Leo Genn

Leo Genn
in The Miniver Story (1950)
Born	9 August 1905(1905-08-09) London, England
Died	26 January 1978 (aged 72) London, England

Leo John Genn (9 August 1905 – 26 January 1978) was an English actor on stage and in films.

Early life

He was born at 144 Kyverdale Road, Stamford Hill, Hackney, London, England. His father, Woolfe (William) Genn, was a jewellery salesman and the maiden name of his mother, Rachel, was Asserson.

Genn attended the City of London School and studied law at Cambridge, qualifying as a barrister in 1928. He ceased practising as a lawyer soon after the Second World War. On 14 May 1933, Genn married Marguerite van Praag, a casting director at Ealing Studios. They had no children.

Theatre career

Genn's theatrical debut was in 1930 in A Marriage has been Disarranged at the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne and then at the Royalty Theatre in Dean Street, London. Actor/manager Leon M. Lion had engaged him simultaneously as an actor and attorney. Between September 1934 and March 1936, Leo Genn was a member of the Old Vic Company where he appeared in many productions of Shakespeare. In 1937 he was Horatio in Tyrone Guthrie's production of Hamlet, with Laurence Olivier as Hamlet, in Elsinore Denmark. In 1938, Genn appeared in the theatrical hit, The Flashing Stream by Charles Langbridge Morgan and went with the show to America and Broadway. His many other stage performances included Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest, 12 Angry Men, The Devil's Advocate, Maugham's The Sacred Flame.

Film career

Genn's first film role was as Shylock in Immortal Gentleman (1935) a bio of Shakespeare. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. hired Genn as a technical advisor on the 1936 movie, Accused and he was subsequently given a small part in the picture on the strength of a "splendid voice and presence". Genn received another small role in Alexander Korda's The Drum (1938) and was the young man who danced with Eliza Doolittle at the duchess's ball in Pygmalion, a film made in the same year, although his name is not in the credits.

Military career

During World War II Genn served in the Royal Artillery, being made Lieutenant Colonel in 1943. In 1944, the actor was given official leave to appear as the Constable of France in Laurence Olivier's Henry V. Genn was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1945. He was part of the British unit that investigated war crimes at Belsen concentration camp and later was an assistant prosecutor at the trial for Belsen in Luneburg, Germany.

Post-war

After his success in Quo Vadis (1951), Genn became stuck in a series of rather forgettable American films, such as The Girls of Pleasure Island, and Plymouth Adventure (1952), a fictionalized, but entertaining soap opera treatment of the Pilgrims' landing at Plymouth Rock. He fared far better in a British picture, Personal Affair (1953), starring opposite Gene Tierney. He played Major Michael Pemberton in Rossellini's remarkable and largely forgotten 1960 film, "Era Notte a Roma". The filmography, below, is a far from complete one. Leo Genn narrated both the coronation programmes of 1937 and 1953[1].

Genn was a Governor of The Mermaid Theatre and trustee of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. He was also council member of the Arts Educational Trust. He was appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor of Theatre Arts, Pennsylvania State University, 1968 and Visiting Professor of Drama, University of Utah, 1969.

Genn died January 26, 1978 in London from pneumonia, complications of a heart attack.

Selected Filmography

• 1944 Tunisian Victory, (narrator)
• 1944 Henry V
• 1945 Caesar and Cleopatra
• 1946 Green for Danger
• 1947 Mourning Becomes Electra
• 1948 The Snake Pit; The Velvet Touch
• 1950 The Wooden Horse
• 1951 Quo Vadis (Petronius)
• 1952 Plymouth Adventure, William Bradford (1590-1657)
• 1953 Elizabeth is Queen (documentary, narrator)
• 1953 Personal Affair
• 1953 The Red Beret (Major John Snow)
• 1955 Lady Chatterley's Lover
• 1956 Moby Dick (Starbuck)
• 1957 The Steel Bayonet (Maj. Gerrard)
• 1958 I Accuse! (Col. Picquard)
• 1959 You'll Never See Me Again
• 1960 Era Notte a Roma (Major Pemberton)
• 1962 The Longest Day
• 1963 55 Days at Peking
• 1964 The Delhi Way, narrator (documentary directed by James Ivory)
• 1965 Circus of Fear
• 1966 Khartoum, narrator
• 1968 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Dr. Lanyon) (Made-for-TV)
• 1970 Connecting Rooms
• 1971 A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
• 1973 The Mackintosh Man

He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Petronius in Quo Vadis.

Television

• 1960 Mrs Miniver with Maureen O'Hara as Mrs Miniver and Leo Genn as Clem Miniver, CBS
• 1962 An Act of Faith, BBC documentary on Coventry Cathedral, narrated by Leo Genn
• 1965 Cat's Cradle by Hugo Charteris, BBC Television
• 1970 Howards End with Glenda Jackson, BBC Television
• appearances on British & American television

Radio

• 1965 "The Skin Game", by John Galsworthy, BBC radio
• recorded a series of W. Somerset Maugham's Ashenden stories for BBC radio.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leo Genn

• Leo Genn at the Internet Movie Database
• Performances by Leo Genn in Theatre Archive University of Bristol
• Leo Genn at the Internet Broadway Database