sisters, Betty and Mary Brodel, shared their mother's musical interest and started to learn how to play instruments, such as the saxophone and the banjo, at an early age. They began performing in front of audiences in acts that included singing and dancing.[2] Leslie joined the duo at two and a half years of age. She was soon able to play the accordion.[3]

With her father losing his job in the mid-1930s, the Great Depression caused financial difficulties for the family. As a result, the three sisters entered show business as vaudeville performers to support the family. They began touring in Canada and the United States. Collectively, they were known as The Three Brodels. As an attempt to bypass child labor laws at the time, both Mary and Joan pretended to be older than they were. When Leslie was nine, she told child labor investigators that she was 16 years old.[4] Joan proved to be the scene stealer of the three sisters because of her impersonations of figures such as Katharine Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, and Jimmy Durante.[2][5] Coming from a family of Irish ancestry, Leslie was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended Catholic schools in Detroit, Toronto, and Montreal.[3][6]

Early Hollywood career

[edit]
11-year-old Leslie in Camille (1936)

In 1936, 11-year-old Leslie caught the attention of a talent scout from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) when the three Brodel sisters were performing in New York. She was given a six-month contract with the studio, earning $200 per week.[5] While working at the studio, she attended MGM's Little Red Schoolhouse with other child actors such as Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, and Freddie Bartholomew.[7]

Her first film role was in Camille (1936), a romantic drama starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor.[8] She played Taylor's younger sister Marie Jeanette, but her speaking scenes were deleted and she was uncredited. MGM had trouble finding suitable roles for her, and she was let go by the studio along with Deanna Durbin.[2][9] Leslie returned to New York, working on the radio and as a model. During this time, her older sister Mary was signed to Universal Studios. Leslie returned to Hollywood with the rest of her family, working for different studios as a freelancer.[5] She mainly worked for RKO Pictures.[10]

Leslie was selected to play a small role in Men with Wings (1938). While shooting the film, director William A. Wellman discovered that Leslie's mother had lied about her daughter's age and that she was only 13 years old. For the remainder of the filming schedule, Wellman replaced her with Mary.[11]

Leslie gained her first credited role in Winter Carnival (1939) as Betsy Phillips. She was chosen for the part because the director was searching for an actress with a southern accent.[4] She was billed as Joan Brodel. Later that year, she co-starred with Jimmy Lydon in Two Thoroughbreds, in which she played the daughter of a horse owner.[12]

At age 15, Leslie was selected by a group of Hollywood directors as one of 13 "baby stars of 1940."[13] That same year, she appeared in the Warner Bros. film short, Alice in Movieland, about a starlet trying to make her mark in Hollywood. One of the first films directed by Jean Negulesco in Hollywood, it was based on a story by Ed Sullivan.[14]

Success at Warner Bros.

[edit]
1941 studio publicity portrait

Her big break came when she signed a contract with Warner Bros. in 1941.[3] At the time, actress Joan Blondell's name was considered too similar, so Brodel's acting name was changed to Joan Leslie.[15]

Two weeks later,[16] the then-15-year-old actress was asked to do a screen test while unaware which movie it was for. She got the part because she could cry on cue.[4] The movie was High Sierra (1941), starring Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart. Leslie played the crippled girl, Velma.[17] Film critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "a newcomer named Joan Leslie handles lesser roles effectively."[18]

Later that year, Warner Bros. produced a biopic of Alvin C. York, a decorated American World War I soldier, Sergeant York (also 1941), starring Gary Cooper. Jane Russell was initially suggested for the role of Gracie Williams, York's fiancée, but York wanted an actress who neither smoked nor drank.[19] 16-year old Leslie eventually got the part.[20] Sergeant York was a critical and financial success, becoming the highest-grossing movie of 1941. It received 11 Oscar nominations and Cooper won the Best Actor award.[21]

Cooper (aged 40) was 24 years her senior. "Gary gave me a doll on the set," Leslie later told the Toronto Star. "That's how he saw me."[22]

