Delia de Leon (10 February 1901 – 21 January 1993) was a British actress and co-founder of the

Q Theatre The Q Theatre was a British theatre located near Kew Bridge in Brentford, west London, which operated between 1924 and 1958. It was built on the site of the former Kew Bridge Studios. The theatre, seating 490 in 25 rows with a central aisle, wa ...

. She was a devoted disciple of the Indian spiritual master

Meher Baba Meher Baba (born Merwan Sheriar Irani; 25 February 1894 – 31 January 1969) was an Indian spirituality, spiritual master who said he was the Avatar, or God in human form, of the age. A spiritual figure of the 20th century, he had a following o ...

and was the subject of a film by musician

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...

Early life

Delia de Leon, the eldest child of May Miriam (née Maduro) and Michael de Leon, was born on 10 February 1901 in

Colón, Panama Colón () is a city and Port#Seaport, seaport in Panama, beside the Caribbean Sea, lying near the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It is the capital of Panama's Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama's se ...

. The family was

Sephardi Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

. In 1909, she was sent to Jamaica to a boarding school run by English women. In 1911, the de Leon family moved to London, settling in West Hampstead.

Career

In 1923, de Leon, along with her sister-in-law Beatrice de Leon founded the London Academy of Dramatic Art. The next year, de Leon provided financial support for her brother

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, incl ...

and Beatrice to open the

. In 1929, alongside Jack, she managed the newly opened

Duchess Theatre The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street near Aldwych. The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest West End theatres with a proscenium arch. It has 494 ...

. Between 1925 and 1935, she appeared in multiple productions at the Q Theatre, initially under the name of Delia Delvina. She was a part of the cast of ''The Children of the Moon'' when it transferred from the Q Theatre to the

Royalty Theatre The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho. Established by the actress Frances Maria Kelly in 1840, it opened as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938.

. de Leon received acclaim for her performance in

Walter Hackett Walter Laurence Hackett (usually referred to as Walter Hackett, sometimes given as Walter L. Hackett or Walter Lawrence Hackett, and erroneously given as Walter C. Hackett) (November 10, 1876 – January 20, 1944) was an American playwright an ...

's '' The Barton Mystery'', which later transferred to the West End.

Spirituality

At a production of the operetta ''

The White Horse Inn The White Horse Inn (German: ''Im weißen Rößl'') or White Horse Inn may refer to: *The White Horse Inn (play), ''The White Horse Inn'' (play), a 1897 play by Oscar Blumenthal and Gustav Kadelburg *The White Horse Inn (operetta), ''The White Hors ...

'' at the

London Coliseum The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, City of Westminster, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the Lond ...

, de Leon met Indian spiritual master

. She would later describe the impact this meeting had on her stating it was like "as if someone had taken a hammer and knocked me on the head... During that week I went about like one in a dream: I was stunned with the wonder of Baba, nothing else existed for me." She became a disciple of his and began a correspondence with him from 1931 until his death in 1969. During the early thirties, de Leon, along with dancer

Margaret Craske Margaret Craske (26 November 1892 – 18 February 1990) was a British ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher of ballet. Life Margaret Craske was born on 26 November 1892 in Norfolk, England,Debra Craine, Judith Mackrell (2010). ''The Oxford D ...

and Kitty Davy became known as "The Frivolous Three" and "Kimco" due to their increasing involvement with Baba. In 1962, de Leon compiled a booklet of Baba's sayings named ''Sparks''. In 1974, musician

, a fellow Meher Baba follower, released a film titled ''Delia'', dedicated to de Leon and Baba.

Later life and death

In 1991, de Leon released her autobiography ''The Ocean of Love''. She lived with her sister-in-law Beatrice, until Beatrice's death in 1991. On 21 January 1993, de Leon died in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

, at the age of 91. She was cremated at

Mortlake Crematorium Mortlake Crematorium is a crematorium in Kew, near its boundary with Mortlake, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It opened in 1939, next to Mortlake Cemetery. The crematorium serves the boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, ...

. She never married.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Delia de 1901 births 1993 deaths 20th-century British actresses 20th-century British Sephardi Jews Actors from the London Borough of Camden British stage actresses Followers of Meher Baba People from Colón, Panama Jewish British actresses People from West Hampstead