Leo G. Carroll
Encyclopedia
Leo Gratten Carroll was an English-born actor. He was best known for his roles in several Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

 films and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...

and Topper
Topper (TV series)
Topper is an American fantasy sitcom based on the 1937 film of the same name. The series was broadcast on CBS from October 9, 1953 to July 15, 1955, and stars Leo G. Carroll in the title role.-Synopsis:...

.

Early life

Carroll was born in Weedon Bec
Weedon Bec
Weedon Bec , usually just called "Weedon", is a large village and parish in the district of Daventry, Northamptonshire, England. It lies close to the source of the River Nene.-Geography:...

, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

, to William and Catherine Carroll. His Roman Catholic parents named him after the reigning pope Leo XIII. In 1897, his family lived in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

, where his Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 born father was a foreman in an ordnance store. In the 1901 Census for West Ham
West Ham
West Ham is in the London Borough of Newham in London, England. In the west it is a post-industrial neighbourhood abutting the site of the London Olympic Park and in the east it is mostly residential, consisting of Victorian terraced housing interspersed with higher density post-War social housing...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, his occupation is listed as a "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 World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, when he served in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. He then performed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

.

In the 1920s, Carroll had the lead in a successful Broadway play, The Green Bay Tree, based on the novel of the same name by Louis Bromfield, and in 1941 starred with Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...

 and Judith Evelyn
Judith Evelyn
Judith Evelyn was an American stage and film actress. She was born Evelyn Morris in Seneca, South Dakota.Evelyn appeared on Broadway in the following plays:* The Shrike as "Ann Downs"...

 in Patrick Hamilton
Patrick Hamilton
Patrick Hamilton is the name of:*Patrick Hamilton of Kincavil , Scottish nobleman*Patrick Hamilton , Scottish Protestant reformer and son of the above*Patrick Hamilton , Church of Scotland minister and poet...

's Angel Street (Gas Light), which ran for three years at the Golden Theatre on 45th Street in New York City. After the production closed, he starred in the title role in J. P. Marquand's The Late George Apley
The Late George Apley
The Late George Apley is a 1937 novel by John Phillips Marquand. It is a satire of Boston's upper class. The title character is a Harvard-educated WASP living on Beacon Hill in downtown Boston....

.

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 notable appearances as Marley's ghost in A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol (1938 film)
A Christmas Carol is a 1938 American film adaptation of Charles Dickens's novelette.-Cast:*Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge*Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit*Kathleen Lockhart as Mrs. Cratchit*Terry Kilburn as Tiny Tim*Barry MacKay as Fred...

(1938) and as Joseph in Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights (1939 film)
Wuthering Heights is a 1939 American black-and-white film directed by William Wyler and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. It is based on the novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The film depicts only sixteen of the novel's thirty-four chapters, eliminating the second generation of characters. The...

(1939). In Father of the Bride
Father of the Bride
Father of the Bride may refer to the following:*Father of the Bride , starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor*Father of the Bride , remake of the 1950 film, starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton and Martin Short...

, he played an unctuous wedding caterer. In the 1951 film The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel is a 1951 biographical film about Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the later stages of World War II. It stars James Mason in the title role, was directed by Henry Hathaway, and was based on the book Rommel by Brigadier Desmond Young, who served in the Indian Army in...

, he played a sympathetic Gerd von Rundstedt
Gerd von Rundstedt
Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt was a Generalfeldmarschall of the German Army during World War II. He held some of the highest field commands in all phases of the war....

, presenting him as a tragic, resigned figure completely disillusioned with Hitler.

Carroll is perhaps most well-known for his roles in six Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

 films: Rebecca (1940), Suspicion
Suspicion (film)
Suspicion is a romantic psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. It also stars Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty, Isabel Jeans, Heather Angel, and Leo G...

(1941), Spellbound
Spellbound (1945 film)
Spellbound is a psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1945. It tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov and Leo G. Carroll. It is an adaptation by Angus...

(1945), The Paradine Case
The Paradine Case
The Paradine Case is a 1947 American courtroom drama film, set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht, from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the novel by Robert Smythe Hichens...

(1947), Strangers on a Train
Strangers on a Train (film)
Strangers on a Train is an American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. It was shot in the autumn of 1950 and released by Warner Bros. on June 30, 1951. The film stars Farley Granger, Ruth Roman,...