Leslie had a supporting role in The Male Animal (1942).[23] She played Olivia de Havilland's younger sister, Patricia Stanley, a role Gene Tierney had played in the original Broadway production.[24]

Promotional photos of Leslie for Hollywood Canteen

She auditioned for Paramount's Holiday Inn (1942), but Warner Bros. decided to cast her in Yankee Doodle Dandy (also 1942) with James Cagney.[25] The film is a musical depicting the life of Broadway entertainer George M. Cohan.[26] Leslie portrayed his girlfriend/wife Mary, an aspiring singer.[27] The film received eight Oscar nominations, including a Best Actor award for James Cagney.[28] By now, Leslie had become a star whose on-screen image was described as "sweet innocence without seeming too sugary."[1]

Leslie was in four motion pictures released during 1943. The first was The Hard Way, starring Ida Lupino and Dennis Morgan. A New York Times reviewer described Leslie as "just as deft and versatile a lady as the character she is supposed to be."[29][30] For the second, she was lent to RKO for The Sky's the Limit, starring with Fred Astaire. Leslie's character introduced the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer song "My Shining Hour".[31] In the third movie, Leslie co-starred in the wartime motion picture This Is the Army with Ronald Reagan.[32] The fourth movie was Thank Your Lucky Stars. She was considered for the role of Tessa in The Constant Nymph (also 1943), wherein she would play opposite Errol Flynn.[33] Studio executive Jack L. Warner, though, felt she was unsuitable and the part went to Joan Fontaine. The Australian-born actor Flynn was rejected because the director wanted a British actor.[34]

Pin-up photo of Leslie for the British edition of Yank, the Army Weekly in August 1943

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). Like most of the other Hollywood stars appearing in the film, she played herself, but the fictionalized plot had her falling in love with a soldier (played by Hutton) frequenting the canteen.[35] Her sister, actress Betty Brodel, briefly played herself in the film as well.[citation needed] In 1946, an exhibitors' poll conducted by Motion Picture Herald voted Leslie the most promising star of tomorrow.[36]

Later career

[edit]
Leslie in 1946

By 1946, Leslie was growing increasingly dissatisfied with the roles offered to her by the studio. She sought more serious and mature roles, and wanted to break out of her ingenue image, which was partly due to her young age. Her decision was also based on moral and religious grounds.[37] With the help of her lawyer Oscar Cummings, she took Warner Bros. to court to get released from her contract.[38]

In 1947, the Catholic Theater Guild gave Leslie an award because of her "consistent refusal to use her talents and art in film productions of objectionable character."[39]

As a result of this, Jack Warner used his influence to blacklist her from other major Hollywood studios.[40] 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 in which she played a Broadway actress.[41] The other was Northwest Stampede (1948) in which she performed with James Craig.[42]

After her contract with Eagle-Lion Films expired, she was cast in The Skipper Surprised His Wife (1950), appearing with Robert Walker. The film was distributed by MGM, the studio with which she began her film career in 1936.[43]

In the early 1950s, Leslie chose to focus on raising her daughters, which resulted in a more irregular film career. In 1952, she signed a short-term deal with Republic Pictures, the low-budget studio that primarily produced Westerns.[40] One of the films she made for Republic was Flight Nurse (1953). Leslie's character, Polly Davis, was based on the successful flight nurse Lillian Kinkella Keil's career in the Air Force.[44] It was described by the newspaper Kingsport Times-News as a thrilling film that "honors the courageous women who performed miracles of mercy above the clouds in evacuation of wounded GIs from Korean battlefields."[45] Her last film was The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956), but she continued making sporadic appearances in television shows while her children were at school.[5] She retired from acting in 1991, after appearing in the TV film Fire in the Dark.[2][46]

Personal life

[edit]
Publicity photo of Leslie

In March 1950, she married William Caldwell, an obstetrician.[5] Their identical twin daughters, Patrice and Ellen, were born on January 7, 1951.[47] Both daughters became teachers.[48]

Leslie was a Democrat who supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.[49]

