Leo Genn

Acting

Leo Genn

Born — Died

1905-08-09 — 1978-01-26

Place of birth

London, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

75 titles

Leo John Genn (9 August 1905 – 26 January 1978) was an English actor and barrister. Signified by his relaxed charm and smooth, "black velvet" voice, he had a lengthy career in theatre, film, television, and radio; often playing aristocratic or gentlemanly, sophisticate roles. Born to a Jewish family in London, Genn was educated as a lawyer and was a practicing barrister until after World War II, in which he served in the Royal Artillery as a Lieutenant-Colonel. He began his acting career at The Old Vic and made his film debut in 1935, starring in a total of 85 screen roles until his death in 1978. For his portrayal of Petronius in the 1951 Hollywood epic Quo Vadis, he received an Oscar nomi…

Known for

The Merv Griffin Show poster
6.8

No synopsis available yet.

The Merv Griffin Show

1962

The Virginian poster
6.5

The Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Henry Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western.

The Virginian

1962

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

The Wednesday Play poster
5.2

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

The Wednesday Play

1964

Tonight Starring Jack Paar poster
7.5

Tonight Starring Jack Paar is an American talk show hosted by Jack Paar under The Tonight Show franchise from 1957 to 1962. It originally aired during late-night. During most of its run it was broadcast from Studio 6B inside the RCA Building. The same studio would also host early episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Its theme song was an instrumental version of "Everything's Coming Up Roses", and the closing theme was "So Until I See You" by Al Lerner.

Tonight Starring Jack Paar

1957

No artwork available
5.9

No synopsis available yet.

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

1963

Film credits

1970s · 9 titles

The Bloody Judge poster
4.9

In 1685 England, an overzealous Lord Chancellor condemns various rebels and "witches" to satisfy his political whims, ignorant of the true consequences of his actions.

The Bloody Judge

1970

Die Screaming Marianne poster
6.1

After their parents divorce, one daughter lives with her mother in England while the other lives with her father in Portugal. After the untimely death of her mother, the one daughter stands to inherit a large sum of money and also a number of documents containing information that will incriminate her father, who was a crooked judge. While her father wants the documents, her sister wants the money and they will each stop at nothing, even murder, to get what they want.

Die Screaming Marianne

1971

Endless Night poster
6.1

Shiftless dreamer Michael Rogers fantasizes about a lifestyle above his means and marries a wealthy, young girl who just came of age. They hire a famous architect to build their dream home amidst a series of suspicious incidents. The spouse has dark intentions toward his naive, inexperienced bride. Secrets from his past and sinister ties to their house guest Greta lead to a terrible turn of unexpected events.

Endless Night

1972

The MacKintosh Man poster
6.1

A member of British Intelligence assumes a fictitious criminal identity and allows himself to be caught, imprisoned, and freed in order to infiltrate a spy organization and expose a traitor; only, someone finds him out and exposes him to the gang...

The MacKintosh Man

1973

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin poster
6.5

Carol Hammond, daughter of a politician, has vivid nightmares involving sex orgies and LSD. In a dream, she murders a neighbor she envies and wakes up to a real investigation into her neighbor's murder.

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin

1971

The Silent One poster
7.3

Who is Anton Haliakov, who has just been abducted by the M.I.5 in London? A Soviet scientist apparently. But sixteen years before the man had another identity, Clément Tibère, and another nationality, French. So what led him to become Russian and to change identity? And why are the British secret services interested in him?

The Silent One

1973

Frightmare poster
6.4

In 1957, Dorothy and Edmund Yates were committed to an institution for the criminally insane, she for acts of murder and cannibalism and he for covering up her crimes. Fifteen years later, they are pronounced fit for society and released. However, in Dorothy's case the doctors may have jumped the gun a bit. Edmund and eldest daughter, Jackie, try to discover just how far Mother's bloodlust has taken her. Meanwhile, youngest daughter Debbie begins to explore the crazy roots of her family tree as fully as possible.

Frightmare

1974

You Are Free, Dr. Korczak poster
8.0

Based on the biography of the Polish doctor and educator Janusz Korczak, the film retells the last phase of his life. Korczak, director of the Jewish orphanage in Warsaw and a Jew himself, was forced to move to the ghetto with all the orphans living in the home in 1940 following the occupation of Poland by the Nazis. Despite the terrible conditions within the walls, Korczak continued to care devotedly for "his" children. He even managed to save cases that had been written off as hopeless. However, when Korczak's orphans were also to be deported to the Treblinka extermination camp as part of the "Final Solution" and the resulting evacuation of the ghetto, he insisted on going with them. Fully aware that he would no longer be able to help his protégés, he let the children believe that he was taking them on a trip to the countryside to alleviate their fears.

You Are Free, Dr. Korczak

1975

Marie Stopes: Sexual Revolutionary poster
NR

Set in 1923, a British author named Marie Stopes is having quite the tumultuous life until one day she attempts to sue Dr. Halliday Sutherland for libel, since she thinks he criticized her birth control clinic. A lawyer named Patrick Hastings comes to represent Stopes, and judge Ernest Charles comes to represented Dr. Halliday Sutherland.

