Lila Leeds

Born: 1928-01-28

Lila Leeds (born Lila Lee Wilkinson, January 28, 1928 – September 15, 1999) was an American film actress. She signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and began appearing in small roles in the Red Skelton film The Show-Off (1946); Lady in the Lake (1947), based on a Raymond Chandler story; and in the Lana Turner vehicle Green Dolphin Street. She had a small part in So You Want to Be a Detective, which was part of the Joe McDoakes series of comedy shorts, the film being a reworking of the subjective camera style used in Lady in the Lake, in which Leeds had previously appeared. Leeds was producer Harold Hecht's top choice to star in Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, the first film by Hecht and co-star Burt Lancaster's production company Norma Productions. Leeds was ultimately replaced by Joan Fontaine, who was already under contract with the movie's financer and distributor Universal-International Pictures. On September 1, 1948, Leeds gained notoriety for being arrested together with actor Robert Mitchum on charges of marijuana possession. She subsequently spent sixty days in jail. Considered a Lana Turner look-alike, Leeds was 20 years old and engaged to Turner's ex-husband Stephen Crane at the time of her arrest. Although she starred in the Reefer Madness–style film She Shoulda Said No! (1949) following her release from jail, her acting career, unlike Mitchum's, never recovered from the scandal. She died of a heart attack at age 71 in Los Angeles.


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Moonrise

as Julie
Released: 1948-10-01

Stigmatized from infancy by the fate of his criminal father, a man is bruised and bullied until...

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Lady in the Lake

as Receptionist
Released: 1946-12-19

Private eye Phillip Marlowe wants to get out of the detective racket and into crime writing. But...

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Green Dolphin Street

as Eurasian Girl (uncredited)
Released: 1947-01-15

Sophie loved Edmund, but he left town when her parents forced her to marry wealthy Octavius....

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Wild Weed

as Anne Lester
Released: 1949-07-20

A chorus girl's career is ruined and her brother is driven to suicide when she starts smoking...

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April Showers

as Society Girl (uncredited)
Released: 1948-03-27

A married couple who have a song-and-dance act in vaudeville are in trouble. Their struggling...

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Always Together

as Blonde (uncredited)
Released: 1947-12-10

An old millionaire, who believes he's dying, bequeaths his fortune to a young woman with a...

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The House Across the Street

as Billie Martin (uncredited)
Released: 1949-09-10

Dave Joslin, the managing editor of a big-city newspaper, is demoted and moved to the Miss...

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The Show-Off

as Flo
Released: 1946-12-01

Chaos is brought to a family when daughter marries a brash young man met on a blind date.

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