Leila Hyams

About me:

"Beautiful but not conceited, not high and mighty like Joan Crawford, attainable unlike Garbo, tough but sweet unlike Bette Davis, and Leila had sex appeal but always a lady who still maintained innocence unlike Jean Harlow."

Leila Hyams [1905-1977]

Leila Hyams was an American film actress. Born in New York, New York to vaudeville comedy performers John Hyams and Leila McIntyre, Hyams appeared on-stage with her parents while still a child. As a teenager she worked as a model and become well known across the United States after appearing in a successful series of newspaper advertisements. This success led her to Hollywood.

She made her first film in 1924, and with her blonde hair, delicate features, and good natured demeanour, was cast in a string of supporting roles, where she was required to do very little but smile and look pretty. She proved herself capable of handling the small roles she was assigned, and over a period of time she came to be taken seriously as an actress. By 1928 she was playing starring roles, achieving success in MGM's first talkie release, Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928) opposite William Haines, Lionel Barrymore and Karl Dane. The following year she appeared in the popular murder mystery The Thirteenth Chair, a role that offered her the chance to display her dramatic abilities as a murder suspect.

The quality of her parts continued to improve as the decade turned, including a role as Robert Montgomery's sister in the prison drama The Big House (1930) with Chester Morris for which Hyams once again received positive reviews.

Although she succeeded in films that required her to play pretty ingenues, and developed into a capable dramatic actress in 1930s crime melodramas, she is perhaps best remembered for two early 1930s horror movies, as the wise-cracking but kind hearted circus performer in Freaks (1932), and as the heroine in Island of Lost Souls (1933 film) (1933).

She also appeared in the controversial Jean Harlow film Red-Headed Woman (1932), the musical comedy The Big Broadcast (1932) with Bing Crosby, George Burns and Gracie Allen, and was widely praised for her comedic performance in Ruggles of Red Gap (1935).

After ten years and fifty films, Hyams retired from acting in 1936, but remained part of the Hollywood community for the rest of her life. She was married to the agent Phil Berg from 1927 until her death in Bel Air, California, aged 72.

Filmography - actress

1936 Yellow Dust/Actor: Nellie
1935 No Ransom/Actor: Barbara Winfield
1935 People Will Talk/Actor: Peggy Trask
1935 $1,000 a Minute/Actor: Dorothy
1935 Hell in a Circus
1935 Ruggles of Red Gap/Actor: Nell Kenner
1934 The Poor Rich
1934 Affairs of A Gentleman/Actor: Gladys Durland
1933 Sing, Sinner, Sing/Actor: Lela Larson
1933 Saturday's Millions/Actor: Joan Chandler
1933 Horseplay/Actor: Angelica Wayne
1933 The Constant Woman
1932 Island of Lost Souls/Actor: Ruth Thomas
1932 Red Headed Woman/Actor: Irene Legendre
1932 Freaks/Actor: Venus
1932 The Big Broadcast/Actor: Anita Rogers
1931 Men Call It Love/Actor: Connie
1931 The Phantom of Paris/Actor: Cecile
1931 Surrender/Actor: Axelle
1931 Wallingford/Actor: Dorothy Layton
1931 Stepping Out
1931 Gentleman's Fate/Actor: Marjorie
1930 Sins of the Children/Actor: Alma
1930 Sweethearts and Wives/Actor: Angela Worthington
1930 Part Time Wife/Actor: Betty Murdock
1930 Way for a Sailor/Actor: Joan Jones
1930 Way Out West/Actor: Molly Rankin
1930 The Big House/Actor: Anne Marlowe
1930 The Bishop Murder Case/Actor: Belle Dillard
1930 The Flirting Widow/Actor: Evelyn
1930 The Girl Said No/Actor: Mary Howe
1929 Masquerade/Actor: Sylvia Graeme
1929 The Thirteenth Chair/Actor: Helen O'Neill
1929 Wonder of Women/Actor: Karen
1929 Spite Marriage/Actor: Ethyle Norcrosse
1929 The Far Call/Actor: Hilda Larsen
1929 The Idle Rich/Actor: Joan Thayer
1929 Hurricane
1928 A Girl in Every Port/Actor: The Sailors Wife
1928 Alias Jimmy Valentine/Actor: Rose
1928 Honor Bound/Actor: Selma Ritchie
1928 The Crimson City/Actor: Nadine Howells
1928 Branded Sombrero
1928 Land of the Silver Fox/Actor: Marie du Fronque
1927 One-Round Hogan/Actor: Helen Davis
1927 Wizard/Actor: Anne Webster
1927 The Bush Leaguer
1927 White Pants Willie/Actor: Helen Charters
1927 The Brute/Actor: Jennifer Duan
1926 White Summer Bachelors/Actor: Willowdean French
1926 Dancing Mothers/Actor: Birdie Courtney
1926 The Kick-Off/Actor: Marilyn Spencer
1924 Sandra/Actor: Mate Stanley

Facts

Hyams was the original choice to play Jane in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), but turned it down. The role was ultimately played in several Tarzan films by Maureen O'Sullivan.

Sparkling green-eyed blonde ingenue of American silent and early sound pictures, best known for her roles in the classic horror features Freaks (1932) and Island of Lost Souls (1933). Her career lasted little more than a decade.

Daughter of actor John Hyams and actress Leila McIntyre

Hyams was married to agent Phil Berg from 1927 until her death in Bel Air, California, aged 72, 1977. They had 2 children.

Co-starred in Bing Crosby's first prominent role in a feature film, The Big Broadcast (1932).

Leila was the original Listerine model in advertisements. In the December 1931 issue of Silver Screen Magazine, Leila said: "Why when I was up against it in New York [referring to hard times], I used to pose for Listerine ads. I was the original halitosis girl!" Leila, of course, did not suffer from halitosis herself.

Received fourth billing in Buster Keaton's final silent feature, as well as the final film in which MGM allowed him any creative control.

Her wisdom was questioned by a newspaper clipping when she accepted the second feminine lead next to Billie Dove in "Sweethearts and Wives" because Leila was a featured player herself. She responded with a shurg and said, "I like the part."

..