Leona Roberts

Leona Roberts

Born: July 25, 1879
Died: January 29, 1954
in Mills Township, Bond County, Illinois, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leona Roberts (July 26, 1879 – January 29, 1954) was an American stage and film actress. Leona Roberts was born as Leona Celinda Doty in a small village in Illinois. She made her debut on Broadway in 1926 and appeared there in about 40 productions between 1926 and 1945, mostly in supporting roles.

Roberts started her film career in 1926 in Poor Mrs. Jones, produced by the United States Department of Agriculture, where she starred in the leading role. She went to Hollywood in 1937 and played in over 40 films, mostly in motherly supporting roles. She was probably best-known for her portrayal of "society gossip" Mrs. Meade in Gone with the Wind (1939), together with Harry Davenport, who played Dr. Meade.

Roberts also appeared with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in the screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938) as the house servant Mrs. Gogarty, as well in Of Human Hearts (1938) with James Stewart and The Blue Bird (1940) with Shirley Temple.

In 1941, she returned to Broadway, where she worked until the mid-1940s. Subsequently, Roberts worked again in Hollywood and made a few last films there, including a small part in The Loves of Carmen (1948). She made her last film in 1949.

Movies for Leona Roberts...

Boomerang!
Title: Boomerang!
Character: Mrs. Crossman
Released: February 28, 1947
Type: Movie
When a kindly priest is murdered while waiting at a street corner in a quiet Connecticut town, the citizens are horrified and demand action from the police. All of the witnesses identify John Waldron, a nervous out-of-towner, as the killer. District Attorney Henry Harvey is then put on the case and faces political opposition in his attempt to prove Waldron's innocence.
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The Madonna's Secret
Title: The Madonna's Secret
Character: Mrs. Corbin
Released: February 16, 1946
Type: Movie
This drama is an updated version of Ulmer's 1944 film Bluebeard. It is set in New York and follows the exploits of an eccentric Parisian painter who has come to New York to escape a controversy surrounding his work. The trouble stems when the model he has used in all his work is found floating dead in the Seine.
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Week-End in Havana
Title: Week-End in Havana
Character: Passenger
Released: October 17, 1941
Type: Movie
A ship company employee, Jay Williams, is sent to Florida where one of the company cruise ships is stuck on a reef off of the coast. He obtains waivers from all of the passengers with the exception of Nan Spencer, a department store salesgirl who wants her vacation now, not later. Jay is instructed to take Nan to Havana, set her up in the best hotel, and keep her entertained. She visits a nightclub where the star attraction is Rosita Rivas and meets Rosita's worthless manager, Monte Blanca, who makes a play for her. Trouble also comes in the form of Jay's fiancée, Terry McCracken, when a romance develops between Nan and Jay.
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A Man Betrayed
Title: A Man Betrayed
Character: Mrs. Smith - Johnny's Mother (uncredited)
Released: March 7, 1941
Type: Movie
Bucolic lawyer John Wayne takes on big-city corruption in A Man Betrayed. He sets out to prove that an above-suspicion politician (Edward Ellis) is actually a crook. The price of integrity is sweet in this instance, since Wayne happens to be in love with the politician's daughter (Frances Dee).
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Blondie Plays Cupid
Title: Blondie Plays Cupid
Character: Tante Hannah Henderson
Released: October 31, 1940
Type: Movie
The Bumstead family is off to see relatives in the country when Blondie runs into Charlie and Millie, an eloping couple needing her help.
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Wildcat Bus
Title: Wildcat Bus
Character: Ma Talbot
Released: August 23, 1940
Type: Movie
A broke playboy signs on to help a young beauty save her ailing bus line.
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Golden Gloves
Title: Golden Gloves
Character: Mrs. Parker
Released: August 2, 1940
Type: Movie
An amateur boxer's girlfriend inspires him to face a ring pro entered by a gangster.
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Queen of the Mob
Title: Queen of the Mob
Character: Mrs. Greenough
Released: June 28, 1940
Type: Movie
Ma Webster (Blanche Yurka) and her boys rob a bank on Christmas Eve; G-men stop them with Tommy guns.
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Gangs of Chicago
Title: Gangs of Chicago
