Leon Beaumon

Leon Beaumon

Born: March 14, 1898
Died: December 1, 1981
in Youngstown, Ohio, USA
Leon Beaumon - also credited as Leon Beauman, Beaumont, and Leon Duval - was a minor stage and film actor during the 1920s and 1930s. He wasborn Herman Bauman in 1898 on a farm near Youngstown, Ohio, to German immigrant parents. He worked in steel mills as a youth, and studied with his two brothers near Chicago to be a Catholic priest. However, in 1920 Herman had an argument with one of his superiors in the seminary and set out for California to become a movie star, persuading his younger brother, Marty, to join him. In their migration West, during Prohibition, they worked in a still and ran hooch in Denver. Once in Hollywood they changed their last name to Beaumon and Herman became Leon. Leon and Marty lived in a boarding house in Hollywood along with Clark Gable and John Wayne before the latter two found fame and fortune. They were all poor enough, and close enough in size, that the four men owned one suit of clothes among them, and scheduled their auditions around one another to wear the suit.

Leon's filmography is largely a mystey, due to the passage of time and his legendary attempts to hide his true age; thus he gave few details of his Hollywood career to his children. From a scrapbook, archival sources, and his lifelong friend and fellow actor, the late Bob St. Angelo, it is known so far that he had credited roles in A Fight to the Finish (1925), Clancy of the Mounted (1933), Pioneer Trail (1938) and The Law Comes to Texas (1939). He had uncredited roles in Cleopatra (1934), Folies Bergère de Paris (1935), Fugitive at Large (1939), Les Misérables (1935), The Call of the Wild (1935), The Freshman (1925), The Mighty Barnum (1934) The Sea Wolf (1930), The Wizard of Oz (1939), The Vagabond King (1930) and Western Frontier (1935). He often played the bad guy in Ken Maynard's westerns. During his acting days, Leon ran an ice cream shop in Hollywood. He was also an inventor, creating one of the first wireless radios, the record changer on record players, and numerous other gadgets. During World War 2, Leon joined the Army Air Corps and remained stateside. Subsequently he became a real estate broker, and eventually an industrial landlord. Leon remained single until 1961 when he married Theresa (Hermine Gruber). They made their home in a Los Angeles suburb and had three children, Florence, Anthony and Monique. Leon never retired, even putting a roof on a building when he was in his 70s. His beloved wife preceded him in death, in 1978. Leon passed away from cancer in 1981, at the age of 83. His nephew and his nephew's wife, Jim and Marj Smerber, generously took care of him in his illness and finished rearing his minor children.

Movies for Leon Beaumon...

Pioneer Trail
Title: Pioneer Trail
Character: Henchman Joe
Released: July 15, 1938
Type: Movie
Heading up the Chisholm Trail with a small herd and just a few men, Breezy has his cattle rustled by Curley and his gang. Returning to Texas, Breezy convinces the ranchers to send their cattle north in one big herd guarded by a lot of men. Outnumbered, Curley has a plan to get the cattle.
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Call of the Wild
Title: Call of the Wild
Character: Man Outside Hospital (uncredited)
Released: August 9, 1935
Type: Movie
Jack Thornton has trouble winning enough at cards for the stake he needs to get to the Alaska gold fields. His luck changes when he pays $250 for Buck, a sled dog that is part wolf to keep him from being shot by an arrogant Englishman also headed for the Yukon. En route to the Yukon with Shorty Houlihan -- who spent time in jail for opening someone else's letter with a map of where gold is to be found -- Jack rescues a woman whose husband was the addressee of that letter. Buck helps Jack win a $1,000 bet to get the supplies he needs. And when Jack and Claire Blake pet Buck one night, fingers touch.
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Western Frontier
Title: Western Frontier
Character: Morgan
Released: August 7, 1935
Type: Movie
Ken and his sister are separated while young when the Indians attack their wagon train. Ken, now grown, is sent after the outlaw known as the Golden hair Girl only to find that she's his long lost sister.
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Flying Down to Rio
Title: Flying Down to Rio
Character: Yankee Clipper (uncredited)
Released: December 22, 1933
Type: Movie
A dance band leader finds love and success in Brazil.
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The Vagabond King
Title: The Vagabond King
Character: Extra
Released: February 17, 1930
Type: Movie
The story takes place in medieval France. Poet-rogue Francois Villon, sentenced to hang by King Louis XI for writing derogatory verses about him, is offered a temporary reprieve. His hanging will be postponed for 24 hours, and in that time he must defeat the invading Burgundians and win the love of the beautiful Katherine.
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The Freshman
Title: The Freshman
Character: Student (uncredited)
Released: September 20, 1925
Type: Movie
Harold Lamb is so excited about going to college that he has been working to earn spending money, practicing college yells, and learning a special way of introducing himself that he saw in a movie. When he arrives at Tate University, he soon becomes the target of practical jokes and ridicule. With the help of his one real friend Peggy, he resolves to make every possible effort to become popular.