Leslie designed clothing under her eponymous brand. William died in 2000. A year later, she founded the Dr. William G. and Joan L. Caldwell Chair in Gynecologic Oncology for the University of Louisville. Leslie was an adopted alumna of the university for over 32 years.[50] A devout Catholic, she was involved with charity work for the St. Anne's Maternity Home for more than 50 years.[51]

Death

[edit]

Leslie died on October 12, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. She was 90.[52]

Awards and honors

[edit]

Complete filmography

[edit]
Leslie in The Hard Way (1943)
Leslie with Fred Astaire for The Sky's the Limit (1943)
Leslie in This Is the Army (1943)
Leslie in Born to Be Bad (1950)
Leslie in The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956), her last film appearance
For TV movies, see the following section.
Year Title Role Studio Notes
1936 Signing Off Joan Brodel Short film
Camille Marie Jeanette MGM Uncredited
1938 Men with Wings Patricia Falconer at age 11 Paramount Uncredited. Shared role with sister, who replaced her when Joan's real age discovered.[11]
1939 Nancy Drew... Reporter Mayme, journalist student Warner Bros. Uncredited
Love Affair Autograph seeker RKO Uncredited
Winter Carnival Betsy Phillips Walter Wanger Productions As Joan Brodel
Two Thoroughbreds Wendy Conway RKO As Joan Brodel
1940 Laddie Shelley Stanton RKO As Joan Brodel
High School Patsy 20th Century Fox Uncredited
Young as You Feel Girl 20th Century Fox As Joan Brodel
Alice in Movieland Alice Purdee Warner Bros. Short film
Star Dust College girl 20th Century Fox Uncredited
Susan and God Party Guest MGM Uncredited
Military Academy Marjorie Blake Columbia As Joan Brodel
Foreign Correspondent Johnny Jones' Sister Walter Wanger Productions Uncredited
1941 High Sierra Velma Warner Bros.
The Great Mr. Nobody Mary Clover Warner Bros.
The Wagons Roll at Night Mary Coster Warner Bros.
Thieves Fall Out Mary Matthews Warner Bros.
Sergeant York Gracie Williams Warner Bros.
Nine Lives Are Not Enough Newspaper receptionist Warner Bros. Uncredited
1942 The Male Animal Patricia Stanley Warner Bros.
Yankee Doodle Dandy Mary Cohan Warner Bros.
1943 The Hard Way Katie Blaine Warner Bros.
The Sky's the Limit Joan Manion RKO
This Is the Army Eileen Dibble Warner Bros.
Thank Your Lucky Stars Pat Dixon Warner Bros.
1944 Hollywood Canteen Herself Warner Bros.
I Am an American Herself Warner Bros. Short film, Uncredited
1945 Where Do We Go from Here? Sally Smith / Prudence / Katrina 20th Century Fox
Rhapsody in Blue Julie Adams Warner Bros.
Too Young to Know Sally Sawyer Warner Bros.
1946 Cinderella Jones Judy Jones Warner Bros.
Janie Gets Married Janie Conway Warner Bros.
Two Guys from Milwaukee Connie Reed Warner Bros.
1947 Repeat Performance Sheila Page Eagle-Lion
1948 Northwest Stampede Christine "Honey" Johnson Eagle-Lion
1950 The Skipper Surprised His Wife Daphne Lattimer MGM
Born to Be Bad Donna Foster RKO
1951 Man in the Saddle Laurie Bidwell Isham Columbia
1952 Hellgate Ellen Hanley Commander Films
Toughest Man in Arizona Mary Kimber Republic
1953 Woman They Almost Lynched Sally Maris Republic
Flight Nurse Lt. Polly Davis Republic
1954 Jubilee Trail Garnet Hale Republic
Hell's Outpost Sarah Moffit Republic
1956 The Revolt of Mamie Stover Annalee Johnson 20th Century Fox

