Biography
Leslie Howard, born Leslie Howard Steiner, was an English actor, director and producer. He was born on 3 April 1893 in Forest Hill, London, and died on 1 June 1943. After working as a bank clerk, he served in the First World War and began his stage career in 1917, later appearing on Broadway.
Howard became one of the leading film actors of the 1930s, often portraying the quintessential Englishman. His notable roles include Philip Carey in Of Human Bondage (1934), Sir Percy Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), Alan Squier in The Petrified Forest (1936), Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (1938, which he also co-directed), Holger Brandt in Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939) and Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939). He received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for Berkeley Square (1933) and Pygmalion.
During the Second World War, Howard returned to Britain and appeared in propaganda films including 49th Parallel (1941) and The First of the Few (1942, which he also directed). He was killed when the aircraft on which he was a passenger was shot down by the Luftwaffe over the Atlantic.
