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Leslie was born to Hungarian parents in London and went to Dulwich School. After school, he worked as a bank clerk until the outbreak of World War I. In 1917, diagnosed as shell shocked, he was mustered out and advised to take up acting as therapy. In a few years, his name was known on the stages of London and New York. He became known as the perfect Englishman, slim, tall, intellectual and sensitive, a part that he played in many movies and a part women would dream about. He made his first movie in 1930, 'Outward Bound', a film adaption of his stage performance of the same name. In 'Never the Twain Shall Meet (1931)' and 'Smilin' Through (1932)', he was playing the Englishman role to the hilt. His screen persona could perhaps be best summed up by his role as Sir Percy Blakeney in 'The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)', a foppish member of society. It was Leslie who insisted that Humphrey Bogart get the role of Duke Mantee, in 'The Petrified Forest (1936), the character that Bogart played in the stage production. With success, he became quite picky about which roles he would do and usually did but two films per year. In 1939, he played the character that was always be associated with him - that of Ashley Wilkes, the honor bound disillusioned intellectual southern gentleman in 'Gone with the Wind'. But war clouds were gathering over England and Leslie devoted all his energy on behalf of the war effort. He directed films, wrote articles and made radio broadcasts. He died in 1943 when the British Overseas Airways plane he was on was shot down by German fighters over the Bay of Biscay.
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