Biography 1
One of the greatest of all character actors and very underrated, he was a
very amiable, urbane gentleman who played intelligent, authority figures and
other classical types. His assets were his kindly-looking face, a velvety smooth,
resonant voice and a mastery of the English language.
He was born in London, England on August 9, 1905 of a prosperous
family. He originally studied Law and followed that career as a barrister in
England. He studied acting and drama as an avocation but eventually the
acting bug took over and he became a star of the British stage and films. His
career was interrupted by World War II where he served in the Royal Artillery,
rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and received military honors including
the Croix de Guerre. He was also a prosecuting officer at the Belson War
Crimes trial. After the War he resumed his acting and eventually made his
way to Hollywood and even greater fame.
The pinnacle of his success came with his nomination for Best Supporting
Actor in "Quo Vadis" (1951) as Petronius. He was a master of stage, screen,
radio, television and narration of documentaries.
He died of a heart attack on January 26, 1978 in London, England at age 72.
Biography 2
Leo Genn was born on 9 August 1905 in London. The son of a
prosperous merchant, he studied law at Cambridge and was a practicing
barrister when he made his stage debut in 1930. For several years he
continued offering legal services while gaining experience as a stage and
screen player and had abandoned his law career entirely by the time he made
his Broadway debut early in 1939.
During WWII he served with the Royal Artillery, being promoted to
lieutenant colonel in 1943 and awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1945. He was
allowed several brief leaves of absence for film appearances. At the end of the
war he joined the British unit investigating war crimes at the Belsen
concentration camp, later serving as an assistant prosecutor for the Belsen trial.
Genn's career received a boost from his subtle, sarcastic portrayal of the
Constable of France in Laurence Olivier's film HENRY V (1945), a small but
memorable role. It resulted in an invitation to the US and one of his great
stage successes in the 1946 Broadway production of Lillian Hellman's
Another Part of the Forest. Many stage and screen appearances followed on
both sides of the Atlantic.
In films, he played intelligent, personable, and typically understated
character leads and supporting roles. He was nominated for an Oscar as best
supporting actor for his portrayal of Gaius Petronius, Nero's counselor, in
QUO VADIS? (1951). Other notable screen credits include CAESAR AND
CLEOPATRA (1945), MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA (1947), THE
SNAKE PIT (1948), PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE (1952), MOBY DICK (1956),
I ACCUSE! (1958), THE LONGEST DAY (1962), 55 DAYS AT PEKING
(1963) and THE MACKINTOSH MAN (1973, uncredited).
After suffering a heart attack, Leo Genn died on 26 January 1978 in London.
Biography 3
Smooth, refined British star Leo Genn is known for his relaxed charm and
"black velvet" voice.
Before becoming an actor, he received a law degree at Cambridge and
worked as a barrister in the early '20s. In 1930 he debuted on stage; for several
years he continued earning money with legal services, meanwhile gaining
experience in both plays and films.
In 1939 he finally gave up the law to make his Broadway debut. He
served with the Royal Artillery during World War II; in 1943 he was promoted
to lieutenant colonel, and in 1945 he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. On
several occasions during the war he was granted leave to appear in films. At
war's end he became one of Britain's investigators of war crimes at the Belsen
concentration camp and went on to be an assistant prosecutor for the Belsen
trial.
After his small but noteworthy role as the Constable of France in
Laurence Olivier's film Henry V (1944), he was invited to the U.S., where he
had a great theatrical triumph in the 1946 Broadway production of Lillian
Hellman's Another Part of the Forest. His stage and screen career flourished
afterwards in both the U.S. and England.
Onscreen he was usually cast in smart, likable, subtle character leads and
supporting roles. For his portrayal of Gaius Petronius, Nero's counselor, in
Quo Vadis (1951), he received a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar nomination
Biography 4 (written by "LizluvsLALA" /user-ID/ she is related to Genn)
Leo Genn was born in a house in Stamford Hill, a suburb of London. I
was in the house a few years ago and it was very sadly run down on the
inside--looks like hippies were living there. It is a townhouse, and not a very
large one. When Leo was born in August of 1905, England was experiencing
perhaps the greatest summer heatwave it has ever known.
I think of Rachel, Leo's poor mother, going through her labor upstairs in
the master bedroom during 90+ degree weather with no air-conditioning, not
even a fan. Leo also had a couple of sisters. His father's name was Wolf, but he
called himself William.
Leo was a beautiful Jew, a man who did not photograph especially well
and was far more handsome in person. People have said he was the
best-looking man they had ever seen. He was about 5'10", had wavy black
hair, a rosey complexion and absolutely gorgeous black eyes with long
eyelashes. Nobody ever had more beautiful eyes than Leo Genn. He was a
studious guy who did well in school and studied the Law at Cambridge--also
played football--soccer in the states.
