Andrea leeds olivia de havilland biography
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She continued to play the romantic female lead in an adventure film set in the 1906 Philippines, The Real Glory, opposite Gary Cooper and David Niven, and opposite Don Ameche in the first Technicolor biography of Stephen Foster, Swanee River (1939).
Her final film, Earthbound (1940), was a fantasy murder mystery in which Leeds' character solves the murder of her husband, aided by his ghost.
These films were relatively successful and Leeds remained a popular actress.
As Andrea Leeds she played her first substantial role in the film Come and Get It (1936) and achieved another success with her next film It Could Happen to You! (1937).
As part of an ensemble cast that included Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball, Leeds was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as an aspiring actress in Stage Door (1937).
Background
Leeds was born Antoinette Lees in Butte, Montana, the daughter of Chas and Lina Lees. Her wholesome quality led to her being cast in playing "Mission Humanity" – a woman considered by a jaded Hollywood executive to represent the ideal American woman.
The film was not a success and received poor reviews.
She next appeared in two films opposite Joel McCrea, and, for the first time playing the lead female role.
She was progressing to leading roles, when she retired from acting following her marriage in 1939, and was later a successful horse breeder.
She began her film career in 1933 playing bit parts and using her given name. As Andrea Leeds she played her first substantial role in the film Come and Get lieutenant (1936) and achieved another success with her next film lieutenant Could Happen to You (1937).
Personal tragedy struck, however, when her fiancé, Jack Dunn, then an ice skating partner of Sonja Henie, died suddenly of a rare disease in July of 1938, and her once strong interest in her career began to wane dramatically. (The hotel is now operated as the Colony Palms Hotel, and features the "Winner"s Circle Suite" in honor of Seabuscuit and the Howards) After his death in 1962, Leeds ran a jewellery business.
She made only a handful of films within a span of four years (1936-1940), but gentle, soulful-eyed Andrea Leeds touched hearts with those few, culminating in an Oscar-nomination for Best Supporting Actress as the sensitive, aspiring young actress who doesn't survive the school of hard knocks in the 1937 movie version of Edna Ferber-George S.
Kaufman's serio-comic play Stage Door (1937).
Andrea was born in Butte, Montana. After her husband's death in 1962, she operated and owned a modest jewelry shop in the Palm Springs area, designing many of her own pieces. Following graduation from UCLA with the intentions of being a screenwriter, she pursued acting instead and apprenticed in bit roles under her given name, Antoinette Lees.
The Howards also owned the Howard Manor in Palm Springs, a hotel originally built as the "Colonial House" by Las Vegas casino owner and Purple Gang member First Rate (at Lloyd's) Wertheimer.
Andrea Leeds died on May 21, 1984 from cancer in Palm Springs, California, aged 69.
A resident of the city for many years, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her in 1994.
Her father-in-law owned and raced Seabiscuit, and with her husband she became a successful horse owner/breeder.
Andrea Leeds
Actor
Andrea Leeds was an American film actress. As part of an ensemble cast that included Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball, Leeds was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as an aspiring actress in Stage Door (1937).
The film was not a success and received poor reviews.
She next appeared in two films opposite Joel McCrea (who earlier played her brother in Come and Get It), Youth Takes a Fling (1938) and They Shall Have Music (1939), for the first time playing the lead female role. Her life and interests would include owning and breeding horses.
More than a year later, Andrea married wealthy sportsman Robert Stewart Howard, heir to father Charles S. Howard's racing stables, and gave up her profession completely to raise a family.
Devoutly religious, Andrea and her husband eventually settled in the Palm Springs area with their two children, Robert Jr.
and Leann, the latter dying of cancer in 1971. She continued to play the romantic female lead in an adventure film set in the 1906 Philippines, The Real Glory, opposite Gary Cooper and David Niven, and opposite Don Ameche in the first Technicolor biography of Stephen Foster.
These films were relatively successful and Leeds remained a popular actress.
As her father was a British-born mining engineer, the family traveled quite extensively during her "wonder years". A popular supporting player of the late 1930s, Leeds was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Stage Door (1937). Andrea died of cancer in 1984 at age 70.
BornAugust 14, 1913
DiedMay 21, 1984(70)
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She appeared in Hal Roach comedy shorts with comedian Charley Chase at this same time before landing better parts in better pictures.She read for the role of Melanie in Gone with the Wind, however the role was given to Olivia de Havilland.