Character: Mrs. Whitaker
Released: May 18, 1940
Type: Movie
A criminal uses his knowledge of the law for his not-very-legal purposes, betraying friends along the way.
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Ski Patrol
Title: Ski Patrol
Character: Mother Ryder
Released: May 9, 1940
Type: Movie
In 1939, a group of Finnish soldiers defend the border from Russian invaders.
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Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Title: Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Character: Mrs. Rutledge
Released: February 22, 1940
Type: Movie
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a 1940 biographical film which tells the story of the life of Abraham Lincoln from his departure from Kentucky until his election as President of the United States.
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The Blue Bird
Title: The Blue Bird
Character: Mrs. Berlingot
Released: January 15, 1940
Type: Movie
An ungrateful girl and her little brother are transported in their dreams by a fairy to a wonderland, tasked with finding the mythical blue bird of happiness, meeting friends and foes along the way.
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The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
Title: The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
Released: January 11, 1940
Type: Movie
A man involved in a crime (Nolan) kills his key witness by mistake and resigns himself to death. He changes his name so as not to harm his family. The law is not content with his explanation, however.
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Swanee River
Title: Swanee River
Character: Mrs. Foster
Released: December 29, 1939
Type: Movie
Swanee River is a 1940 American biopic about Stephen Foster, a songwriter from Pittsburgh who falls in love with the South, marries a Southern girl, then is accused of sympathizing when the Civil War breaks out. Typical of 20th Century Fox biopics of the time, the film is more fictional than factual biography.
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Gone with the Wind
Title: Gone with the Wind
Character: Mrs. Caroline Meade
Released: December 15, 1939
Type: Movie
The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
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Sued for Libel
Title: Sued for Libel
Character: Mrs. Trent
Released: October 27, 1939
Type: Movie
A New York City newspaper is sued for libel after reporting the wrong verdict in a murder trial.
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The Escape
Title: The Escape
Character: Aunt Mamie Qualen
Released: October 5, 1939
Type: Movie
An embittered Louie Peronni returns from prison to find that his sister, Juli Peronni, is engaged to policeman Eddie Farrell, and also finds that his secret wife Annie Qualen has placed their baby girl in a foundling home. With his old gang again, Louie plans a robbery of a fur warehouse. Louie shoots down the night watchman and is trailed home where his father Guiseppe Peronni persuades him not to fight it out with the police. Determined to let Louie take the full rap, the gang kidnaps the district attorney's daughter.
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The Spellbinder
Title: The Spellbinder
Character: Mrs. Jenkins (Uncredited)
Released: July 28, 1939
Type: Movie
Jed Marlowe is a brilliant, scheming, unscrupulous criminal lawyer whose specialty is defending criminal he knows is guilty but gets them off through loop-holes or bribery. Then his daughter, misled by her father’s courtroom performance, but unaware of his back-room tactics, marries the killer her father has just unjustly save from the electric chair. What’s a poor father to do?
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Bachelor Mother
Title: Bachelor Mother
Character: Old Lady (uncredited)
Released: June 30, 1939
Type: Movie
Polly Parrish, a clerk at Merlin's Department Store, is mistakenly presumed to be the mother of a foundling. Outraged at Polly's unmotherly conduct, David Merlin becomes determined to keep the single woman and "her" baby together.
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They Made Her a Spy
Title: They Made Her a Spy
Character: Ella Wilkins
Released: April 14, 1939
Type: Movie
When her brother is killed by sabotage, Irene Eaton (Sally Eilers) joins the secret service and goes undercover to unroot the culprits.
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Persons in Hiding
Title: Persons in Hiding
Character: Ma Bronson
Released: February 10, 1939
Type: Movie
During a stick-up, a woman is excited by the criminal and joins him on his crime spree.
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Kentucky
Title: Kentucky