Before he became an actor--by mere chance--Leo was a barrister, the kind
of lawyer who argues in court in England, as opposed to a solicitor, who does
everything else. Doug Fairbanks Jr. hired him as an advisor on a film about a
court case and then decided to actually cast him in the movie. That was the
beginning. For awhile Leo Genn appeared in films where his name wasn't
even in the credits. In the screen adaptation of Shaw's play, "Pygmalion", if
you pay close attention you will see that it is Leo Genn who dances with Eliza
Doolittle at the duchess's ball. Anyway, Leo continued to practice Law for
quite some time until he gave it up to be a fulltime actor.
During WWII Leo served in the British Army and was awarded the
Croix de Guerre by the French. After the war, he briefly reverted to being a
lawyer and helped to prosecute those responsible for the atrocities at
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The trial took place in Germany.
Leo married Marguerite Von Prague, a lively woman who was a casting
director. They had no children. Neither was very monogamous. One of Leo's
flings was with Rachel Kempson, the mother of Vanessa Redgrave. They met
in Hollywood while Leo and Michael Redgrave were filming "Mourning
Becomes Electra".
Leo Genn is not considered a great actor by the British (whose standards
are very high, after all)but, being one of the few Anglo-Jews who ever became
leading men in Britain, he was quite a novelty with his exotic, oriental
appearance for the English ladies--a case of opposites attract. Leo remained
handsome until the day he died of complications following a heart attack and
he was a lady's man right up to the end. Quite the flirt.
Leo's wife, Marguerite, died only a few months after he did. Leo had a
couple of sisters but I don't know if either one survived the pair. Whatever
happened to all the interesting stuff of Leo and Marguerite is a mystery to me.
It makes me shudder to think it may just have ended up in the rubbish when
the new owners took over the townhouse. And here's something even worse.
Leo was evidently cremated after he died and I don't even know what
happened to his remains! I know where Marguerite is buried but Leo, as far as
I know, isn't there. I haven't the slightest idea what "they did with him".
Leo has a number of relatives living in London. At the time of his death,
he was living in a townhouse in Belgravia, a fancy part of London--the name
of the street was Eaton Square.
Peter Ustinov told me that he envied Leo his leading lady in "Quo
Vadis", saying something to the effect "Look what they gave me!" Well, Peter
was funny. He's another who will be missed.
Leo and Peter didn't warm to one another too much but Leo was very
good friends with Miklós Rózsa, a Hungarian-born composer who was one
of the greatest who ever wrote music for the films. They wrote each other a lot
of letters, some of which I have. In these letters one can see how hard Leo
struggled to get cinematic roles. Since he fell in the crack somewhere between
a leading man and a character actor, it wasn't that easy for him. He simply
wasn't "conventional".
A contemporary actor who I think has the same problem is Jeremy
Northam. I think he is wonderful and showed a lot of promise in leading roles
but now seems to be doing supporting ones--which is rather a waste in his
case. Rent the movie "Emma" or "The Browning Version" and you may fall in
love with Jeremy instead of Leo. The two of them even look a bit alike. I'll
make a short list of my favorite Leo Genn films: Quo Vadis; Moby Dick; Era
Notte a Roma; Personal Affair; The Wooden Horse. If you think Leo is
beautifully-filmed in "Quo Vadis", take a look at "Moby Dick". A great
director like John Huston really knew how to take advantage of that face and
gave Leo a lot of closeups. The closer one zoomed in, the better Leo looked.
Gregory Peck, who stars in "Moby", too, was an absolute god but his face was
deformed for the role of the obsessed Captain Ahab. Mervyn LeRoy, who
directed "Quo Vadis" was only run-of-the-mill in my opinion. The movie has a
lot of dull and even sanctimonious parts--but never when Leo or Peter
Ustinov are onscreen.
For some reason, though, Leo never played the lover very convincingly.
He was always rather stiff in love scenes. God only knows why. Had he been
less reserved, he may have been given more leading roles. So he did a lot of
action films--sans women. Leo looks so nice in "The Plymouth Affair" that it is
just laughable that the craggy-faced, cantankerous Spencer Tracy (who was a
marvelous actor, however) manages to steal the heart of Leo's wife, played by
Gene Tierney. I know which one I would have chosen in a heart beat! "Era
Notte a Roma" is a little known film by one of Italy's most talented directors.
It is well worth a look for Leo fans--albeit a bit tough to find. In this movie,
where Italian, English and Russian are spoken, Leo, as a British officer, finds it
necessary to hide in the attic of a beautiful Italian smuggler along with an
American and a Russian. Everyone does a terrific job in this movie and there is
one shot of Leo and the Italian girl sitting across the table from one another
that looks like a painting, it is so artistically done.
Obviously, Leo still has a lot of fans, old and new, who might like to put a
flower on his grave--if there was one! At Hollywood Forever Cemetery in LA,
there is never any shortage of flowers on the little marble monument of
Tyrone Power. And Power died as long ago as the 60's. The monument is in
the form of a bench, where people can sit and observe a little lake only some
yards away. I have sat on that bench a few times, myself, because more than
one person dear to me is in that cemetery, and it was kind of an eerie feeling
that, right below me, was what was left of the wonderful Tyrone, one of the
handsomest men ever to be captured on film.