Television

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1951 Family Theater Claudia Procles Episode: " Hill Number One: A Story of Faith and Inspiration"
1951 The Bigelow Theatre Episode: "Flowers for John"
1951–52 Fireside Theater Ilse Episodes: "Black Savannah," "The Imposter"
1952 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Episode: "The Von Linden File"
1953 Summer Theater Ada Jordan Episode: "Dream Job"
1953–54 Ford Theatre Marie Pasquin/Susan Farrington Episodes: "The Old Man's Bride", "Wonderful Day for a Wedding", "Girl in Flight"
1954 Lux Video Theatre Vanessa Cook Episode: "Pick of the Litter"
1955 Studio 57 Jane Merlin Episode: "Vacation with Pay"
1956 The 20th Century Fox Hour Peg Episode: "Smoke Jumpers"
1956 Chevron Hall of Stars Episode: "Conflict"
1958 The Christophers Episode: "Find the Good Within You"
1959 General Electric Theater Sarah Owens Episode: "The Day of the Hanging"
1965 Branded Emily Cooper Episode: "Leap Upon Mountains"
1975 Police Story Mary Devereux Episode: "Headhunter"
1976 The Keegans Mary Keegan TV movie
1978 Charlie's Angels Catherine Calhoun Episode: "The Jade Trap"
1979 The Incredible Hulk Lily Beaumont Episode: "My Favourite Magician"
1983 Simon & Simon Toni Meyers Episode: "Shadow of Sam Penny"
1983 Shadow of Sam Penny
1986 Charley Hannah Sandy Hannah TV movie
1988 Murder, She Wrote Lillian Appletree Episode: "Mr. Pennroy's Vacation"
1989 Turn Back the Clock Party Guest TV movie
1991 Fire in the Dark Ruthie TV movie, (final film role)

