Leonard Fenton (''

né A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth reg ...

'' Finestein; 29 April 1926 – 29 January 2022) was a British actor, director and painter, best known for his role as

Dr. Harold Legg Dr. Harold Legg is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Leonard Fenton. Dr. Legg is Walford's original GP. He is widely trusted within the community, and is always on hand to dish out advice. Dr Legg appears as ...

in ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

''.

Early life

Fenton was born Leonard FinesteinLeonard Fenton
, ''Something Jewish''. URL last accessed on 25 September 2006 in

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appl ...

, the son of Fanny (Goldberg) and Morris Feinstein, a women's garment maker. His parents were

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

with ancestral roots in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

(

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

). He attended Raine Foundation Grammar School from 1937 to 1944.The Old Raineians' Association
", ''DavidSpencer.com''. URL last accessed on 4 July 2007 Fenton originally trained to be a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was

conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

as an

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

engineer. He worked in this profession for five years after leaving the army, but eventually decided on a career change. He took up acting and won a scholarship to attend the

Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art Webber may refer to: *Webber, Kansas, a US city *Webber Township, Jefferson County, Illinois, USA *Webber Township, Lake County, Michigan, USA *Webber International University, in Babson Park, Florida, USA *Webber (surname) Webber (/ˈwɛbər/) i ...

in London.

Career

His career in acting spanned over sixty years. One of his earliest acting breaks came when he was offered a role by

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

in his

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

''Chimes at Midnight''. Subsequent acting credits include: ''Studio Four'' (1962); ''

Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situated in the Leipzig Bay, southeast of the c ...

'' (1974); '' Secret Army'' (1977); ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted ...

'' (1978); ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' (1981); ''

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'' () is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven British construction workers who leave the United Kingdom to search for employment overseas. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in ...

'' (1983), and ''

Shine on Harvey Moon ''Shine on, Harvey Moon'' is a British television series made by Witzend Productions and Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian Broadcasting. This generally light-hearted series ...

'' (1982), where he played the Austrian Jew, Erich Gottlieb. In the theatre, Fenton played the role of Willie to

Billie Whitelaw Billie Honor Whitelaw (6 June 1932 – 21 December 2014) was an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works. She was al ...

’s Winnie in

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

’s ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most succ ...

'' at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...

in 1979, directed by Beckett himself. Fenton was best known for playing

, one of the original characters in the BBC soap opera, ''

''. The character appeared from the show's inception in 1985 until 1997, returning for brief stints in 2000, 2004, 2007 and 2018 until 2019. The character was originally one of the main focal points of the programme, but after 1989 he became less central. After the character's retirement in 1997, Fenton's appearances in ''EastEnders'' were infrequent. He made a single appearance in 2004 at the funeral of

Mark Fowler Mark Fowler is a fictional character in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Mark, an original regular character when the series started in February 1985, became a semi-regular after his original portrayer David Scarboro was written out of the ro ...

, and in June 2007 to counsel Dot Branning regarding her concerns about

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n 'foundling' baby, Tomas. Fenton's subsequent television credits included ''

Rumpole of the Bailey ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, o ...

''; ''So You Think You've Got Troubles'' (1991); ''

Love Hurts "Love Hurts" is a song written and composed by the American songwriter Boudleaux Bryant. First recorded by the Everly Brothers in July 1960, the song is most well known from the 1974 international hit version by Scottish hard rock band Nazaret ...

'' (1993) and ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

'' (1985; 2001; 2005), among others. In the West End, he performed in two productions by

Lindsay Anderson Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading-light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for h ...

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

's ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises t ...

'' and

Ben Travers Ben Travers (12 November 188618 December 1980) was an English writer. His output includes more than 20 plays, 30 screenplays, 5 novels, and 3 volumes of memoirs. He is best remembered for his long-running Aldwych farce, series of farces first ...

' last play, ''The Bed Before Yesterday''. He performed in many radio plays, including ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...

'' as the Elvenking, and ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'' as Daddy Twofoot, both for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. Amongst Fenton's other broadcasting work was the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

webcast of the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' story ''

Death Comes to Time ''Death Comes to Time'' is a webcast audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', produced by the BBC and first broadcast in five episodes on the BBCi Cult website from 12 July 2001, accompani ...

''. On 17 February 2006, he made a personal appearance on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

entertainment show, ''

The Friday Night Project ''The Sunday Night Project'' is a British comedy-variety show by Princess Productions that first aired on Channel 4 in February 2005 under the title ''The Friday Night Project''. Originally broadcast on Friday nights, the show moved to Sunday n ...