Character: Grace Goodwin
Released: December 30, 1938
Type: Movie
Young lovers Jack and Sally are from families that compete to send horses to the 1938 Kentucky Derby, but during the Civil War, her family sided with the South while his sided with the North--and her Uncle Peter will have nothing to do with Jack's family.
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I Stand Accused
Title: I Stand Accused
Character: Mrs. Davis
Released: October 29, 1938
Type: Movie
Fred, a young lawyer fresh out of school, climbs quickly to success as the mouthpiece for a gangland mob. His friend Paul, however, reaches equally quick success - in the district attorney's office. Inevitably, they meet on opposite sides of the courtroom.
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The Affairs of Annabel
Title: The Affairs of Annabel
Character: Mrs. Hurley
Released: September 9, 1938
Type: Movie
Wonder Pictures has been striking out at the box office lately, causing the seedy PR man to involve main star Annabel in ever outrageous stunts for publicity.
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Crime Ring
Title: Crime Ring
Character: Mrs. Wharton
Released: July 8, 1938
Type: Movie
Fake fortunetellers win the confidence of clients and then get them to part with their money by buying mining stocks which are worthless.
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Having Wonderful Time
Title: Having Wonderful Time
Character: Mrs. Shaw
Released: July 1, 1938
Type: Movie
Teddy Shaw, a bored New York office girl, goes to a camp in the Catskill Mountains for rest and finds Chick Kirkland.
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This Marriage Business
Title: This Marriage Business
Character: Mrs. Platt
Released: April 8, 1938
Type: Movie
A cocky reporter turns a small town marriage license clerk into a media celebrity.
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Condemned Women
Title: Condemned Women
Character: Kate Holt
Released: March 18, 1938
Type: Movie
A shoplifter gets sentenced to a women's prison.
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Bringing Up Baby
Title: Bringing Up Baby
Character: Hannah Gogarty
Released: February 18, 1938
Type: Movie
David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances, he meets Susan Vance, and the duo have a series of misadventures which include a leopard called Baby.
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Of Human Hearts
Title: Of Human Hearts
Character: Sister Clarke
Released: February 11, 1938
Type: Movie
This is a story about family relationships, set in the time before and during the American Civil War. Ethan Wilkins is a poor and honest man who ministers to the human soul, while his son Jason yearns to be a doctor, helping people in the earthly realm. It is a rich story about striving for excellence, the tension of father-son rebellion, and the love of a mother that can never die.
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Everybody's Doing It
Title: Everybody's Doing It
Character: Woman at Bar
Released: January 14, 1938
Type: Movie
Gangsters are attempting to control the solutions (and winning) of the puzzles in a national newspapers picture puzzles contest craze.
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Crashing Hollywood
Title: Crashing Hollywood
Character: Extra Assigned to Stage 6 (uncredited)
Released: January 7, 1938
Type: Movie
A true-to-life gangster movie stirs up an all out mob assault on Hollywood.
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Fight for Your Lady
Title: Fight for Your Lady
Character: Cleaning Woman
Released: November 5, 1937
Type: Movie
Wrestling trainer puts himself in charge of a singer's love life when the singer is jilted by a rich girl.
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There Goes the Groom
Title: There Goes the Groom
Character: Martha
Released: October 29, 1937
Type: Movie
After striking it rich in Alaskan gold, a young man returns to marry his fiancé only to be snubbed. Her sister, however, is worth considering, until he learns about her gold-digging family.
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Super-Sleuth
Title: Super-Sleuth
Character: Mrs. Abbington
Released: July 16, 1937
Type: Movie
A movie actor playing a detective gets carried away with his role and starts trying to solve real-life crimes.
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Border Cafe
Title: Border Cafe
Character: Emily Whitney
Released: June 4, 1937
Type: Movie
The spoiled, hard-partying son of a senator runs away from home after being reprimanded by his father, finds himself down-on-his luck in a tiny western town, and is rehabilitated through the friendship and wisdom of a kind and patient rancher.