STAR OF THE MONTH
Leslie Howard
Born April 3, 1893
Died June 1, 1943
Leslie Howard Steiner was born in Forest Hill, London, England in April of 1893. He was one of four children born to Lilian and Ferdinand, members of the upper class. Leslie was well educated, but did not attend University. During WWI, Howard enlisted and served in the British Army for a short period. His acting career began after his involvement in the war, when he took to the stage in 1917. He was moderately successful at the London theater, but his launch to success didn't come about until he came to America in the 1920s. In 1929, he found himself as the lead character in the play Berkeley Square, which he would go on to play film adaptation in 1933--the beginning of his film career.
For his film roles, Howard most often portrayed the traditional old fashioned Englishman. Occasionally, with much success, he showed a different side of himself in playing characters such as Sir Percy Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), or Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (1938). As time went on, Howard also played his hand with romantic film roles, showing he could be successful in just about any shade of character with films like Romeo and Juliet (1936), It's Love I'm After (1937), and Intermezzo (1939).
Needless to say, Howard built an immensely successful career for himself in the film industry. He starred in over 40 feature films, 11 of which he produced, 4 of which he directed, and 2 of which earned him nominations for Academy Awards for Best Actor.
He was also just as popular off-screen as he was on. He was reportedly very personable and witty, and built and maintained lifelong friendships with the likes of Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, and most espeicially the acting duo Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. It was, in fact, Howard who was responsible for launching Bogart's career, when he insisted on Bogart playing the gangster "Duke" in what turned out to be his breakout film, The Petrified Forest (1936). Later on, when Bogart married actress Lauren Bacall, the two remained such good friends that Bogart and Bacall named their daughter after Howard--Leslie Howard Bogart.
Howard himself, somewhat of a womanizer, eventually settled down and married a woman named Ruth Martin in 1916. Together they had two children, a son Ronald, who also became an actor, and a daughter Leslie.
Howard was killed in 1943. When travelling from Lisbon, Portugal to Bristol, England, flying over the Bay of Biscay, a German maritime fighter aircraft shot down the plane, killing 17 people, Howard among them. He was 50 years old.
MOVIE OF THE MONTH
Intermezzo: A Love Story
1939
Starring Leslie Howard, Ingrid Bergman, and Edna Best
Holger Brandt (Howard) is a world famous violinist. As a working musician, he spends much of his time on tour, mostly of various European countries, leaving his wife Margit (Best) and two children Eric and Ann Marie back home. When he comes home after one of his tours, he discovers that his wife has hired a piano teacher for their daughter. When he meets the teacher, by the name of Anita Hoffman (Bergman), he has her play for him. He sees that she is extremely talented, and offers her the opportunity to tour with him as an accompaniment. Though hesitant at first, Anita agrees. When the next tour begins and they are away from home, Holger and Anita fall for eachother and begin an affair. When Holger's wife, Margit, discovers what is going on she is heartbroken, and asks Holger for a divorce. Following the divorce, Holger takes Anita and they move to Italy, the land of love, to begin a new life together. Even though they should be happy, they are not. Anita sees that Holger desparately misses his children Ann Marie and Eric. The more she thinks about what has happened, the more guilty she feels about breaking up their beautiful family. Even though she still has feelings for Holger, Anita knows he needs to go back to his family before it is too late, so she leaves him in order to pursue a career of her own.
Holger is suprised and upset at first when Anita leaves him. Once he has time to think about things, however, he hesitantly but excitedly makes his way back home to his family, praying they will forgive him. He decides to surprise his daughter, Ann Marie, first. So, he goes to ger school. When she sees him, overjoyed, she runs across the street to greet him, but before she makes it all the way to him, she is hit by a car. Horrified, Holger immediately takes his injured daughter home and calls a doctor. Once the doctor is there, the rest of the family just has to wait. While waiting, Holger has the chance to speak to his son, Eric, who has been feeling angry that his father walked out on the family. To everyone's huge relief, the doctor emerges and tells the waiting family that Ann Marie is going to survive. Reunited in light of a near-tragedy, Holger gets his family back, and the film ends with Margit welcoming him back.
Intermezzo: A Love Story is more of a dramatic film, but it is beautifully done. It was originally made in Sweden, with Ingrid Bergman playing the role of Anita. A Hollywood executive got his hands on the foreign film, fell in love with Bergman, and personally asked her to come to the United States, sign with his company, and do a remake of the film for American audiences. She accepted, Leslie Howard was chosen for the role of Holger, and filming began.
You can see the original trailer for the movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL-p08MafqE
Also, if you will remember, I fairly recently did a post on Leslie Howard's 1934 film The Scarlet Pimpernel, so here is the link to that post, if you are interested: http://www.classicvintagelove.blogspot.com/2012/04/they-seek-him-here-they-seek-him-there.html
"The truth is that, to enjoy acting, one must be an exhibitionist at heart. One must revel in those exposures of the emotions which would be agonizing to a shy or reserved person. All the great actors have been and are exhibitionists. It is easy and pleasureable for them to shout, to weep, to tear their hair, to laugh, to make love. They enjoy it and they make their audience enjoy it. They are the ideal actors. As a boy, the possibility of being an actor never occurred to me. Nor could it have occurred to anybody who knew the shy and inarticulate youth that I was. I wanted to write. I felt I could express myself on paper; alone in a room, I felt articulate and creative. But I was also lazy--a thing a writer never dares to be. Application is, I am convinced, the first rule for authors. Then, mysteriously, a part in a play offered itself--at a time when to earn a living was a prime motive of existance. And then another part in another play. And gradually the miracle took place. The metamorphosis of a nervous, inhibited, agoraphobic individual who had other ambitions altogether into a fairly successful actor."
-Leslie Howard
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