LESLIE HOWARD BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Leslie Howard was born on April 3rd, 1893 in Forest Hill, London in the United Kingdom with the birth name Leslie Howard Steiner.  He was born into a Hungarian family and was the oldest of siblings. and after completing school in London he went on to attend Dulwich College.  After graduating, Leslie found work as a bank clerk.
 
With the onset of the War, Leslie joined the Army, but in 1917 was diagnosed with a stress disorder from being in the military known as "Shell-shocked" therefore, his therapist advised he take up acting as therapy.  
 
After realizing how much he actually enjoyed acting, Leslie decided why not try and make a career of it.  He began by working as a stage actor in London and New York on plays such as, "Aren't We All? (1923) and "Her Cardboard Lover" (1927).  He was quite talented and well received, gaining him quite a bit of popularity.  In 1914 he made his film debut on, "The Heroine of Mons" followed by, "The Lackey and the Lady" (1919) and "Five Pounds Reward" (1920).
 
When the silent film era ended he had no issues making the transition to sound.  He was cast in a number of films such as, "Outward Bound" (1930), "Never the Twain Shall Meet" (1931), "Smiling Through" (1932) and "The Scarlet Pimpernel" (1934).  Leslie also never neglected his stage career and actually  worked as a playwright too, such as for the play, "Elizabeth Sleeps Out" (1936) for which he wrote but did not act in.  In 1933 he starred in, "Berkeley Square" for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.  He received another Academy Award nomination in 1938 for his role in, "Pygmalion".  
 
As his career progressed and he continued to gain popularity he began to become slightly pickier as to which roles he would take on.  He slowed down the number of films he worked on in a year, usually picking no more then two per year.  Leslie Howard will always be most known and remembered for his role in, "Gone With the Wind" (1939) portraying Ashley Wilkes and starring alongside Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Olivia de Havilland, Rand Brooks, George Reeves, Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen.  He also got involved in directing films, writing articles and doing radio show broadcasts.
 
When World War II occurred, Howard joined to help his home country and sadly on June 1st, 1943 his life was cut short when the KLM plane he was in was shot down by German fighters over the Bay of Biscay.   
 
He left behind his only wife, Ruth Evelyn Martin whom he married in 1916 and they had two children together, Ronald and Leslie Ruth.  It is said however, that he had a long list of affairs with other woman including his secretary while he was married, but nothing was ever proven.  In 1981, Howard was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Filmography
 
1943 The Gentle Sex
1943 War in the Mediterranean 
1942 In Which We Serve 
1942 Spitfire 
1941 49th Parallel
1941 'Pimpernel' Smith 
1940 Common Heritage 
1939 Gone with the Wind
1939 Intermezzo: A Love Story 
1938 Pygmalion
1937 Stand-In 
1937 It's Love I'm After
1936 Romeo and Juliet
1936 The Petrified Forest
1934 The Scarlet Pimpernel
1934 British Agent 
1934 The Lady Is Willing
1934 Of Human Bondage
1933 Berkeley Square 
1933 Captured! 
1933 Secrets 
1932 The Animal Kingdom 
1932 Smilin' Through 
1932 Reserved for Ladies 
1931 Devotion 
1931 Five and Ten
1931 A Free Soul 
1931 Never the Twain Shall Meet 
1930 Outward Bound 
1920 Bookworms
1920 Five Pounds Reward 
1919 The Lackey and the Lady 
1917 The Happy Warrior 
1914 The Heroine of Mons