Volume III: Biographies

LEON, Henry *

Actor (1915-1917)

Thanhouser Career Synopsis: Henry Leon (or Leone) was an actor with Thanhouser on an intermittent basis during the 1915-1917 era.

Biographical Notes: Henry Leon (who sometimes also spelled his surname as Leone) was born in Constantinople on March 30, 1858 and was educated there. He followed a stage career and appeared in such productions as Mlle. Modiste, The Brigands, Little Christopher, Fiddlers Three, Sari, and with Grace LaRue in Dear Me. A notation in The New York Dramatic Mirror, November 4, 1914, stated that he had just severed his connection with the Sari stage company and was going to Famous Players to appear in The Prodigal Judge. Henry Leon appeared in Thanhouser films in 1915. Early in the same year he was on stage at the Thanhouser Theatre in New Rochelle, a facility operated by Thanhouser players. In 1916 he worked in When Love Was Blind, a Thanhouser film released in 1917.

For Fox he was in a number of 1915-1916 releases, including Should a Mother Tell?, Sin, The Blindness of Devotion, and others of the Mantell series, as well as The Wonderful Adventure and Hypocrisy. In 1916 his home address was 605 12th Avenue, Mount Vernon, New York, where he lived for at least the next several years. The actor was 5'10" tall, weighed 200 pounds, and had black hair and brown eyes. Henry Leon's later work in the teens included appearing for Vitagraph (An Enemy to the King, The Man of Mystery), Metro (The Eternal Question, To the Death, Lady Barnacle, etc.), Petrova Pictures (Daughter of Destiny), and Olcott Players, Inc. (The Belgian). In 1918 he was with Rolfe-Metro in New York City. Henry Leon died in Mount Vernon, New York on June 9, 1922.

Notes: 1. Henry Leon is not to be confused with Henri Leoni, also known as Henri Léon, a French tenor who was seen on the stage in America with Anna Held and who was well known in Europe. An article on the confusion caused by the similarity of the two names appeared in the New York Morning Telegraph, January 12, 1908. 2. Nor is the Thanhouser actor to be confused with Harry Leone, age 55, who died in New York City on December 25, 1916 and was survived by his wife, Ruby, who was a burlesque queen, and his son. At the time of this event, the wife of former Thanhouser actor Henry Leon received many missent condolences, according to an article in the New York Morning Telegraph February 12, 1917.

Thanhouser Filmography:

1915: $1,000 Reward (2-26-1915), The Song of the Heart (5-11-1915)

1917: When Love Was Blind (4-15-1917)

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