Leo G. Carroll

Leo G. Carroll
from the trailer for The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Born	Leo Gratten Carroll (1892-10-25)25 October 1892 Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire, England, U.K.
Died	16 October 1972(1972-10-16) (aged 79) Hollywood, California, USA
Cause of death	Pneumonia; cancer
Resting place	Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
Other names	Leo Carroll
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1912–68
Spouse(s)	Edith Nancy de Silva (1926-1972) (his death) 1 child

Leo Gratten Carroll (25 October 1892^{[citation needed]} – 16 October 1972) was an English actor. He was best known for his roles in several Hitchcock films, and in three television series, Topper, Going My Way, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E..

Early life

Carroll was born in Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire, to William and Catherine Carroll. His Roman Catholic parents named him after then Pope Leo XIII. His year of birth has appeared in two ways in different sources: 1892 or incorrectly 1886^{[citation needed]}. In 1897 his family lived in York, where his Irish-born father was a foreman in an ordnance store. In the 1901 Census for West Ham, London, his occupation is listed as "wine trade clerk". In the 1911 census, he is living at the same address and described as a "dramatic agent".

Stage career

Carroll made his stage debut in 1912. His acting career was on hold during World War I, when he served in the British Army. He then performed in London and on Broadway in New York City.

During the 1920s Carroll had the lead in a successful Broadway play, The Green Bay Tree (which has no relation besides the shared title to the novel by Louis Bromfield), and in 1941 starred with Vincent Price and Judith Evelyn in Patrick Hamilton's Angel Street (Gas Light), which ran for three years at the Golden Theatre on 45th Street in New York City. After the production closed, he starred in the title role in J. P. Marquand's The Late George Apley.

Films and television

Carroll, who had moved to Hollywood, made his film debut in Sadie McKee (1934). He often played doctors or butlers, but he made notable appearances as Marley's ghost in A Christmas Carol (1938) and as Joseph in Wuthering Heights (1939). In the original (1950) Father of the Bride, he played an unctuous wedding caterer. In the 1951 film The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel he played a sympathetic Gerd von Rundstedt, presenting him as a tragic, resigned figure completely disillusioned with Hitler.

Carroll is perhaps best known for his roles in six Alfred Hitchcock films: Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Spellbound (1945), The Paradine Case (1947), Strangers on a Train (1951), and North by Northwest (1959). He appeared in more Hitchcock films than anyone other than Clare Greet (1871–1939) (who appeared in seven) and Hitchcock himself, whose cameos were a trademark. As with earlier roles, he was often cast as doctors or other authority figures (such as the spymaster "Professor" in North by Northwest).

In addition to appearing as Rev. Mosby with actress Hayley Mills in 1961's The Parent Trap, Carroll is remembered for his role as the frustrated banker haunted by the ghosts of George and Marion Kerby in the television series Topper (1953–1956), with costars Anne Jeffreys, Robert Sterling, and Lee Patrick. He appeared as the older Father Fitzgibbon from 1962 to 1963 in ABC's Going My Way, a series about the Catholic priesthood in New York City and based on a Bing Crosby 1944 film of the same name. Gene Kelly held the lead as Father Chuck O'Malley, with Dick York as Tom Colwell, who operates a neighborhood youth center. Carroll subsequently starred as spymaster Alexander Waverly on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968), echoing his earlier work for Hitchcock. Several U.N.C.L.E. films followed, and a spin-off television series, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. in 1966. He was one of the first actors to appear in two different television series as the same character.

Death and remembrances

In 1972, Carroll died in Hollywood of cancer-induced pneumonia. He is interred at the Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Carroll is mentioned in the song "Magdalena" from the 1972 Frank Zappa and the Mothers album Just Another Band from LA.

"the stars that say Jon Provost and Leo G. Carroll together"

Carroll is also mentioned in the song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" from Rocky Horror Show musical and film adaptation.

"I knew Leo G. Carroll was over a barrel when Tarantula took to the hills."

Selected filmography

• The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
• Clive of India (1935)
• Murder on a Honeymoon (1935)
• Captains Courageous (1937)
• A Christmas Carol (1938)
• Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police (1939)
• Wuthering Heights (1939)
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
• Charlie Chan in City in Darkness (1939)
• Tower of London (1939)
• Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940)
• Scotland Yard (1941)
• Bahama Passage (1941)
• The House on 92nd Street (1945)
• Forever Amber (1947)
• The Paradine Case (1947)
• So Evil My Love (1948)
• Enchantment (1948)
• Father of the Bride (1950)
• The Happy Years (1950)
• The Desert Fox (1951)
• The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
• The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
• We're No Angels (1955)
• Tarantula (1955)
• The Swan (1956)
• The Parent Trap (1961)
• The Prize (1963)

With Alfred Hitchcock

• Rebecca (1940)
• Suspicion (1941)
• Spellbound (1945)
• The Paradine Case (1947)
• Strangers on a Train (1951)
• North by Northwest (1959)

As Alexander Waverly (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)

• The Spy with My Face (1965)
• One Spy Too Many (1966)
• One of Our Spies is Missing (1966)
• The Spy in the Green Hat (1966)
• The Karate Killers (1967)
• The Helicopter Spies (1968)
• How to Steal the World (1968)

External links

• Leo G. Carroll at the Internet Movie Database
• Leo G. Carroll at the Internet Broadway Database
• Leo G. Carroll cameo on first episode of Laugh In, spoofing Man From Uncle
• Leo G. Carroll at Find a Grave