Programming Note

[Leslie Howard and Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind (1939)]

Gone With The Wind to air on TCM Thursday, February 9, at 9:00 PM PST [Please check your local listings]

A Very Surprising Man

[Leslie Howard as Peter Standish in Berkeley Square, 1933]

When I first decided to start my Leslie Howard Fan Page on Facebook I had only intended to post some pictures. But in my search for new photos my natural curiosity was piqued and I wanted to know the stories behind the images. This launched me on an almost compulsive search for information about Leslie Howard—The Man. I soon realized that I needed a blog to contain all the information I was discovering and that is how LeslieHowardSteiner.blogspot.com came into being.

Real or Imagined?

[Leslie Howard with Archie Mayo
on the set of It's Love I'm After, 1937]

Leslie Howard's son, Ronald "Wink" Howard, talks about his father's shyness:

"As far as living in Hollywood was concerned Leslie had always kept a pretty low profile, not from any innate hostility to the place, but simply because he was not a very social animal. He was rarely seen 'around and

"Winkie"

In Leslie Howard: Trivial Fond Records, a book containing the writings of Leslie Howard, Howard tells a story of the first time his son, at the age of nine, visits him in the theater, long before Howard made his way to Hollywood and the movies. His son was Ronald Howard, aka "Winkie," who became an actor himself.

Howard recalls that his son, upon entering his dressing room, commented on how small, poorly furnished and dirty it was. Winkie wanted to know why his dad didn't have a dressing room like the movie stars. His father tried to explain that everyone connected to the movies had a lot more money than was available in the theater. Of course, Winkie wanted to know why his dad wasn't in the movies. Movie actors had much bigger houses--bigger than theirs. He also wanted to know why his dad's name wasn't on the marquee outside. Leslie Howard was beginning to see that his son thought his profession undignified and poorly paid.

Winkie watched as Howard applied his makeup, commenting that he would hate to have to put that "stuff" all over his face everyday. At that point the stage manager came into the room to advise Mr. Howard that in Act I he had called the bartender George instead of Charles. Because his son was watching, instead of saying what he normally would have said, he apologized and admitted how terrible it was that he had made this error. When the stage manager left the room Winkie asked him if he had to say the same words every day, over and over again. "Holy smoke," he exclaimed, "I wonder you don't go cuckoo!"

What Howard wanted to say was, "I do go cuckoo, my lad. After the first few weeks of saying the same things night after night even the substitution of George for Charles is a holiday." But what he actually said was, "A play is a work of art conceived by an artist and every word counts." Howard told his son he would realize this after he had watched his performance, to which Winkie replied, "Have I got to see it?" "Isn't that what you came for?" asked his father. "Well, no," his son explained apologetically. I came to get 75 cents to see The Student Prince."

[Leslie Howard with his son, Ronald]

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The Horsy Mr. Howard

Leslie Howard once said, "Polo is living, much more than acting is."

Howard didn't much care for acting. As a matter of fact, he said that "acting isn't a profession for men. It's much better for women. It's an outlet for emotion..." And Howard did not like to show emotion. His performances are known for his nuanced style. He was known as the "thinker's actor." One reporter noted that while watching him film Of Human Bondage (1934) with Bette Davis the only difference she could see in his acting between the first take and the fiftieth take was that by the fiftieth take he seemed bored. But he did act.

During the 1930's Howard was considered to be one of the consistently best actors in Hollywood and was nominated for two Best Actor Oscars, one for Berkeley Square (1933) and one for his portrayal of Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (1938). When Rex Harrison was asked how he won the Best Actor Oscar for the same role in My Fair Lady (1964) he stated he merely played Leslie Howard. Howard was always in demand by leading ladies and he was a favorite of studio executives. His peers thought he should have won the Oscar for his performance as Peter Standish in Berkeley Square. Back in those days the winner was announced along with the runners up in order of votes. When Charles Laughton was announced the winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), the audience applause was muted with one watcher stating they "sat on their hands." When Leslie Howard was announced as runner up, however, the audience roared.

[Leslie Howard on the polo field]

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Mickey Mouse Polo

Leslie Howard had a love of horses. He once said that "one does not want many friends. But horses..." And for friends? He liked people who liked horses. He loved to ride and he loved to play polo. He considered polo, "unlike acting, really living." Howard was a member of The Riviera Club and his polo team was captained by none other than his friend, Walt Disney. They were the Mickey Mouse Polo Team. Honestly. The team included Will Rogers and his son, Will, Jr., Howard's good friend, Robert Montgomery, and a couple of other players.

[Leslie Howard with Walt Disney]

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More Inward Bound

Outward Bound (1930) was Leslie Howard's first "talkie." By this time he already had an extensive background in the theatre, having authored, acted in and directed his own productions many times. He had also appeared in many silent films.