(1951), and North by Northwest
North by Northwest
North by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau...

(1959). (Carroll thus appeared in more Hitchcock films than anyone other than Clare Greet
Clare Greet
Clare Greet was an English film actress. She appeared in 26 films between 1921 and 1939, including six films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.She was born in England and died in London....

 (1871-1939), who appeared in seven, and of course Hitchcock himself.) As with earlier roles he was often cast as doctors or other figure of authority, such as the spymaster "The Professor" in North by Northwest.

Carroll is also remembered for his role as the frustrated banker haunted by the ghosts of George and Marion Kerby (sometimes erroneously spelled "Kirby"), in the 1950s television series Topper
Topper (TV series)
Topper is an American fantasy sitcom based on the 1937 film of the same name. The series was broadcast on CBS from October 9, 1953 to July 15, 1955, and stars Leo G. Carroll in the title role.-Synopsis:...

(1953–1956) which also starred Anne Jeffreys
Anne Jeffreys
Anne Jeffreys is an American actress and singer.- Career :Born Anne Carmichael in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Jeffreys entered the entertainment field at a young age; her initial training was in voice , but she decided as a teenager to sign with the John Robert Powers agency as a junior model.Her...

, Robert Sterling
Robert Sterling
Robert Sterling, born William Sterling Hart was an American film and television actor.-Early life:...

, and Lee Patrick
Lee Patrick (actress)
Lee Patrick was an American theater and film actress.-Early life and education:Born in New York City, Patrick began acting on Broadway in 1924. For more than a decade, she was constantly employed and established herself as a popular actress. She appeared in the original 1929 production of June...

. Carroll later starred as spymaster Alexander Waverly
Alexander Waverly
Alexander Waverly is a fictional character from the 1960s television show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and its spin-off series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.....

 on The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...

(1964–1968), echoing his earlier work for Hitchcock. Several U.N.C.L.E. films followed, and a spin-off The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. is an American spy-fi TV series that aired on NBC for one season from September 16, 1966 to April 11, 1967. The series was a spin-off from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and used the same theme music composed by Jerry Goldsmith, which was rearranged into a slightly different,...

(1966). He was one of the first actors to appear in two different television series as the same character.

Death and remembrances

In 1972, Carroll died in Hollywood of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 and cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

, nine days before his 86th birthday. He was interred in the Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery
Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery
Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery at 1341 GlenwoodRoad in Glendale, California was established in 1884 as Grand View Cemetery.The cemetery was purchased by Len C. Davis in the 1920s, renamed Grand View Memorial Park, and extensively remodeled. A 40 foot entrance arch was added on what is now...

 in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...

.

Carroll is mentioned in the song "Magdalena" from the 1972 Frank Zappa and the Mothers album Just Another Band from LA.
"the stars that say Jon Provost
Jon Provost
Jon Provost is a former child actor of film and television. He is best known for his role as young Timmy Martin in the CBS series, Lassie....

 and Leo G. Carroll together"

Carroll is also mentioned in the song "Science Fiction/Double Feature
Science Fiction/Double Feature
"Science Fiction/Double Feature" is the opening song to the original 1973 musical stage production, The Rocky Horror Show as well as its 1975 film counterpart The Rocky Horror Picture Show, book, music and lyrics by Richard O'Brien, musical arrangements by Richard Hartley...

" in Rocky Horror Picture Show with the lines "I knew Leo G. Carroll, was over a barrel, when Tarantula
Tarantula (film)
Tarantula is a 1955 science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Leo G. Carroll, John Agar, and Mara Corday. Among other things, the film is notable for the appearance of a 25-year-old Clint Eastwood in an uncredited role as a jet pilot at the end of the film.-Plot summary:The plot...

took to the hills."

Selected filmography

  • The Barretts of Wimpole Street
    The Barretts of Wimpole Street
    The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1934 American film depicting the real-life romance between poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning , despite the opposition of her father Edward Moulton-Barrett . The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture...

    (1934)
  • Clive of India
    Clive of India (film)
    Clive of India is a 1935 drama film based on Robert, Lord Clive's historical biography. It was written by R.J. Minney and W.P. Lipscomb and directed by Richard Boleslawski.-Cast:* Ronald Colman as Baron Robert Clive* shahrukh khan as devdas...

