Hal LeSueur
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Hal LeSueur | |
---|---|
Born | Hal Hays LeSueur September 3, 1901[1] or 1903 [2] San Antonio, Texas, U.S. |
Died | September 3, 1963 | (aged 60) or (aged 62)
Spouse(s) |
Jessie Burress
(m. 1922, divorced)Kasha Haroldi
(m. 1931; div. 1935) |
Children | 1 |
Relatives | Joan Crawford (sister) Christina Crawford (niece) |
Hal Hays LeSueur (September 3, 1901/1903[3] – May 3, 1963)[4][5][2][6] was an American actor.
Background
Hal LeSueur was born in San Antonio, Texas, the second child of Thomas E. LeSueur (died 1938) and Anna Bell Johnson (died 1958). His older sister was Daisy LeSueur (1901/1902 – 1904), and his younger sister was Lucille Fay LeSueur, later the Oscar-winning film star Joan Crawford. After Thomas LeSueur had abandoned the family, Anna wed businessman Henry J. Cassin (1868–1922), who nicknamed Lucille "Billie". She was known for a while as "Billie Cassin". The family lived in Lawton, Oklahoma, then moved to Kansas City, Missouri, around 1916. Hal LeSueur and his second wife to be, Kasha, moved from Kansas City around 1928 to Los Angeles. He found work in the stock department at MGM in bit parts or as an extra.[7]
Marriages
He was married twice. His first wife was Jessie Burress (July 17, 1903 – December 2, 1977). They wed on October 21, 1922 in Kansas City, Missouri[8] (age given as 21) and divorced some time later on an unknown date. His second wife was Kasha Haroldi (March 31, 1907 – June 26, 1992), whom he married in 1931. Hal and Kasha LeSueur had one child, a daughter, named Joan Crawford LeSueur, who was named for Hal's sister (December 2, 1933 – December 15, 1999),[9] who became a dancer on Broadway, known professionally as Joan Lowe. Hal and Kasha married in Santa Ana, California on September 16, 1931, with Hal's age given as 30.[1] Kasha and Hal LeSueur divorced in 1935. She won custody of their daughter. She remarried and became Mrs. Kasha Lowe; her daughter became Joan Lowe, the name by which she was known professionally, later Mrs. Joan Fowler.[citation needed]
Controversy
On November 9, 1935, LeSueur was in a head-on collision at the top of Cahuenga Pass. The other car caught fire and the three people inside, Earl Gose, who was driving, his wife, Golda, and his unmarried sister, Grace, were pulled from the blaze. Their car burned to a charred hulk. LeSueur suffered severe cuts and bruises on his hands, face, arms and legs. The other people were also seriously injured. All were taken to a hospital in Hollywood. The injuries of Grace Gose proved fatal three days later. His mother, Anna, and his ex-wife, Kasha, accompanied him to the coroner's inquest on November 15. Earl and Golda Gose were unable to appear. LeSueur testified that he was driving near the center of the highway when the other car suddenly pulled out from behind another car into his lane and he was unable to avoid the collision. The Coroner's jury exonerated him of blame for the crash, returning a verdict of accidental death.[10]
In February 1936, Earl and Golda Gose sued him, seeking $86,400 in damages. Golda, who was taken into court on a hospital stretcher, which was placed before the jury box, testified that LeSueur was driving on the wrong side of Cahuenga Boulevard when his car collided with theirs. LeSueur not only denied responsibility for the accident, but in his cross-complaint for $10,000 charged that the crash came about through Gose's negligent driving. The suit was then abruptly dropped, however, when a settlement was reached. LeSueur agreed to pay them $8,500, one tenth of what they had originally sought.[10]
Later years
Tired of being an uncredited actor in the films on which he worked, he decided to try his hand at make-up work at MGM for a while. When he left that job, he worked as a sporting goods salesman. LeSueur made one final movie appearance, playing a reporter in Jeanne Eagels (1957), the only role for which LeSueur received screen credit. He made one TV appearance in an episode of the series State Trooper, titled No Fancy Cowboys, which aired on March 13, 1957. When he left the sporting goods business, LeSueur began working as a desk clerk at a Los Angeles hotel, and supplemented his income working as a switchboard operator at the motel where he lived.[11]