It's hard to figure out why Howard ever acted at all. He never felt himself suited to the profession and he didn't seem to enjoy the process. He once wrote:

"First of all, let me admit that I am one of those unfortunate persons to whom any kind of public appearance is an embarrassment...from the moment when...I got my first job on the stage and sheepishly daubed my face with greasepaint, I had an inner conviction that this was the most embarrassing occupation in the world. And this belief, far from being modified by experience, I find only to be intensified by the years."

His real love was writing. But he considered himself to be lazy, unable to apply himself in that solitary confinement required by the writer. His friends and family, however, asserted that he was far from lazy.

After appearing in Gone With The Wind, he returned to England somewhat disillusioned and angry. And he actually feared that England might not win the war against Germany. But Howard would do his best to see a different outcome. He worked tirelessly creating films to bolster his countrymen's spirits and determination. Howard also appeared on radio broadcasts heard in America and traveled throughout Europe attempting to bolster the support of England's allies. It was on such a trip that his civilian aircraft was shot down by Nazis over the Bay of Biscay.

Unfortunately, Howard would never be able to experience the joy that so many others felt when the enemies of peace were eventually vanquished. Ronald Howard, Leslie Howard's son, in speaking of his father's short time on earth in Leslie Howard: Trivial Fond Records said "that was his destiny, to end his life incomplete, as if on the penultimate note of an unfinished concerto."

[Leslie Howard in a publicity photo
for Outward Bound, 1930]

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I'm Just Here For The Violin Lessons

Leslie Howard once stated that he didn't chase women but couldn't always be bothered to run away. However, while he was filming Captured! (1933) he was a frequent visitor to the set of Gold Diggers of 1933 which was filming in the next soundstage.

Apparently, he was so enthralled with all the women that when asked if he would take the salary cut being imposed by First National Films during the studio financial crisis of 1933, he quipped, "First, tell me, will those girls be working on The Gold Diggers of 1933 set very long?" After being informed that they would, Howard finally responded, "Well, in that case, just don't bother about cutting. I'll be only too happy to work for nothing."

[Leslie Howard and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who were filming Captured!,
are being taught violin basics by Busby Berkeley, dance instructor
for Gold Diggers of 1933. Yes, their eyes really are on the violin.]
Modern Screen, July, 1933

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A Little Romance

I have often asked myself what it was about Leslie Howard that got me to notice him and why I stay so hooked.

If I believed in reincarnation I would surmise that I had met him in a previous life because he is very personal to me. We all have those people we see up on the big screen, or even the small screen, that we feel a connection to. Well, I feel that connection to him.

But then again, it may be the roles he played. Maybe I just like men who are walking tragedies. You know, those men who need the love of a good woman, with me being the good woman. Hmmm, is that it?

I think more likely, though, it is the way he loved the women in his films. You can see that he adored women, he exalted women. The way he held his female stars, especially while dancing, shows how tender and caring he was. And when he kissed a woman, he held her so close he sometimes lost his balance while enveloping her. You can see him balance himself against the wall as he falls forward while kissing Vivien Leigh in the Paddock Scene in Gone With The Wind. And the way he seems to naturally hold and kiss the hands of all his female actors--it's so gentle, so loving.

Leslie Howard once said, "What the actor is in private life, he is to a large extent on the stage, because he cannot conceal himself and his true personality from his audience." But where some people associate Leslie Howard with his roles, I associate him with the feeling he conveys, the need and the availability for love and connection. He may have been a man always falling in love, not realizing what he was getting in to, in the movies and out, but he was always falling in love. But as Hilary Lynn noted in Photoplay, August, 1933, Howard exhibits "more of a frail tenderness, of worshipful adoration, than of engulfing passion." Lynn goes on to say that "Howard's screen wooing indicates clearly that it's the woman herself who matters to him--not the fact of being in love, nor the fleeting pleasure of making love." Leslie Howard always conveyed, in comedy or drama, that women made the world livable and women made living worthwhile. I kind of like that.

[Leslie Howard, c. 1934]

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One Woman

"I love all women; I love womankind. In the love of a good woman you have everything, all the wonders of the ages, the brown skinned girls who inflame your senses with the play; the cool, yellow-haired women who entice and escape you; the gentle ones who serve you; the slender ones who torment you; the mothers who bore and suckled you--all women whom God created out of the teeming fullness of the earth are yours in the love of one woman."

