Leslie Banks

Leslie James Banks (9 June 1890 – 21 April 1952) was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered as Count Zaroff in The Most Dangerous Game and the star of Alfred Hitchcock's original version of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934).

Early life and career Leslie Banks was born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, to George and Emily (née Dalby) Banks. He attended school at Glenalmond College in Scotland, and later studied at Keble College, Oxford

He joined Frank Benson's company, and made his acting debut in October 1911 at the town hall in Brechin, playing Old Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice. In his acting career he would use this injury to good effect, by showing the unblemished side of his face when playing comedy or romance and the scarred, paralysed side of his face when playing drama or tragedy. After the war, Banks joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He returned to London in 1921, and established himself as a leading dramatic actor and West End star known for his powerful yet restrained performances.

Working in both London and New York City, he gained prominence on both sides of the Atlantic, and it was when he was in New York that Kenneth Macgowan persuaded him to go to Hollywood and make his first credited movie debut there in The Most Dangerous Game in 1932.

Film career

His intimidating aspect served him well in his Hollywood debut, as a diabolical Russian hunter of human prey in The Most Dangerous Game (1932). After two more Hollywood films he returned to Britain where he divided his time between film and theatre. His other film roles included Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Sanders of the River (1935), Erich Pommer's Fire Over England (1937), Jamaica Inn (1939, for Hitchcock and Pommer again), The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1939), Cottage to Let (1941), Went the Day Well (1942), Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Small Back Room (1949) and David Lean's Madeleine (1950).

His theatre roles included Eliza Comes to Stay (his American debut in 1914), Captain Hook in Peter Pan (his New York debut in 1924), the title role in Clive of India (1934), Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (1937), the schoolmaster in Goodbye, Mr Chips (1938), and James Jarvis in the Kurt Weill musical Lost in the Stars'' (1950).

Personal life He married Gwendoline Haldane Unwin in 1915; they had three daughters, Daphne, Virginia, and Evangeline. Banks was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to theatre in 1950, the year of his last appearances on stage and screen. He died in 1952, aged 61, from a stroke he suffered while walking, and is buried in St Nicholas Churchyard in the village of Worth Matravers, Dorset.

Filmography