    (1935)
  • Murder on a Honeymoon
    Murder on a Honeymoon
    Murder on a Honeymoon is a mystery film starring Edna May Oliver and James Gleason. This was the third and last time Oliver portrayed astute schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers, who in this film witnesses the death of an airplane passenger...

    (1935)
  • Captains Courageous
    Captains Courageous
    Captains Courageous is an 1897 novel, by Rudyard Kipling, that follows the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the arrogant and spoiled son of a railroad tycoon...

    (1937)
  • A Christmas Carol
    A Christmas Carol (1938 film)
    A Christmas Carol is a 1938 American film adaptation of Charles Dickens's novelette.-Cast:*Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge*Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit*Kathleen Lockhart as Mrs. Cratchit*Terry Kilburn as Tiny Tim*Barry MacKay as Fred...

    (1938)
  • Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police
    Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police
    Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police is a 1939 American country house murder mystery film directed by James Patrick Hogan, based on an H. C. McNeile novel....

    (1939)
  • Wuthering Heights
    Wuthering Heights (1939 film)
    Wuthering Heights is a 1939 American black-and-white film directed by William Wyler and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. It is based on the novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The film depicts only sixteen of the novel's thirty-four chapters, eliminating the second generation of characters. The...

    (1939)
  • The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
    The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
    The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex is a 1939 historical romantic drama film. It is based on the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I, portrayed by Bette Davis, and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, played by Errol Flynn...

    (1939)
  • Charlie Chan in City in Darkness
    Charlie Chan in City in Darkness
    Charlie Chan in City in Darkness, also titled City in Darkness, is a 1939 mystery film starring Sidney Toler in his fourth performance as detective Charlie Chan.-Cast:*Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan*Lynn Bari as Marie Dubon...

    (1939)
  • Tower of London
    Tower of London (1939 film)
    Tower of London is a 1939 black-and-white historical film and quasi-horror film released by Universal Pictures and directed by Rowland V. Lee. It stars Basil Rathbone as the future Richard III of England, and Boris Karloff as his fictitious club-footed executioner Mord. Vincent Price appears as...

    (1939)
  • Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise
    Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise
    Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise is a 1940 murder mystery film starring Sidney Toler in his fifth of many performances as Charlie Chan. It is a remake of the 1931 lost film Charlie Chan Carries On, which is also the title of the Earl Derr Biggers novel on which both movies are based.-Cast:*Sidney Toler...

    (1940)
  • Scotland Yard
    Scotland Yard (1941 film)
    Scotland Yard is a 1941 American crime drama film starring Nancy Kelly and Edmund Gwenn about a fugitive whose visage has been altered with plastic surgery. The movie was directed by Norman Foster.-Cast:*Nancy Kelly ................ Lady Sandra Lasher...

    (1941)
  • The House on 92nd Street
    The House on 92nd Street
    The House on 92nd Street is a 1945 black-and-white spy film directed by Henry Hathaway. The film, shot mainly in New York City, was released shortly after the end of World War II. The House on 92nd Street was made with the full cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , and its head, J....

    (1945)
  • Forever Amber
    Forever Amber (film)
    Forever Amber is a 1947 film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde. It was based on the book of the same name. It also starred Richard Greene, George Sanders, Glenn Langan, Richard Haydn, Dolores Hart, and Jessica Tandy...

    (1947)
  • The Paradine Case
    The Paradine Case
    The Paradine Case is a 1947 American courtroom drama film, set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht, from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the novel by Robert Smythe Hichens...

    (1947)
  • So Evil My Love
    So Evil My Love
    So Evil My Love is a 1948 British psychological thriller film, directed by Lewis Allen and starring Ray Milland, Ann Todd and Geraldine Fitzgerald. The film is a period drama set in the Victorian era, and shot in film noir style in the late-1940s sub-genre often referred to as "Gaslight noir"...

    (1948)
  • Enchantment (1948)
  • Father of the Bride
    Father of the Bride (1950 film)
    Father of the Bride is a 1950 American comedy film about a man trying to cope with preparations for his daughter's upcoming wedding. The movie stars Spencer Tracy in the titular role, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, and Leo G. Carroll. It was adapted by Frances Goodrich...