   ~ Leslie Howard

Leslie Howard and Bette Davis

in The Petrified Forest, 1936

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About Merle Oberon

Leslie Howard once quipped that he "didn't chase women but...couldn't be bothered to run away." During his career he had affairs with several of his leading ladies. But, according to Leslie Howard's daughter, Leslie Ruth "Doodie" Howard, her father fell passionately in love with Merle Oberon while filming The Scarlet Pimpernel during the summer of 1934.

[Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon, 1935]

Their relationship must have lasted for some time. The two were seen together all over London. Howard's behavior become rather embarrassing to his friends and associates, with several of them even asking him to tone it down. But the affair continued as they both returned to the States after completion of the film. Howard appeared devoted to Oberon. Apparently, he was considering leaving his family for Oberon, at her insistence. When Howard's wife, Ruth Martin Howard, became aware of this she flew to New York with the children in tow to confront Howard and remind him of his family responsibilities.

[Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon holding hands, 1934]

"Doodie" remembers that, at the tender age of ten years old, she was left alone with Oberon to "bond," in a step-motherly sort of way. She recalls that she must have been a real horror because Oberon told Howard that she didn't like his daughter. Howard adored "Doodie" (as evidenced in the many photographs he took of and with her throughout their lives) and the way she remembers it, Howard promptly ended his affair with Oberon.

Merle Oberon in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935

However, in January, 1935, after Howard began work in The Petrified Forest, Oberon appeared in New York ready for a showdown. Within a few days of her arrival, Howard was in the hospital too ill to report to work. Oberon had apparently triggered an attack of nerves and Howard developed boils. Not a very romantic ailment and not one for which Oberon was willing to administer aid. She took off and left Howard to repair his boils and the wounds he had caused to his family. He never again made the mistake of falling for one of his leading ladies. (He did have a long-term relationship with Violette Cunnington, but Cunnington was French and made it easy for Howard by, in the words of his son, agreeing to a "French solution," meaning no divorce.)

[Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon
in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935]

[Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon
in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935]

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Leslie Howard - Amateur Photographer

"We amateur cinematographers are, of necessity, producers of realism. When we film a polo match or football game, we must get it catch as catch can–not staged carefully for us–and it is always the real thing. When an interesting cloud formation appears, we hurry to catch the scene we want so that we can have the cloud as a background, for there is no means of putting it in afterward by double printing. When we make movies of friends, they must look their best, as we cannot ask them to put on grease paint, nor can we retouch the film if the closeups are disappointing. We are realists, all, and the full potentialities of movie making are revealed to us only when we recognize that fact and realize where the pitfalls lie."

~ Leslie Howard, avid amateur photographer, from Movie Makers, February 1935

[Leslie Howard, amateur photographer]

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Violette Cunnington

Leslie Howard and his companion, Violette Cunnington, who died of a sudden illness approximately six months before his own death.

In her book, Leslie Howard: The Lost Actor, Estel Eforgan reports that according to the sculptor, Oscar Nemon, who was working on a statue of Howard at the time of his death, he had been asked by Howard to "provide figures for a memorial garden to Violette." In a footnote, Eforgan reports that Nemon's unpublished memoirs include the following comments regarding Violette's death: "he [Leslie] was inconsolable and wrote her a 10,000 word letter which finished, 'Violette, I shall be with you soon.'" Howard was not a man who wanted to die, but did he have a premonition about his own death?

[Leslie Howard and Violette Cunnington]

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You Call That Praise?

Leslie Howard's performance as Hamlet was not favored by The Lewiston Daily Sun, November 17, 1936. Although the crowds appeared for opening night, the play only lasted through thirty-nine performances.

Howard said of his performance, “There is a terrible penalty attached to acting Hamlet. Comparisons are unavoidable, not only with the present but with memories of the past. Worst of all is the conception which each person has placed upon the character. There is something in Hamlet which each of us could use. Hamlet belongs to all men and therefore nobody will receive 100% approval.”

Leslie Howard's Hamlet Praised

[Leslie Howard in Hamlet, 1936]

Hamlet - Producer, Director, Actor
Imperial Theatre
November 10, 1936 thru December 1936
Performances: 39

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Edward Steichen for Vanity Fair

According to Leslie Howard, he "didn't chase women but … couldn't always be bothered to run away."

[Leslie Howard portrait by Edward Steichen
for Vanity Fair, 1934]

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Reticence

Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, 1939.

Leslie Howard said of his role, "I hate the damn part. I'm not nearly beautiful or young enough for Ashley, and it makes me sick being fixed up to look attractive." Howard did not attend the opening in Atlanta as he had hurried back to London to help in the war effort. By doing this, he forfeited all his royalties from the film. He was disgusted by the price being charged in England to see the film because England was already at war with Germany. His sister said later that the family never saw the movie because of Howard's strong feelings about it. It was his last Hollywood movie.

Gone With The Wind, 1939

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