Radio appearances

[edit]
Year Program Episode/source
1942 Screen Guild Players Yankee Doodle Dandy[56]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Joan Leslie". Life. October 26, 1942. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d Joan Leslie profile at. The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies. June 21, 2010. ISBN 9780786462360. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Joan Leslie, an update". Toledo Blade. June 26, 1986. p. 28. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c "Detroit's outlaw Brodel sisters go straight in Hollywood". The Sunday Morning Star. August 10, 1941. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e Joan Leslie. "Movies Were Always Magical": Interviews with 19 Actors, Directors, and ... February 27, 2003. ISBN 9780786411290. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  6. ^ "Joan Leslie's Ego Isn't Inflated by Film Fame". Tampa Bay Times. January 6, 1946. p. 37. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  7. ^ "Tutoring kid stars was an exciting challenge". The Lowell Sun. October 8, 1972. p. 65. Retrieved August 29, 2015. – via Newspapers.com Open access icon
  8. ^ "Child actress prefer cooking to acting". The Liberty Vindicator. November 3, 1937. p. 2. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  9. ^ "One film puts Joan Leslie on brink of stardom at 16" (PDF). PM. August 24, 1941. p. 44. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  10. ^ "Joan Leslie – She's acted every age but her own; has kept Fred Astaire waiting". Oakland Tribune. August 20, 1944. p. 55. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  11. ^ a b "Hollywood Highlights". Ottawa Citizen. July 13, 1938. p. 21. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  12. ^ Hal Erickson (2014). "Two-Thoroughbreds". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  13. ^ "Directors Favor Brunettes". Arizona Independent Republic. October 19, 1940. p. 50. Retrieved March 13, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  14. ^ "Product Digest: 1940–41 Shorts". Motion Picture Herald. Vol. 141, no. 11. December 14, 1940. p. 27. Retrieved June 21, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ^ "Most stage folk take new names". The News and Courier. March 8, 1942. Retrieved February 22, 2014.[dead link‍]
  16. ^ "Warner Bros. turns 75". Kentucky New Era. June 22, 1998. p. 18. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  17. ^ Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood's Legendary Directors. The University Press of Kentucky. June 17, 2011. ISBN 978-0813139906. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  18. ^ "Review: High Sierra, January 25, 1941". The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  19. ^ "Hollywood Chatter". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. July 12, 1941. p. 4. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  20. ^ Sergeant York: An American Hero. The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813128463. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  21. ^ "Sergeant York (film by Hawks [1941])". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  22. ^ Bernstein, Adam (October 15, 2015). "Joan Leslie, girl-next-door movie star of the 1940s, dies at 90". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  23. ^ "The Male Animal". Heppner Gazette-Times. August 6, 1942. p. 5. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  24. ^ "Joan Leslie gets part". Deseret News. July 11, 1941. p. 4. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  25. ^ "Joan Leslie Happy to Be Just 18". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. December 27, 1942. p. 70. Retrieved February 21, 2014.[permanent dead link‍]
  26. ^ "Whatever Happened to...Joan Leslie". Melbourne Observer. March 14, 2012. p. 22. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  27. ^ "Yankee Doodle opens at three theaters today". The Miami News. February 19, 1942. p. 17. Retrieved February 25, 2014.[permanent dead link‍]
  28. ^ "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Oscars.org. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  29. ^ "Ida Lupino, Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan in The Hard Way". The Spokesman-Review. February 16, 1944. p. 21. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  30. ^ "The Hard Way (1942)- At the Strand". The New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  31. ^ "Meet the Stars". Big Spring Daily Herald. January 27, 1944. p. 3. Retrieved August 29, 2015. – via Newspapers.com Open access icon
  32. ^ "This is the Army". Youtube upload. Public domain film. Archived from the original on January 9, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  33. ^ "Errol Flynn-Joan Leslie to make Constant Nymph". Schenectady Gazette. p. 6. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  34. ^ "The Constant Nymph". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved February 26, 2014.[permanent dead link‍]
  35. ^ Gilliland, John (January 15, 1972). "Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #11". UNT Digital Library.
  36. ^ "The Stars of To-morrow". The Sydney Morning Herald. NSW: National Library of Australia. September 10, 1946. p. 11 Supplement: The Sydney Morning Herald Magazine. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  37. ^ "Joan Leslie ostracized for turning down roles against her principles". The Canadian Register. June 14, 1947. p. 5. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  38. ^ "Joan Leslie Pleased At Adult Roles After Leaving Warners". The News and Courier. March 2, 1947. Retrieved February 23, 2014.[dead link‍]
  39. ^ "Joan Leslie Honoured". Catholic Herald. May 20, 1949. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  40. ^ a b "Joan Leslie Interview". Western Clippings. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  41. ^ "Repeat Performance". UCLA film and television archive. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  42. ^ "Headed for Paramount". Toledo Blade. December 2, 1948. p. 40. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  43. ^ "Joan Leslie on her way to big screen comeback". Toledo Blade. November 24, 1949. p. 43. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  44. ^ "Lillian Kinkella Keil, 88; 'an Airborne Florence Nightingale'". LA Times. July 10, 2005. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  45. ^ "Joan Leslie, Forrest Tucker in Flight Nurse". Kingsport Times-News. November 29, 1953. p. 14. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  46. ^ Steen, Kathleen (October 4, 1991). "Television Reviews 1991–1992". Variety. ISBN 9780824037963.
  47. ^ "Joan Leslie Has Twins". The Sunday Herald. January 7, 1951. p. 4. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  48. ^ "Meet the board". University of Louisville alumni club of California. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  49. ^ Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers
  50. ^ "Caldwell's legacy endures with $1 million endowment". Louisville.edu. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014. (cached)
  51. ^ "Art Council Hopes the Sun Will Shine, April 18, 1986". Los Angeles Times. April 18, 1986. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  52. ^ "Joan Leslie Caldwell: Obituary". Los Angeles Times. October 15, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  53. ^ "Joan Leslie". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on October 29, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  54. ^ "A compendium of the 500 stars nominated for top 50 'Greatest Screen Legends status" (PDF). American Film Institute. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  55. ^ "Eastwood honoured with Golden Boot Award". USA Today. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  56. ^ "Players to Open Season With 'Yankee Doodle Dandy'". Harrisburg Telegraph. October 17, 1942. p. 19. Retrieved May 28, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
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