Leon Errol

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Leon Errol (born Leonce Errol Sims, July 3, 1881 – October 12, 1951) was an Australian-American comedian and actor in the United States, popular in the first half of the 20th century for his appearances in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in films.

Early years

Born in Sydney to Joseph and Elizabeth Sims.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Errol studied medicine at the University of Sydney. After he wrote material for, directed, and acted in the university's annual play, his interests changed to entertaining.[1]

Career

Errol toured Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain and Ireland in a variety of theatrical settings, including circuses, operettas, and Shakespeare. According to his petition for naturalization (1914), he first came to the United States in 1898, having arrived at the Port of San Francisco. By 1905, he managed a touring vaudeville company troupe in Portland, Oregon, giving an early boost to the career of a young comedian named Roscoe Arbuckle.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". In 1908, he settled permanently in the United States.

By 1911, Errol had made it to Broadway in the Ziegfeld Follies, notably in two skits with the legendary Bert Williams. Errol's sister,[2][3][4] Leda Errol (née Sims) was a personal friend of Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice, and she appeared with him in the Ziegfeld Follies doing one- and two-act plays. He appeared every year in the Follies through 1915, when he is also credited as director of the show [5] that included W.C. Fields, Ed Wynn, as well as Marion Davies as one of the Ziegfeld Girls.

While balancing vaudeville appearances and a dozen Broadway shows, like the original 1920 production of Jerome Kern's Sally, Errol achieved the pinnacle of vaudeville success: headlining at the Palace.[6]Template:Verify credibility

Films

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In a short silent comedy, Buggins (1920)

In 1916, Errol made his first film, a comic short subject titled Nearly Spliced, though it was not released until 1921, for pioneering east-coast producer George Kleine.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Errol left Broadway and went to Hollywood, appearing in Sally and Clothes Make the Pirate alongside Dorothy Gish (both 1925).[7] He was third-billed for Samuel Goldwyn's One Heavenly Night in 1931. The box-office for that film was disappointing, but overall Errol made a smooth transition to films in a variety of comedy roles. His comic trademark was a wobbly, unsteady walk, moving as though on rubber legs; this bit served him well in drunk routines.

In 1933, Errol starred in a series of comedy short subjects for Columbia Pictures; the following year, at Warner Bros., he starred in two pioneering three-strip Technicolor shorts, Service with a Smile (released July 28, 1934) and Good Morning, Eve! (September 22, 1934), the former beating the RKO Radio Pictures release La Cucaracha by five weeks as the first live action, all-Technicolor release.

In 1934, Errol moved to RKO Radio Pictures where he would star in six shorts per year until his death in 1951. Most of these were marital farces in which Leon would get mixed up with a pretty girl or an involved business proposition, and face the wrath of his wife (usually Dorothy Granger); the theme song to the series was the nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down.

Errol is well remembered for his energetic performances in the Mexican Spitfire movie series (1939-43) starring Lupe Vélez; Errol appeared in the recurring dual role of affable Uncle Matt and foggy British nobleman Lord Epping. After Vélez's suicide in 1944, RKO kept the Spitfire unit intact to produce domestic farces starring Errol. Monogram Pictures signed Errol to appear as fight manager Knobby Walsh in eight of its "Joe Palooka" sports comedies (1946–1950), one of which cast Errol as a thinly disguised version of Lord Epping. Errol also appeared in the comedy feature Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941), released by Universal Pictures and starring Errol's fellow Ziegfeld alumnus W.C. Fields. Universal also kept Errol busy in 14 feature films.

On February 4, 1950, Errol appeared on television as a guest on The Ed Wynn Show, broadcast live to the West Coast and seen on kinescope film to the East and Midwest on February 18, 1950.

Lord Epping Returns (1951), Errol's next-to-last film, reprised his famous characterization (and some of the gags) introduced in the 1939 feature Mexican Spitfire.

Footage from Errol's short subjects was incorporated into RKO's compilation features Variety Time, Make Mine Laughs, Footlight Varieties, and Merry Mirthquakes. RKO kept Errol in the public eye by reissuing his older comedies throughout the 1950s. His RKO shorts soon became a staple of early television syndication.

Personal life

Errol married Stella Chatelaine in 1906[8] in Denver, Colorado. She died on November 7, 1946, in Los Angeles. They had no children.

Death

On October 12, 1956, Errol died from a fatal heart attack at age 70. He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.

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Recognition

Errol has a star at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.[9]

Leonard Maltin stated, "Errol convulsed stage and screen audiencesScript error: No such module "String"...."[10] Leslie Halliwell praised the little actor "For bringing a breath of inspired vaudeville to some pretty tired Hollywood formats, and for inventing Lord Epping."[11]

Partial filmography

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References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ https://archive.org/details/variety33-1914-02
  4. ↑ https://archive.org/details/variety69-1923-02
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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External links

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