Death
Hal LeSueur died of a ruptured appendix at General Hospital. He was interred in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California. He was originally believed to have been 59 years old, but may have been 61. His sister reportedly sent him telegrams from New York to the hospital before he died, but did not attend his funeral.[12]
Filmography
Year | Title | Distributed | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1935 | Mutiny on the Bounty | MGM | Millard | Uncredited |
1936 | After the Thin Man | MGM | Polly's Admirer | Uncredited |
1937 | Mama Steps Out | MGM | Steward With Key | Uncredited |
1937 | Bad Guy | MGM | Prison Switchboard Operator | Uncredited |
1937 | My Dear Miss Aldrich | MGM | Reporter | Uncredited |
1937 | Madame X | MGM | Spectator | Uncredited |
1937 | Mannequin | MGM | Tout | Uncredited |
1938 | Man-Proof | MGM | Guest in Drawing Room | Uncredited |
1938 | The Girl of the Golden West | MGM | Adjutant | Uncredited |
1938 | Judge Hardy's Children | MGM | Joe, the Chauffeur | Uncredited |
1938 | Three Comrades | MGM | Dancer Who Stumbles with Erich | Uncredited |
1938 | The Toy Wife | MGM | First Brother | Uncredited |
1938 | The Crowd Roars | MGM | Usher at Madison Square Garden | Uncredited |
1939 | Dancing Co-Ed | MGM | Boy | Uncredited |
1940 | I Take This Woman | MGM | Man in Cafe | (scenes deleted) |
1940 | Broadway Melody of 1940 | MGM | Casey's Chauffeur | Uncredited |
1940 | The Golden Fleecing | MGM | Clerk | Uncredited |
1940 | Sky Murder | MGM | Al, co-pilot | Uncredited |
1940 | Dulcy | MGM | Businessman in Meeting | Uncredited |
1940 | Flight Command | MGM | Hell Cat | Uncredited |
1941 | Respect the Law | MGM | Reporter | Short, Uncredited |
1941 | The Big Store | MGM | Chauffeur | Uncredited |
1941 | Married Bachelor | MGM | Man vying for table in cafe | Uncredited |
1941 | Shadow of the Thin Man | MGM | Reporter | Uncredited |
1942 | The Bugle Sounds | MGM | Recruit | Uncredited |
1942 | Whistling in Dixie | MGM | Sound Effects Man | Uncredited |
1942 | Stand by for Action | MGM | Lookout | Uncrredited |
1957 | Jeanne Eagels | Columbia | Reporter | Uncredited, (final film role) |
References
- ^ a b "Marriage License, State of California, County of Orange". FamilySearch.org. p. 380. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ a b ""United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946"". FamilySearch.org. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
- ^ Some sources -- including the 1910 U.S. Census (dated April 20, 1910), which appears to list his age as eight years old, and his September 16, 1931 marriage license (for his second marriage), clearly giving his age as 30 -- indicate 1901 as the year of birth.
- ^ Hal LeSueur's Los Angeles Times obituary (dated Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1963), his U.S. Army Enlistment papers, California State Death records and his gravestone all indicate 1903 (see below).
- ^ ""California Death Index, 1940-1997". FamilySearch.org. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
- ^ Hal LeSueur at Find a Grave
- ^ Don Blanding (November 10, 2012). "Lucille Was Here in Lawton". Okie Magazine. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
- ^ "Biodata". ancestry.com. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
- ^ Joan Fuller's dates of birth and death, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007.; accessed September 30, 2015.
- ^ a b "The Best of Everything". Joancrawfordbest.com. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ "Hal Hays LeSueur". Geni. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
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(help) - ^ Hal LeSueur obituary, joancrawfordbest.com; accessed September 6, 2014.
External links
- 1900s births
- 1963 deaths
- People from Lawton, Oklahoma
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- Male actors from Kansas City, Missouri
- Male actors from Oklahoma
- Male actors from San Antonio
- Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
- Disease-related deaths in California
- 20th-century American male actors
- Age controversies
- American people of Swedish descent
- American people of French descent
- Joan Crawford