    (1950)
  • The Happy Years (1950)
  • The Desert Fox
    The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
    The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel is a 1951 biographical film about Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the later stages of World War II. It stars James Mason in the title role, was directed by Henry Hathaway, and was based on the book Rommel by Brigadier Desmond Young, who served in the Indian Army in...

    (1951)
  • The Snows of Kilimanjaro
    The Snows of Kilimanjaro (film)
    The Snows of Kilimanjaro is a 1952 film based on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film version of the short story was directed by Henry King, and starred Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Susan Hayward....

    (1952)
  • The Bad and the Beautiful
    The Bad and the Beautiful
    The Bad and the Beautiful is a 1952 MGM melodramatic film that tells the story of a film producer who alienates all around him. It was directed by Vincente Minelli and stars Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame and Gilbert Roland. The film was...

    (1952)
  • We're No Angels (1955)
  • Tarantula
    Tarantula (film)
    Tarantula is a 1955 science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Leo G. Carroll, John Agar, and Mara Corday. Among other things, the film is notable for the appearance of a 25-year-old Clint Eastwood in an uncredited role as a jet pilot at the end of the film.-Plot summary:The plot...

    (1955)
  • The Swan
    The Swan (film)
    The Swan is a 1956 remake by MGM of a 1925 Paramount film with the same title. . The film is a romantic comedy directed by Charles Vidor, produced by Dore Schary from a screenplay by John Dighton based on the play by Ferenc Molnár...

    (1956)
  • The Parent Trap (1961)
  • The Prize (1963)

With Alfred Hitchcock

  • Rebecca (1940)
  • Suspicion
    Suspicion (film)
    Suspicion is a romantic psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. It also stars Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty, Isabel Jeans, Heather Angel, and Leo G...

    (1941)
  • Spellbound
    Spellbound (1945 film)
    Spellbound is a psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1945. It tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov and Leo G. Carroll. It is an adaptation by Angus...

    (1945)
  • The Paradine Case
    The Paradine Case
    The Paradine Case is a 1947 American courtroom drama film, set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht, from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the novel by Robert Smythe Hichens...

    (1947)
  • Strangers on a Train
    Strangers on a Train (film)
    Strangers on a Train is an American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. It was shot in the autumn of 1950 and released by Warner Bros. on June 30, 1951. The film stars Farley Granger, Ruth Roman,...

    (1951)
  • North by Northwest
    North by Northwest
    North by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau...

    (1959)

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

  • The Spy with My Face
    The Spy with My Face
    The Spy with My Face is a 1965 spy-fi spy film based on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. television series. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum reprised their roles as secret agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin respectively. THRUSH tries to steal a super weapon by substituting a double for Solo.It is the...

    (1965)
  • One Spy Too Many
    One Spy Too Many
    One Spy Too Many is the 1966 feature length film version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s two-part season two premiere episode "Alexander the Greater Affair". It, as does the television series, stars Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. It is the third such feature film that used as its basis a reedited...

    (1966)
  • One of Our Spies is Missing (1966)
  • The Spy in the Green Hat
    The Spy in the Green Hat
    The Spy in the Green Hat is a 1966 film directed by Joseph Sargent. This feature was made up of the The Man from U.N.C.L.E. two-part episode "The Concrete Overcoat Affair."-Plot:...

    (1966)
  • The Karate Killers
    The Karate Killers
    The Karate Killers is a 1967 film based on the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. The film was based on the two-part episode of the series 'The Five Daughters Affair' which aired in April 1967 by NBC.-Synopsis:...

    (1967)
  • The Helicopter Spies
    The Helicopter Spies
    The Helicopter Spies is a 1968 film based on the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. The film was based on the two-part episode of the series 'The Prince of Darkness Affair' which aired in October 1967 during the show's truncated fourth season....

    (1968)
  • How to Steal the World
    How to Steal the World
    How To Steal the World is a 1968 adventure/action film based on the series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., with Robert Vaughn and David McCallum reprising their roles as secret agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin. It also stars Barry Sullivan and Eleanor Parker.It was originally telecast as the final...

    (1968)

External links

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