Rex Lloyd Lease (February 11, 1903 – January 3, 1966) was an American actor. He appeared in over 300 films, mainly in
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used to refer to Hollywood films produced from the 1920s to the 1950s by small (and mostly short-lived) B movie studios. Although many of them were based on (or near) today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did ...
westerns.
Biography
Lease arrived in Hollywood in 1924. He found bit and supporting parts at Film Booking Office (FBO), Rayart, more, and was given the opportunity to play a few leads. His first film was ''A Woman Who Sinned'' (FBO, 1924).
Lease's earliest westerns were a pair of
Tim McCoy silents at MGM, one of which was ''
The Law of the Range'' (MGM, 1928) which had a young
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pic ...
as the heroine and Lease as the Solitaire Kid. McCoy and Lease became friends, and over the next dozen or so years, he appeared in seven more McCoy westerns.
He had a featured role in director
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...
's ''
The Younger Generation'' (Columbia, 1929), a tale of a Jewish family that moves to a more up-scale neighborhood.
He successfully made the transition to talkies, and starred in melodramas, action flicks, old dark house mysteries, and comedies as well as a couple of western serials and about a dozen low-budget sagebrush yarns and outdoor adventures. His work in the 1930s included six Western films for Superior Talking Pictures Corporation. Some featured cowboy music, and some had him paired with young actor Bobby Nelson.
In between lead roles, Lease did featured parts in some B westerns. He was
Hoot Gibson
Edmund Richard "Hoot" Gibson (August 6, 1892 – August 23, 1962) was an American rodeo champion, film actor, film director, and producer. While acting and stunt work began as a sideline to Gibson's focus on rodeo, he successfully transitioned ...
's brother in ''
Cavalcade of the West'' (
Walter Futter
Walter Futter (January 2, 1900 – March 3, 1958) was a film producer and director in the United States. After an initial career cutting and editing films, Futter began writing and producing his own shorts and movies, often using footage he acquir ...
Prod., 1936); Lease played the "Pecos Kid" in McCoy's ''
Lightnin' Bill Carson'' (Puritan, 1936); played Col.
William B. Travis in ''
Heroes of the Alamo'' and he worked in a couple of
Tom Tyler's, ''Ridin' On'' (Reliable, 1936) and ''Fast Bullets'' (Reliable, 1936). Lease had the lead in the 1936
film serial
A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...
''
Custer's Last Stand'' (1936).
Lease's finale as a star had him teaming up with
Rin-Tin-Tin Jr. in ''
The Silver Trail'' (Reliable, 1937).
Though no longer afforded star billing, he continued in smaller roles into the 1950s in films and on TV.
Personal life
In 1930, Lease pleaded guilty in a Malibu court to a charge of battery on actress and dancer
Vivian Duncan.
The charge resulted from his beating of Duncan at a home in Malibu Beach on July 7, 1930. He paid a $50 fine, insisting that she initiated the altercation. Duncan's brother, Harold, retaliated in August 1930, beating Lease in a hotel cafe in Hollywood.
Lease was married at least five times.
Death
On January 3, 1966, Rex Lease was found dead by his son Richard on the kitchen floor at his
Van Nuys, California
Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.
History
In 1909 ...
, home. He had died sometime between New Year's Eve and January 3. The cause of death was undisclosed. Richard was later shot and killed at age 25 in a road rage traffic altercation with two teenagers.
Selected filmography
* ''A Woman Who Sinned'' (1924) - Her Son - as an adult
* ''
Chalk Marks'' (1924) - Bert Thompson
* ''
Easy Money'' (1925) - 'Red'
* ''
Before Midnight'' (1925) - Julio Saldivar
* ''
The Last Edition
''The Last Edition'' is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Emory Johnson based on the story by Emilie Johnson. The photoplay is set in San Francisco, California, and stars Ralph Lewis as a pressman at the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' ...
'' (1925) - Clarence Walker
* ''
Somebody's Mother'' (1926) - Peter
* ''Mystery Pilot'' (1926) - Bob Jones
* ''
The Last Alarm'' (1926) - Tom
* ''Race Wild'' (1926)
* ''The Timid Terror'' (1926) - Howard Cramm
* ''
Heroes of the Night'' (1927) - Tom Riley
* ''
Enemies of Society'' (1927) - Jim Barry
* ''The Outlaw Dog'' (1927) - Bill Brady
* ''
Not for Publication'' (1927) - Philip Hale
* ''
The Cancelled Debt'' (1927) - Patrick Burke
* ''Clancy's Kosher Wedding'' (1927) - Tom Clancy
* ''
The College Hero
''The College Hero'' is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by Walter Lang. This is a surviving title contrary to some reports, as it is on video.
Plot
Football player Bob Cantfield enrolls at Carver College, is assigned Jim Halloran a ...
'' (1927) - Jim Halloran
* ''
The Law of the Range'' (1928) - Solitaire Kid
* ''
Queen of the Chorus'' (1928) - Billy Cooke
* ''
Broadway Daddies
''Broadway Daddies'' is a lost 1928 American silent melodrama film directed by Fred Windemere. It stars Jacqueline Logan, Alec B. Francis, Rex Lease, and was released on April 7, 1928.
Plot
Eve Delmar is a pretty chorus line dancer, who is th ...
