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.

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]

Subscribe to Leslie Howard by Email

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]

Subscribe to Leslie Howard by Email