Leo Genn

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Leo Genn
Born	9 August 1905 London, England
Died	26 January 1978 London, England

Leo John Genn (August 9, 1905 – January 26, 1978) was an English actor on stage and in films.

He was born at 144 Kyverdale Road, Stamford Hill, Hackney, London. His father, Woolfe (William) Genn was a jewelry salesman and the maiden name of his mother, Rachel, was Asserson.

Leo had studied law at Cambridge and qualified as a barrister in 1928. Earlier, he had attended the City of London School. He ceased practising as a lawyer soon after the Second World War. Around or before 1933, Genn married the former Marguerite van Praag, a casting director at Ealing Studios. They had no children.

Genn's first film role was as Shylock in Immortal Gentleman (1935) a bio of Shakespeare. However, he had been associated with the London stage as early as 1930, when actor/manager Leon M. Lion engaged him simultaneously as an actor and an attorney. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. hired Genn as a technical advisor on the 1936 movie, Accused and he was subsequently given a small part in the picture on the strength of a "splendid voice and presence". Genn received another small role in Alexander Korda's The Drum (1938) and was the young man who danced with Eliza Doolittle at the duchess's ball in Pygmalion, a film made in the same year, although his name is not in the credits. Also in 1938, Genn appeared in the theatrical hit, The Flashing Stream and went with the show to America and Broadway.

During World War II Genn served in the Royal Artillery, being made Lieutenant Colonel in 1943. In 1944, the actor was given official leave to appear as the Constable of France in Laurence Olivier's Henry V. Genn was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1945. He was part of the British unit that investigated war crimes at Belsen concentration camp and later was an assistant prosecutor at the trial for Belsen in Luneburg, Germany.

Between September 1934 and March 1936, Leo Genn was a member of the Old Vic Company where he appeared in many productions of Shakespeare. His many other stage performances included: Morgan's The Flashing Stream, Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest, 12 Angry Men, The Devil's Advocate and Maugham's The Sacred Flame and Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra.

After his success in Quo Vadis, Genn became stuck in a series of rather forgettable American films, such as The Girls of Pleasure Island, and Plymouth Adventure (1952), a fictionalized, but entertaining soap opera treatment of the Pilgrims' landing at Plymouth Rock. He fared far better in a British picture, Personal Affair (1953), starring opposite Gene Tierney. The filmography, below, is far from a complete one. Leo Genn narrated both the coronation programmes of 1937 and 1953[1].

Genn was a Governor of The Mermaid Theatre.

Genn died January 26, 1978 in London from pneumonia, complications of a heart attack.

[edit] Selected Filmography

• 1944 Henry V
• 1946 Green for Danger
• 1947 Mourning Becomes Electra
• 1948 The Snake Pit
• 1950 The Wooden Horse
• 1951 Quo Vadis? (Petronius)
• 1952 Plymouth Adventure (a rather unhistorical Governor William Bradford (1590-1657))
• 1958 I Accuse! (Col. Picquard)
• 1956 Moby Dick (Starbuck)
• 1960 Era Notte a Roma
• 1962 The Longest Day
• 1963 55 Days at Peking
• 1964 The Delhi Way, narrator (documentary directed by James Ivory)
• 1966 Khartoum (film), narrator
• 1968 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Dr. Lanyon) (Made-for-TV)

He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portayal of Petronius in Quo Vadis.

[edit] Television

• 1970 Howards End with Glenda Jackson, BBC Television
• Documentary on Coventry Cathedral, British television (narrator)
• appearances on British & American television

[edit] External links

• Leo Genn at the Internet Movie Database

• Theatre performances by Leo Genn 1934-1953
• Leo Genn at the Internet Broadway Database