Leo G. Carroll
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Leo Grattan Carroll (25 October 1886<ref name=site>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> – 16 October 1972) was an English actor.<ref name=nyt>Template:Cite news</ref> In a career of more than 40 years, he appeared in six Hitchcock films including Spellbound, Strangers on a Train and North by Northwest and in three television series, Topper, Going My Way, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Early lifeEdit
Carroll was born in Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire, to William and Catherine Carroll. His Roman Catholic parents named him after then-Pope Leo XIII. In 1897, his family lived in York, where his Irish-born father was a foreman in an ordnance store. In the 1901 census for West Ham, Essex, his occupation is listed as "wine trade clerk". In the 1911 census, he is living at the same address and described as a "dramatic agent".
Stage careerEdit
Carroll made his stage debut in 1912. His acting career was on hold during the First World War, when he served in the British Army.<ref name="ms022525">Template:Cite news</ref> Carroll saw action in France, Salonika, and Palestine during the war; he was badly wounded while serving in the last.<ref name="ms022525" /> After his recovery and discharge, he again took up acting in December 1919.<ref name="ms022525" />
He then performed in London and on Broadway.<ref name=nyt/> His American stage debut came in The Vortex.<ref name="bg">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1933, he was a member of the Manhattan Theatre Repertory Company in the inaugural season of the Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine.
During 1933–34, Carroll had the role of "impeccable valet"<ref name=bg/> Trump in the Broadway play The Green Bay Tree<ref name="ibdb">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (which has no relation to the novel by Louis Bromfield apart from the shared title), and in 1941 starred with Vincent Price and Judith Evelyn in Patrick Hamilton's Angel Street (better known as Gaslight), which ran for three years at the Golden Theatre on West 45th Street in New York City.Template:Citation needed
After the production closed, he starred in the title role in John P. Marquand's The Late George Apley.<ref name=bg/> In 1947 he starred in John Van Druten's The Druid Circle at the Morosco Theatre.
Films and televisionEdit
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Carroll, who had moved to Hollywood, made his film debut in Sadie McKee (1934), as Finnegan Phelps, starring (Joan Crawford). He often played doctors or butlers, but he made appearances as Marley's ghost in Template:Film show year and as Joseph in Template:Film show year. He appeared in two Charlie Chan films, City in Darkness (1939) as a shady French locksmith, followed by a role in Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940) as a passenger on a ship. In the original version of Template:Film show year, he played an unctuous wedding caterer. In the 1951 film The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel he played a sympathetic German field marshal, Gerd von Rundstedt, presenting him as a tragic, resigned figure completely disillusioned with Hitler.
Carroll had roles in six Alfred Hitchcock films: Template:Film show year, Template:Film show year, Template:Film show year, The Paradine Case (1947), Template:Film show year and North by Northwest (1959). He appeared in more Hitchcock films than anyone other than Clare Greet (1871–1939) (who appeared in seven) and Hitchcock himself, whose cameos were a trademark. As with earlier roles, he was often cast as doctors or other authority figures (such as the spymaster "Professor" in North by Northwest). Carroll eventually played a character based on Hitchcock himself in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952).
Carroll had a central role in the highly rated movie Template:Film year (1955) with Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov and Basil Rathbone, among others.
In addition to appearing as Rev. Mosby with actress Hayley Mills in Template:Film show year, Carroll is remembered for his role as the frustrated banker haunted by the ghosts of George and Marion Kerby in the television series Topper (1953–1956), with co-stars Anne Jeffreys, Robert Sterling and Lee Patrick.Template:R He appeared as the older Father Fitzgibbon from 1962 to 1963 in ABC's Going My Way, a series about two Roman Catholic priests at St. Dominic's parish in New York City. In 1963–1964, he portrayed John Miller in Channing on ABC.<ref name="etvs">Template:Cite book</ref>
Carroll subsequently gained national recognition as spymaster Alexander Waverly on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968).Template:R Several U.N.C.L.E. films were derived from the series, and a spin-off television series, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. in 1966.Template:R He was one of the first actors to appear in two different television series as the same character.
Carroll appeared in spots on the first two regular episodes of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the series that replaced U.N.C.L.E., and in fact appears as Mr. Waverly in the very first episode party scene where he is seen using a pen communicator to call Kuryakin to report that he believes he has found THRUSH headquarters.
DeathEdit
In 1972, Carroll died aged 85 in Hollywood, following a long illness.<ref>"Leo G. Carroll Dies; Actor, TV's "Topper". The Indianapolis Star, p. 51 (18 October 1972). Retrieved 10 May 2025. - via Newspapers.com</ref> He is interred at the Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.<ref>Template:Cite book; Template:Cite news</ref>
Selected filmographyEdit
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.Edit
- To Trap a Spy (1964)
- The Spy with My Face (1965)
- One Spy Too Many (1966)
- One of Our Spies Is Missing (1966)
- The Spy in the Green Hat (1967)
- The Karate Killers (1967)
- The Helicopter Spies (1968)
- How to Steal the World (1968)
ReferencesEdit
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External linksEdit
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