Marie Stopes: Sexual Revolutionary

1970

1960s · 9 titles

The Longest Day poster
7.6

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

The Longest Day

1962

55 Days at Peking poster
6.9

Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief and tacit support of the Boxers by the Empress of China and her generals.

55 Days at Peking

1963

Too Hot to Handle poster
4.8

A French reporter working on a steamy story about the secret strip joints found in London's Soho district becomes involved in the lives of the owner and star of a famous club.

Too Hot to Handle

1960

The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse poster
6.2

The evil Dr. Mabuse develops a death ray with which he threatens the world.

The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse

1964

Khartoum poster
6.4

English General Charles George Gordon is appointed military governor of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by the Prime Minister. Ordered to evacuate Egyptians from the Sudan, Gordon stays on to protect the people of Khartoum, who are under threat of being conquered by a Muslim army.

Khartoum

1966

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde poster
6.7

In this Dan Curtis production of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, Jack Palance stars as Dr. Henry Jekyll, a scientist experimenting to reveal the hidden, dark side of man, who, in the process of his experiment, releases a murderer from within himself.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

1968

Circus of Fear poster
5.5

A circus becomes the location for stolen loot and murder.

Circus of Fear

1966

Ten Little Indians poster
6.3

Ten strangers are invited as weekend guests to a remote mountain mansion. When the host doesn't show up, the guests start dying, one by one.

Ten Little Indians

1965

Escape by Night poster
7.0

In Nazi-occupied Rome, a beautiful bootlegger, to the chagrin of her lover, gives sanctuary to three escaped POWs: an American pilot, a Russian sergeant and a British major.

Escape by Night

1960

1950s · 18 titles

Quo Vadis poster
7.1

After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.

Quo Vadis

1951

Moby Dick poster
7.1

In 1841, young Ishmael signs up for service aboard the Pequod, a whaler sailing out of New Bedford. The ship is under the command of Captain Ahab, a strict disciplinarian who exhorts his men to find Moby Dick, the great white whale. Ahab lost his leg to that creature and is desperate for revenge. As the crew soon learns, he will stop at nothing to gain satisfaction.

Moby Dick

1956

Plymouth Adventure poster
5.9

During the Mayflower pilgrims' long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on their way to America, Captain Christopher Jones falls in love with William Bradford's wife Dorothy.

Plymouth Adventure

1952

Tank Force! poster
6.4

During World War II, members of a British tank unit in northern Africa are captured and held prisoners by Germans.

Tank Force!

1958

Lady Chatterley's Lover poster
7.2

After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.

Lady Chatterley's Lover

1955

I Accuse! poster
6.6

Alfred Dreyfus, a German-Jewish captain serving in the French Army, is falsely accused of treason and made a scapegoat for military espionage in an act of institutional anti-Semitism. Sent to prison, he becomes a cause célèbre for the novelist Émile Zola, who dubs it the "Dreyfus Affair." Eventually, Dreyfus is pardoned when the military cover-up is made public, and he returns to France. But his name is forever tarnished by the accusations of treason.

I Accuse!

1958

Personal Affair poster
6.2

A schoolgirl disappears for three days after a frank talk with the wife of a Latin teacher she loves.

Personal Affair

1953

The Magic Box poster
6.5

Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once young and handsome William Green. He changed his name to include his first wife's for the photographic portrait work he excelled at. But he was also an inventor and his search for a way to project moving pictures became an obsession that ultimately changed the life of all those he loved.

The Magic Box

1952

The Miniver Story poster
6.2

The Second World War is over, and the Miniver family is trying to keep themselves together in post-War Britain, among continuing shortages and growing tensions within the family.

The Miniver Story

1950

The Red Beret poster
6.7

Steve MacKendrick resigns from the US Army after causing the needless death of a fellow officer. Wanting to serve in the war, he enlists as a Canadian in the British 1st Parachute Brigade. He proves himself exceptionally skilled for a recruit, arousing the suspicion of his commanding officer who starts an investigation. He redeems himself during combat. The film was titled "Paratrooper" in the US.

The Red Beret

1953

The Wooden Horse poster
6.8

True story of three British POWs and their attempt to escape from Nazi Germany

The Wooden Horse

1950

Beyond Mombasa poster
6.8

An American travels to East Africa, where he tries to find out how his brother died.

Beyond Mombasa

1956

The Girls of Pleasure Island poster
5.8

In the spring of 1945, World War II is coming to a close. Roger Halyard, a dignified, strait-laced Englishmen, lives on a South Sea atoll with his three daughters, Gloria, Hester and Violet, along with the housekeeper, Thelma, who has raised the girls since childhood. Other than their father, the girls have never seen another man. Halyard is informed that 1500 U.S. Marines will soon arrive to establish an air base on the island. Halyard is rather apprehensive over the prospect of his daughters, who have never met another man, being thrown together with 1500 Marines who haven't seen a woman in months.

The Girls of Pleasure Island

1953

No Place for Jennifer poster
5.8

A young girl goes through the trauma of her parent's divorce and seperate re-marriages.