''. His film credits included roles in '' Up the Creek'' (1958), ''

The Devil-Ship Pirates ''The Devil-Ship Pirates'' is a 1964 British pirate adventure film directed by Don Sharp. The film was the first of several collaborations between Don Sharp and star Christopher Lee. Plot A pirate ship, involved in 1588 battles on the side of ...

'' (1964), ''Robin Hood Junior'' (1975), ''

Give My Regards to Broad Street ''Give My Regards to Broad Street'' is the fifth solo studio album by Paul McCartney and the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The album reached number 1 on the UK chart. The lead single, "No More Lonely Nights", was BAFTA and Golden ...

'' (1984), ''

Morons from Outer Space ''Morons from Outer Space'' is a 1985 British comedy-science fiction film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Joanne Pearce, Jimmy Nail and James B. Sikking. Plot The story begins on a small spaceship docking with ...

'' (1985), and the British horror movie ''

The Zombie Diaries ''The Zombie Diaries'' is a 2006 British independent Found footage (film technique), found footage horror film written, produced and directed by Kevin Gates and first-time feature-filmmaker Michael Bartlett. It stars Russell Jones (actor), Russe ...

'' (2006). In December 2004, at the age of 78, Fenton made his directorial debut with ''After Chekhov'', written by four contemporary writers

Allen Drury Allen Stuart Drury (September 2, 1918 – September 2, 1998) was an American novelist. During World War II, he was a reporter in the Senate, closely observing Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, among others. He would convert th ...

Martin Jago Martin Jago (born 4 August 1972) is a British theatre director and author. His first book, ''To Play or Not to Play: 50 Games for Acting Shakespeare'', with a foreword by British actor Alfred Molina, was published in the U.S. in 2012 by Smith ...

, Andrew Neil and

Olwen Wymark Olwen Margaret Wymark (née Buck, 14 February 1932 – 14 June 2013) was an American writer and playwright. Biography Olwen Margaret Buck was born on 14 February 1932 in Oakland, California, the daughter of Philip W. (a professor of political s ...

in the 100th anniversary year of Chekhov's death. The piece, produced by Little London Theatre Company was performed in the

Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...

Studio. In 2012 and again in 2013, Fenton appeared in a production of ''

Cross Purpose ''Cross Purpose'' is the seventh and final studio album by Spooky Tooth, released on Ruf Records in 1999. It was the band's first album in 25 years, following '' The Mirror,'' released in 1974. History The album was initially planned in 199 ...

'', directed by Stephen Whitson at the

King's Head Theatre The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an off-West End venue in London. It is the second oldest operating pub theatre in the UK. In 2021, Mark Ravenhill became Artistic Director and the theatre focusses on producing LGBTQ ...

, London. On 25 July 2018, it was confirmed that Fenton would reprise his role as Dr. Harold Legg in ''EastEnders'' in late 2018. This stint lasted until 15 February 2019, when the character died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Personal life and death

Fenton and cellist Madeline Thorner married in 1967. They had four children and later separated. Aside from acting, he was also a professional painter and held several exhibitions. Before the 2010 general election, Fenton came out in support of the Labour Party, after appearing in their election broadcast. He died on 29 January 2022, at the age of 95. His former co-star

June Brown June Muriel Brown (16 February 1927 – 3 April 2022) was an English actress and author. She was best known for her role as Dot Cotton on the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' (1985–1993; 1997–2020). In 2005, she won Best Actress at the ''In ...

memorialised him as "A charming man in all ways, first as a person and then as an actor, extremely polite and kind".

Partial filmography

* '' Up the Creek'' (1958) as Policeman * '' Breakout'' (1959) as Prison Officer (uncredited) * ''

Third Man on the Mountain ''Third Man on the Mountain'' is a 1959 American family adventure film by Walt Disney Productions, directed by Ken Annakin and starring Michael Rennie, James MacArthur and Janet Munro. Set during the golden age of alpinism, its plot concerns a y ...

'' (1959) (uncredited) * ''

'' (1964) as Pirate * ''The Virtuoso'' (TV Movie - 1975) as Hazard * ''Robin Hood Junior'' (1975) as Messenger * ''Give My Regards to Broad Street'' (1984) as Company Accountant * ''

'' (1985–1997, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2018–2019) as

(274 episodes) * ''

'' (1985) as Commissionaire * ''

'' (2006) as Bill * ''Underground'' (2007) as Terry Page

References

External links

*
Dr. Legg
BBC character profile * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fenton, Leonard 1926 births 2022 deaths 20th-century English male actors 20th-century English painters 21st-century English male actors Alumni of King's College London Alumni of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art British Army personnel of World War II English Jews English directors English male painters English male radio actors English male soap opera actors English people of Latvian-Jewish descent English people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent People educated at Raine's Foundation School People from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Royal Engineers soldiers 20th-century English male artists