Leslie Banks

Leslie James Banks CBE (9 June 1890 – 21 April 1952) was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered for playing gruff, menacing characters in black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s, but also the Chorus in Laurence Olivier's wartime version of Henry V.

Early life and career

Leslie Banks was born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, to George and Emily (née Dalby) Banks.<ref name="Who's Who in the Theatre">Template:Cite book</ref> He attended school at Glenalmond College in Scotland, and later studied at Keble College, Oxford<ref name="Who's Who in the Theatre"/> with the intention of becoming a parson, but decided against this.<ref name="Picturegoer">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He joined Frank Benson's company, and made his acting debut in October 1911 at the town hall in Brechin, playing Old Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice.<ref name="Who's Who in the Theatre"/> He then toured the United States and Canada with Henry V. Esmond and Eva Moore in 1912 and 1913.<ref name="Who's Who in the Theatre"/> Returning to London, he appeared for the first time on the West End stage at the Vaudeville Theatre on 5 May 1914, as Lord Murdon in The Dangerous Age.<ref name="Who's Who in the Theatre"/>

During the First World War he served with the Essex Regiment.<ref name="Picturegoer"/> He received injuries that left his face partially scarred and paralysed.<ref name="BFI Screenonline">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In his acting career he would use this injury to good effect, by showing the unblemished side of his face when playing comedy or romance and the scarred, paralysed side of his face when playing drama or tragedy. After the war, Banks joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He returned to London in 1921, and established himself as a leading dramatic actor and West End star known for his powerful yet restrained performances.

Working in both London and New York City, he gained prominence on both sides of the Atlantic, and it was when he was in New York that Kenneth Macgowan persuaded him to go to Hollywood and make his first credited movie debut there in The Most Dangerous Game in 1932.<ref name="Picturegoer"/>

Film career

File:Most Dangerous Game poster.jpg

Theatrical release poster for The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

His formidable bulk and intimidating aspect served him well in his first important film role, as a diabolical Russian hunter of human prey in The Most Dangerous Game (1932). The film features Joel McCrea and Fay Wray. For the rest of his career, he divided his time between Britain and the United States and between film and theatre. His other film roles included Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Erich Pommer's Fire Over England (1937), Jamaica Inn (1939, for Hitchcock and Pommer again), Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944), and David Lean's Madeleine (1950). Against 'type', Banks starred in The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1939), as the eccentric Inspector Anthony Slade.

His theatre roles included Eliza Comes to Stay (his American debut in 1914), Captain Hook in Peter Pan (his New York debut in 1924),<ref name="Who's Who in the Theatre"/> the title role in Clive of India (1934), Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (1937), the schoolmaster in Goodbye, Mr Chips (1938), and James Jarvis in the Kurt Weill musical Lost in the Stars (1950).

Personal life

He married Gwendoline Haldane Unwin in 1915;<ref name="Who's Who in the Theatre"/> they had three daughters, Daphne, Virginia, and Evangeline.<ref name="Picturegoer"/> Banks was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to theatre in 1950, the year of his last appearances on stage and screen.<ref name="BFI Screenonline"/> He died in 1952, aged 61, from a stroke he suffered while walking, and is buried in St Nicholas Churchyard in the village of Worth Matravers, Dorset.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1921	Experience		(Film debut)
1932	The Most Dangerous Game	Count Zaroff
1933	Strange Evidence	Francis Relf
	I Am Suzanne	Adolpe 'Baron' Herring
1934	The Fire Raisers	Jim Bronton
	Red Ensign	David Barr
	The Man Who Knew Too Much	Bob Lawrence
1935	Sanders of the River	Commissioner R.G. Sanders
	The Night of the Party	Sir John Holland
	The Tunnel	Frederick Robbins
1936	Debt of Honour	Maj. Jimmie Stanton
	Three Maxims	Mac
1937	Wings of the Morning	Lord Clontarf
	Fire Over England	the Earl of Leicester
	Farewell Again	Col. Harry Blair
1939	Jamaica Inn	Joss Merlyn
	The Arsenal Stadium Mystery	Inspector Anthony Slade
	Sons of the Sea	Captain Hyde
1940	21 Days	Keith
	Dead Man's Shoes	Roger de Vetheuil
	Busman's Honeymoon	Inspector Kirk
	The Door with Seven Locks	Dr. Manetta
	Neutral Port	George Carter
1941	Cottage to Let	John Barrington
	Ships with Wings	Vice-Admiral Weatherby
1942	The Big Blockade	Civil Service: Taylor
	Went the Day Well?	Oliver Wilsford
1944	Henry V	Chorus
1947	Mrs. Fitzherbert	Charles Fox
1949	The Small Back Room	Col. A.K. Holland
1950	Your Witness	Col. Roger Summerfield
	Madeleine	James Smith	(final film)

External links

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