The Flickr Lesliefenton Image Generatr

Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 481/2. Photo: Fox-Film.

Leslie Fenton (1902–1978) was an English-born American actor and film director, who appeared in 62 films between 1923 and 1945. From 1939 he also directed some 19 films. He was married to actress Ann Dvorak.

The son of a shoemaker, Leslie Fenton emigrated with his family from England to the USA in 1909, where the family first lived in Ohio. One of his brothers was the writer Frank Fenton. After an initial job as an office clerk, Leslie Fenton moved to New York and became a theatre actor. He enjoyed his first successes in the role of the teenage hero. In the mid-1920s, Fenton was signed to Hollywood and received a contract with Fox Studios, for which he appeared e.g. in the films East Lynne (Emmett J. Flynn, 1925) with Alma Rubens and Edmund Lowe, The Road to Glory (Howard Hawks, 1926), in which he had the male lead himself opposite May McAvoy, and What Price Glory (Raoul Walsh, 1926), starring Victor McLaglen, Dolores Del Rio and Edmund Lowe. He also played at Paramount, e.g. in The Drag Net (Josef von Sternberg, 1928), starring George Bancroft.

Leslie Fenton appeared in a total of 62 feature films between 1923 and 1938, with Fenton usually given leading roles in B-movies and supporting roles in A productions. Probably his best-known performance today is as the dapper gangster boss Nails Nathan in the classic film The Public Enemy (William Wellman, 1931) with James Cagney, while he was also Cagney's antagonist in Lady Killer (Roy Del Ruth, 1933). His career stagnated during the later 1930s. After a supporting role alongside Spencer Tracy as a murderer about to be executed in the opening scenes of Boys Town (Norman Taurog, 1938), he retired from acting. Fenton went on to become a film director. By 1951 he had directed a total of 19 films. He made mainly B-movies in the Western and action genres, some of which film historians have subsequently regarded as well-directed entertainment films. Perhaps his best-known film today is the Western The Streets of Laredo (1949), starring William Holden. His career as a director ended as early as 1951 when he was not yet 50 years old. In 1932 Fenton married actress Ann Dvorak, who followed him to England. There he stayed during the Second World War and achieved an officer's rank in the Royal Naval Reserve. He was seriously injured in Operation Chariot. Dvorak and Fenton divorced in 1945. Fenton remarried in 1952 and the second marriage lasted until his death. Little is known about the last two and a half decades of Fenton's life. Leslie Fenton died in 1978 in Montecito, California, at the age of 76.

Sources: Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

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German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1335/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Fox.

Leslie Fenton (1902–1978) was an English-born American actor and film director, who appeared in 62 films between 1923 and 1945. From 1939 he also directed some 19 films. He was married to actress Ann Dvorak.

Vintage German postcard. Ross Verlag, Berlin, No. 7544/1, c. 1932-33. Ufa. Leslie Fenton as capt. lt. Droste in the English language version of F.P.1 (Karl Hartl, 1932-33). The film was shot in 1932 at the Ufa studios in Berlin, as well as at the Hamburg Howaldt shipyard, in Cuxhaven and Warnemunde, as on platforms designed by Erik Kettelhut on the Baltic Sea island of Greifswalder Oie. While the German version already came out in 1932, the English version was released in 1933 in Britain by Gaumont-British and in the US by Fox.

Leslie Fenton (1902–1978) was an English-born American actor and film director, who appeared in 62 films between 1923 and 1945. From 1939 he also directed some 19 films. He was married to actress Ann Dvorak.

Leslie Fenton was born 12 March 1902 in Liverpool, England. The son of a shoemaker, he emigrated with his family from England to the USA in 1909, where the family first lived in Ohio. One of his brothers was the writer Frank Fenton. After an initial job as an office clerk, Leslie Fenton moved to New York and became a theatre actor. He enjoyed his first successes in the role of the teenage hero. In the mid-1920s, Fenton was signed to Hollywood and received a contract with Fox Studios, for which he appeared e.g. in the films East Lynne (Emmett J. Flynn, 1925) with Alma Rubens and Edmund Lowe, The Road to Glory (Howard Hawks, 1926), in which he had the male lead himself opposite May McAvoy, and What Price Glory (Raoul Walsh, 1926), starring Victor McLaglen, Dolores Del Rio and Edmund Lowe. He also played at Paramount, e.g. in The Drag Net (Josef von Sternberg, 1928), starring George Bancroft.

Fenton appeared in a total of 62 feature films between 1923 and 1938, with Fenton usually given leading roles in B-movies and supporting roles in A productions. Probably his best-known performance today is as the dapper gangster boss Nails Nathan in the classic film The Public Enemy (William Wellman, 1931) with James Cagney, while he was also Cagney's antagonist in Lady Killer (Roy Del Ruth, 1933). His career stagnated during the later 1930s. After a supporting role alongside Spencer Tracy as a murderer about to be executed in the opening scenes of Boys Town (Norman Taurog, 1938), he retired from acting. Fenton went on to become a film director. By 1951 he had directed a total of 19 films. He made mainly B-movies in the Western and action genres, some of which film historians have subsequently regarded as well-directed entertainment films. Perhaps his best-known film today is the Western The Streets of Laredo (1949), starring William Holden. His career as a director ended as early as 1951, when he was not yet 50 years old. Little is known about the last two and a half decades of Fenton's life.

In 1932 Fenton married actress Ann Dvorak, who even followed him to England, where he stayed during the Second World War and achieved an officer's rank in the Royal Naval Reserve. He was seriously injured in Operation Chariot. Dvorak and Fenton divorced in 1945. Fenton remarried in 1952 and the second marriage lasted until his death. Leslie Fenton died 25 March 1978 in Montecito, California, at the age of 76.

Sources: German and English Wikipedia, IMDb.

Directed by Michael Curtiz

French postcard in the Les Vedettes de Cinéma series by A.N., Paris, no. 191. Photo: Fox Film.

Leslie Fenton (1902–1978) was an English-born American actor and film director, who appeared in 62 films between 1923 and 1945. From 1939 he also directed some 19 films. He was married to actress Ann Dvorak.

The poster illustration is by Eric Rohman.

This is the last screen capture I made from this movie, so here are some more clues:

1) Paul Fejos directed it.
2) Glenn Tyron and Merna Kennedy star in it. Evelyn Brent has a supporting role- she's the woman in one of the other screen captures I made.

Look out Paris Hilton!

The sunny family!