Lila Leeds (born Lila Lee Wilkinson, January 28, 1928 – September 15, 1999) was an American film actress.

Early life and career

Born in Iola, Kansas, Leeds's mother located to Clovis, New Mexico where Lila lived during her teens. Lila worked the box office at the local movie theatre. She then ran away from home. She worked as a dancer in

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before moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. While working as a hatcheck girl at

Ciro's Ciro's (later known as Ciro's Le Disc) was a nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California owned by William Wilkerson. Opened in 1940, Ciro's became a popular nightspot for celebrities. The nightclub closed in 1957 and was reope ...

, she met and married actor, composer, singer and conductor Jack Little. The marriage was annulled when Leeds discovered that Little was already married. After taking an acting course at the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting, Leeds signed with

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

and began appearing in small roles. Leeds appeared in the

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film ''

The Show-Off ''The Show-Off'' is a 1924 stage play by George Kelly about a working-class North Philadelphian family's reluctance to accept their daughter's suitor Aubrey Piper, an overly confident Socialist buffoon. The play has been revived five times on Bro ...

'' (1946); '' Lady in the Lake'' (1947), based on a

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story; and in the

Lana Turner Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized pe ...

vehicle '' Green Dolphin Street'', where she played a Eurasian who drugs the leading man and rolls him for his money. She had a small part in ''So You Want to Be a Detective'', which was part of the ''

Joe McDoakes ''Joe McDoakes'' is an American short film comedy series produced and directed by Richard L. Bare for Warner Bros. A total of 63 black and white live action one-reel short subjects films were made and released between 1942 and 1956. The ''Joe ...

'' series of theatrical shorts, the film being a reworking of the subjective camera style used in ''Lady in the Lake'', in which Leeds had previously appeared. Leeds was producer Harold Hecht's top choice to star in ''

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands ''Kiss the Blood Off My Hands'' is a 1948 American noir-thriller film directed by Norman Foster. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Gerald Butler, it stars Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster and Robert Newton. The film faced minor ...

'', the first film by Hecht and co-star

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's production company

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''.'' Leeds was ultimately replaced by

Joan Fontaine Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the "Golden Age". Fontaine appeared ...

, who was already under contract with the movie's financer and distributor

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- International Pictures. On September 1, 1948, Leeds gained notoriety for being arrested together with actor

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

on charges of

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possession. She subsequently spent sixty days in jail. Considered a Lana Turner look-alike, Leeds was 20 years old and engaged to Turner's ex-husband

Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...

at the time of her arrest.

Cheryl Crane Cheryl Christina Crane (born July 25, 1943) is an American retired real estate broker, author and former model. She is the only child of actress Lana Turner. Her father was Turner's second husband, actor-turned-restaurateur Steve Crane. She was ...

, Turner and Stephen's daughter, wrote that Leeds first tried marijuana with members of

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

's orchestra and that she was introduced to

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while in jail. After Leeds was arrested, Crane fled to Europe rather than become entangled in the scandal. Although she starred in the ''

Reefer Madness ''Reefer Madness'' (originally made as ''Tell Your Children'' and sometimes titled ''The Burning Question'', ''Dope Addict'', ''Doped Youth'', and ''Love Madness'') is a 1936 American propaganda film about drugs, revolving around the melodramat ...

''–style film ''

She Shoulda Said No! ''She Shoulda Said No!'' (also known as ''Wild Weed''; ''The Devil's Weed''; ''Marijuana, the Devil's Weed''; and ''The Story of Lila Leeds and Her Exposé of the Marijuana Racket'') is a 1949 exploitation film that follows in the spirit of mora ...

'' (1949) following her release from jail, her acting career, unlike Mitchum's, never recovered from the scandal.

Later years

Unable to find more work in films, Leeds left California in 1949. She moved around the Midwest where she worked in nightclubs, married and divorced twice, and had three children, Shawn, Ivan and Laura, all of whom lived in Southern California. She eventually made her way back to Los Angeles in 1966 where she studied religion, established a church and volunteered at local missions and soup kitchens.

Death

On September 15, 1999, Leeds died of a heart attack at age 71 in Los Angeles.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Lila Leeds: Movie star mystery photo

Screenshots of Leeds from "Lady in the Lake"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leeds, Lila 1928 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American actresses American film actresses Actresses from Kansas Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players People from Iola, Kansas