leslie howard

Scarlett O’Hara spent her life thinking that he was her great love, until, finally, she realized that her heart belonged to the unpresentable Rhett Butler. However, this British artist did wow audiences and critics alike with most performances of him in some excellent movies. It is commendable the fact that in a very short time he knew how to remarkably alternate the works of director and actor on more than one occasion.

Leslie Howard Stainer was born in London on April 3, 1893. After finishing his studies and guided by his father, he began working in a bank until he went to fight in the First World War. He was forced to withdraw from the ranks in the middle of the war due to health ailments. He then began, by various recommendations from his friends and even by some doctors, his career in the world of theater. The success was enormous, even on the best Broadway stages. His first big film break came as the lead in Robert Milton ‘s Outward Bound (1930). His life in Hollywood, short but intense, had only just begun.

He had two aspects that made it easier for him to become a relevant figure in the seventh art during the thirties: being a good interpreter and a true example of elegance. He started with A Free Soul (1931) and The Eternal Flame (1932). In both he shared the lead with the actress Norma Shearer . Frank Lloyd ‘s Berkeley Square (1933) followed , for which he would earn his first Oscar nomination; and Captive of Desire (1934), where he was accompanied by a young Bette Davis. That same year he would also star in The Scarlet Pimpernel . Two years later he played the lead role in the thriller The Petrified Forest., a film that was the springboard to fame for Humphrey Bogart , until then an unknown actor, recommended for the role of villain by Leslie himself.

Howard got into the skin of the mythical character in love with Shakespearean in the Oscar nominee Romeo and Juliet (1936). He again accompanied Shearer, in the skin of the sweet and infatuated young Italian. The drama is directed by the legendary George Cukor . In 1937 he reunited with Davis in the charming It Is Love I Seek , where Olivia de Havilland , (known for her portrayal of Melanie Hamilton, Leslie’s fictitious future wife) also had a starring role. His second Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Leading Actor came for Pygmalion .(1938), which also marked his first job as a director. He played a misogynistic linguist who makes a strange bet with a friend: he must take a florist off the street and pass her off as someone belonging to the upper class. This same story was adapted into the musical genre by George Cukor in the popular My Fair Lady . Howard received numerous good reviews for his role.

Despite acting as a minor, the most popular role in his filmography came in 1939 when he got into the skin of the kind Ashley, the first great love of the most capricious girl in the south, Scarlett O’Hara. Gone with the Wind was a resounding success: a blockbuster that won eight Academy Awards and is remembered today, among other things, for its great box office record. After that, that same year, he worked with the very same Ingrid Bergman in the remarkable Intermezzo , a romantic drama remake of the Swedish version.

In 1941 the English actor returned to sit in the director’s chair to shoot Pimpernel Smith , where he repeated the same character he presented in The Scarlet Pimpernel . One of his last jobs was sharing the bill with Laurence Olivier in the war film Los invaders (1941). He ended his brief but memorable career by taking command of The Great Mitchell (1942), a war adventure film in which, along with David Niven , he also starred.

Leslie Howard died at the age of 50 in a tragic plane crash on June 1, 1943 while returning to Britain from Lisbon. It is rumored that the German army, guilty of the event, thought that the politician and ruler Winston Churchill was traveling on the plane. He was married to Ruth Evelyn Martin and was the father of two children.