William Courtleigh

William Louis Courtleigh (28 June 1867 – 27 December 1930) was a Canadian-American stage and film actor who appeared in Broadway productions, vaudeville theatre, and silent films.

Courtleigh was born June 28, 1867, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada to Stephen and Elizabeth (Phelan) Flynn.

With the company of Margaret Mather and E.J. Henley he played Posthumus in Cymbeline, Romeo to Mather's Juliet, Rudolph in Leah, and Orlando in As You Like It. After appearing in the title role in The Man of Honor, he was engaged by Daniel Frohman for the Lyceum Theatre Stock Company. He first appeared at the Lyceum in The Princess and the Butterfly, and when James K. Hackett became ill Courtleigh took his place in the leading role. In the summers of 1904 and 1905 he headed New England stock companies (Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts). In 1906, after being featured in the unsuccessful The Redemption of David Corson and playing Charles Hawtrey's role in The Lucky Miss Dean, he went into vaudeville with R. C. MacCulloch's one-act play, The Third Degree, in which Courtleigh played eight different roles. In the season of 1907-1908 he played Peaches, by George V. Hobart, in vaudeville. and they had a son, William Courtleigh Jr., who also became an actor. Cross died in 1908, and on May 12, 1912, Courtleigh married Edna Lillian Conroy (June 28, 1885 – July 25, 1962), an actress. They had four sons together, of whom two, Stephen and Robert, became actors as well. Courtleigh was a member of The Lambs and served as Shepherd (president) from 1913 to 1917, succeeding Joseph R. Grismer. He is credited with naming the Actors' Equity Association. He portrayed Simon Iscariot and Caiaphas in Basil Rathbone's Judas at the Longacre Theatre in 1929.

Courtleigh died at his home in Rye, New York, on December 27, 1930, after suffering from acute indigestion.

Filmography The Nightingale (1914) The Birth of Character (1916) Eyes of Youth (1919) Pollyanna (1920) Moon Madness (1920) Madame X (1920) Handle with Care (1922) Any Night (1922) Midnight (1922) Ashes (1922)