Leo G. Carroll

Leo Gratten Carroll (25 October 1886 – 16 October 1972) was an English actor.[1] He was best known for his roles in six Hitchcock films including Spellbound, Strangers on a Train and North by Northwest, and in three television series, Topper, Going My Way, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. He is name checked in the song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Show with the line "I knew Leo G. Carroll was over a barrel".

Leo G. Carroll
Carroll in 1951
Born
Leo Gratten Carroll

(1886-10-25)25 October 1886
Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire, England
Died16 October 1972(1972-10-16) (aged 85)
Hollywood, California, US
Resting placeGrand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
Other namesLeo Carroll
OccupationActor
Years active1912–1970
Spouse(s)
Edith Nancy de Silva
​
​
(m. 1926)​
Children1

Early life

Carroll was born in Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire, to William and Catherine Carroll. His Roman Catholic parents named him after then-Pope Leo XIII. In 1897, his family lived in York, where his Irish-born father was a foreman in an ordnance store. In the 1901 census for West Ham, Essex, his occupation is listed as "wine trade clerk". In the 1911 census, he is living at the same address and described as a "dramatic agent".

Stage career

Carroll made his stage debut in 1912. His acting career was on hold during the First World War, when he served in the British Army. He then performed in London and on Broadway.[1] His American stage debut came in The Vortex.[2] In 1933, he was a member of the Manhattan Theatre Repertory Company in the inaugural season of the Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine.

During 1933-34 Carroll had the role of "impeccable valet"[2] Trump in the Broadway play The Green Bay Tree[3] (which has no relation to the novel by Louis Bromfield apart from the shared title), and in 1941 starred with Vincent Price and Judith Evelyn in Patrick Hamilton's Angel Street (better known as Gaslight), which ran for three years at the Golden Theatre on West 45th Street in New York City. After the production closed, he starred in the title role in John P. Marquand's The Late George Apley.[2] In 1947 he starred in John Van Druten's The Druid Circle at the Morosco Theatre.

Films and television

Carroll, who had moved to Hollywood, made his film debut in Sadie McKee (1934). He often played doctors or butlers, but he made appearances as Marley's ghost in A Christmas Carol (1938) and as Joseph in Wuthering Heights (1939). In the original version of Father of the Bride (1950), he played an unctuous wedding caterer. In the 1951 film The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel he played a sympathetic German Field marshal, Gerd von Rundstedt, presenting him as a tragic, resigned figure completely disillusioned with Hitler.

Carroll as Alexander Waverly on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., with guest star Diana Hyland.

Carroll is perhaps best known for his roles in six Alfred Hitchcock films: Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Spellbound (1945), The Paradine Case (1947), Strangers on a Train (1951) and North by Northwest (1959). He appeared in more Hitchcock films than anyone other than Clare Greet (1871–1939) (who appeared in seven) and Hitchcock himself, whose cameos were a trademark. As with earlier roles, he was often cast as doctors or other authority figures (such as the spymaster "Professor" in North by Northwest). He also appeared in a couple of Charlie Chan films, one being "City of Darkness" (1939) as a shady French locksmith, followed by a role in Charlie Chan's "Murder Cruise" (1940) as a passenger on ship.

Carroll also had a central role in the highly rated movie We're No Angels with Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, and Basil Rathbone, among others.

In addition to appearing as Rev. Mosby with actress Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap (1961), Carroll is remembered for his role as the frustrated banker haunted by the ghosts of George and Marion Kerby in the television series Topper (1953–1956), with co-stars Anne Jeffreys, Robert Sterling and Lee Patrick.[4]:1097-1098 He appeared as the older Father Fitzgibbon from 1962 to 1963 in ABC's Going My Way, a series about two Roman Catholic priests at St. Dominic's parish in New York City. In 1963-1964, he portrayed John Miller in Channing on ABC.[4] Carroll subsequently starred as spymaster Alexander Waverly on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968).[4]:650 Several U.N.C.L.E. films were derived from the series, and a spin-off television series, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. in 1966.[4]:393 He was one of the first actors to appear in two different television series as the same character. Leo G. Carroll is mentioned in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" opening song "Science Fiction/Double Feature".

He appeared in spots on the first two regular episodes of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the series that replaced U.N.C.L.E., and in fact appears as Mr. Waverly in the very first episode party scene where he is seen using a pen communicator to call Kuryakin to report that he believes he has found THRUSH headquarters.

Death

In 1972, Carroll died in Hollywood of cancer-induced pneumonia. He is interred at the Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.[5]

Selected filmography

With Alfred Hitchcock

As Alexander Waverly (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)

References
  1. "Leo G. Carroll, Actor, 80, Dead". The New York Times. 19 October 1972. p. 70. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  2. "Leo G. Carroll Still Acting Role He Made Famous in 'The Late George Apley'". The Boston Globe. 23 December 1945. p. 4. Retrieved 20 February 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Leo G. Carroll". Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  4. Terrace, Vincent (10 January 2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. p. 176. ISBN 978-0786486410.
  5. Ellenberger, Allan R. (1 May 2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. p. 103. ISBN 978-0786409839; "Mass Slated Today for Actor Leo G. Carroll". Valley News. 19 October 1972. p. 35.
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