'' (1928) - Richard Kennedy
* ''
The Phantom of the Turf'' (1928) - John Nichols
* ''
Red Riders of Canada
''Red Riders of Canada'' is a 1928 American silent Western film directed by Robert De Lacey and starring Patsy Ruth Miller, Rex Lease and Harry Woods.Munden, p. 641
Cast
* Patsy Ruth Miller as Joan Duval
* Charles Byer
Charles Byer (Febr ...
'' (1928) - Pierre Duval
* ''
Riders of the Dark'' (1928) - Jim Graham
* ''The Last Lap'' (1928)
* ''
Making the Varsity
''Making the Varsity'' is a 1928 American silent film, silent drama film directed by Cliff Wheeler and starring Rex Lease, Arthur Rankin (actor), Arthur Rankin, and Gladys Hulette.Munden p.476
Cast
* Rex Lease as Ed Ellsworth
* Arthur Rankin (a ...
'' (1928) - Ed Ellsworth
* ''
The Speed Classic'' (1928) - Jerry Thornton
* ''
Stolen Love'' (1928) - Bill
* ''
The Candy Kid'' (1928)
* ''
When Dreams Come True'' (1929) - Ben Shelby
* ''
The Younger Generation'' (1929)
* ''
Two Sisters'' (1929)
* ''
Troopers Three'' (1930)
* ''
Sunny Skies
''Sunny Skies'' is a New Zealand comedy television show that aired on TV3 in the summer of 2013.
The show stars Tammy Davis and Oliver Driver as two brothers who unwittingly inherit a local campground.
Plot
''Sunny Skies'' is a New Zealand com ...
'' (1930)
* ''
Hot Curves'' (1930)
* ''
Borrowed Wives'' (1930)
* ''
The Utah Kid'' (1930)
* ''
Chinatown After Dark'' (1931)
* ''
The Sign of the Wolf
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speak ...
'' (1931) 10-chapter serial
*''
Is There Justice?'' (1931)
* ''
Cannonball Express'' (1932)
* ''
The Monster Walks
''The Monster Walks'' is a 1932 American Pre-Code black-and-white horror film directed by Frank R. Strayer.
Plot
The film opens with Ruth Earlton and her fiancé Dr. Ted Carver arriving at her father's house. She has been told that her fathe ...
'' (1932)
* ''
Rough Riding Ranger'' (1935)
* ''
Fighting Caballero'' (1935)
* ''
The Ghost Rider'' (1935)
* ''
The Cowboy and the Bandit'' (1935)
* ''
Pals of the Range'' (1935)
* ''
Cyclone of the Saddle'' (1935)
* ''
Custer's Last Stand'' (1936)
* ''
Ten Laps to Go'' (1936)
* ''
Aces and Eights'' (1936)
* ''
Lightnin' Bill Carson'' (1936)
* ''
The Silver Trail'' (1937)
* ''
Heroes of the Alamo'' (1937)
* ''
The Lone Ranger Rides Again
''The Lone Ranger Rides Again'' is a 1939 American Republic serial. It was a sequel to Republic's 1938 serial ''The Lone Ranger'', which had been highly successful, and the thirteenth of the sixty-six serials produced by Republic.
The serial w ...
'' (1939)
* ''
Under Texas Skies'' (1940)
* ''
The Trail Blazers'' (1940)
* ''
Lone Star Raiders'' (1940)
* ''
A Chump at Oxford
''A Chump at Oxford'' is a Hal Roach comedy film produced in 1939 and released in 1940 by United Artists. It was directed by Alfred J. Goulding and was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Roach studio. The title echoes the film ''A ...
'' (1940)
* ''
Billy the Kid's Gun Justice
''Billy the Kid's Gun Justice'' is a 1940 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield for Producers Releasing Corporation, and 3rd in PRC's Billy the Kid series. Hal Erickson, Rovi.Billy the Kid's Gun Justice (1940), '' The New York Times ...
'' (1940)
* ''
Outlaws of Cherokee Trail'' (1941)
* ''
Tonto Basin Outlaws'' (1941)
* ''
Billy the Kid's Range War
''Billy the Kid's Range War'' is a 1941 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield that was the fourth of Producers Releasing Corporation's Billy the Kid film series. Despite the film's title and mention of Lincoln County, there is nei ...
'' (1941)
* ''
Billy the Kid in Santa Fe'' (1941)
* ''
In Old California'' (1942)
* ''
Saboteur'' (1942) - Plant Cafeteria Worker (uncredited)
* ''
Haunted Ranch'' (1943)
* ''
Flame of Barbary Coast'' (1945)
* ''
Dakota
Dakota may refer to:
* Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux
** Dakota language, their language
Dakota may also refer to:
Places United States
* Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Dakota, Illinois, a town
* Dakota, Minnesota ...
'' (1945)
* ''
Curtain Call at Cactus Creek'' (1950)
* ''
Lost in Alaska'' (1952)
* ''
Jefferson Drum
''Jefferson Drum'', also known as ''The Pen and the Quill'', is an American Western television series starring Jeff Richards that aired on the NBC network from April 25 to December 11, 1958.
Overview
Jefferson Drum, portrayed by Jeff Richards, ...
''
NBC-TV, as Tobin in episode "The Cheater" (1958)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lease, Rex
1903 births
1966 deaths
Male actors from West Virginia
American male film actors
American male silent film actors
20th-century American male actors
Male Western (genre) film actors