No Place for Jennifer

1950

24 Hours of a Woman's Life poster
5.8

A compulsive gambler stumbles towards losing everything when Merle Oberon decides to save him from himself.

24 Hours of a Woman's Life

1952

No artwork available
10.0

Ancient Greece, contrasted with modern Greece.

The Immortal Land

1958

No artwork available
NR

A woman vanishes after exclaiming to her husband, "You'll never see me again!" He is then finds himself under suspicion.

You'll Never See Me Again

1959

Elizabeth Is Queen poster
7.0

This spectacular 1953 documentary, released in cinemas, records the events of Elizabeth II's coronation day in glorious colour.

Elizabeth Is Queen

1953

1940s · 18 titles

Henry V poster
6.7

In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.

Henry V

1944

The Snake Pit poster
7.1

Virginia Cunningham is confused upon finding herself in a mental hospital, with no memory of her arrival at the institution. Tormented by delusions and unable to even recognize her husband, Robert, she is treated by Dr. Mark Kik, who is determined to get to the root of her mental illness. As her treatment progresses, flashbacks depict events in Virginia's life that may have contributed to her instability.

The Snake Pit

1948

Caesar and Cleopatra poster
6.2

At the height of the Roman Civil War, an aging Julius Caesar finds himself intrigued by the young Egyptian queen Cleopatra, whom he teaches how to rule Egypt.

Caesar and Cleopatra

1945

Mourning Becomes Electra poster
6.3

Near the end of the Civil War, the proud residents of Mannon Manor await the return of shipping tycoon Ezra Mannon and son Orin. Meanwhile Ezra’s conniving wife Christine and daughter Lavinia vie for the love of a handsome captain with a dark secret while well-meaning neighbor Peter sets his sights on Lavinia.

Mourning Becomes Electra

1947

London Belongs to Me poster
7.0

Classic British drama about the residents of a large terrace house in London between Christmas 1938 and September 1939. Percy Boon lives with his mother in a shared rented house with an assortment of characters in central London. Although well intentioned, he becomes mixed up with gangsters and murder. The story focuses on the effects this has on Percy and the other residents.

London Belongs to Me

1948

Girl in the News poster
6.5

An elderly lady manages to sneak some pills away from her nurse and dies of an overdose. The nurse is tried for murder and acquitted. Some time later the nurse, under a new name and identity, cares for a patient who also dies of an overdose. When her real identity comes out, suspicions arise.

Girl in the News

1940

Green for Danger poster
6.7

In the midst of Nazi air raids, a postman dies on the operating table at a rural hospital. But was the death accidental?

Green for Danger

1946

Contraband poster
7.1

During early World War II, a Danish sea captain, delayed in a British port, tangles with German spies.

Contraband

1940

The Velvet Touch poster
6.2

Stage actress Valerie Stanton is locked in a bitter feud with her producer and ex Gordon Dunning. When he attempts to blackmail her into remaining under contract with his company, Stanton, in a fit of passion, clubs Dunning with a statuette, killing him. Her gloves have prevented fingerprints but her perfect alibi quickly unravels as Captain Danbury begins investigating.

The Velvet Touch

1948

Ten Days in Paris poster
7.8

Bob Stevens awakens in a hospital with a gunshot wound to his head, and is told that he has been in Paris for ten days. However, this cannot be true because he insists that he crashed his plane and has no recollection of being anywhere for ten days. Bob decides to follow a note found in his jacket, to the woman who wrote it, "Miss D", and get to the bottom of the whole strange situation.

Ten Days in Paris

1940

The Bells Go Down poster
7.2

Comedian Tommy Trinder plays it straight in this tribute to the wartime AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service). The dedicated band who kept the fires of London under control during the blitz and fire bombings of WWII.

The Bells Go Down

1943

The Young Mr. Pitt poster
6.2

In 1783 England, King George III appoints William Pitt only 24 years old, as PM. When members of Parliament refuse to take Pitt seriously, he calls for a general election and wins. Pitt works to reform England, focusing on rebuilding the navy while across the sea in France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his conquest of Europe.

The Young Mr. Pitt

1942

The Way Ahead poster
6.5

A mismatched collection of conscripted civilians find training tough under Lieutenant Jim Perry and Sergeant Ned Fletcher when they are called up to replace an infantry battalion that had suffered casualties at Dunkirk.

The Way Ahead

1944

Theirs Is the Glory poster
6.9

Re-enactment of World War 2 Battle of Arnhem using the survivors from the battle.

Theirs Is the Glory

1946

Attack! The Battle for New Britain poster
7.0

Actual footage by the United States Signal Corps of the landing and attack on Arawe Beach, Cape Glouster, New Britain island in 1943 in the South Pacific theatre of World War Two, and the handicaps of the wild jungle in addition to the Japanese snipers and pill-box emplacements.

Attack! The Battle for New Britain

1944

No artwork available
7.0

British war documentary

The Return of the Vikings

1944

No artwork available
NR

Part of BFI collection "If War Should Come."

French Communique

1940

Law and Disorder poster
6.3

On the eve of WWII a young defence lawyer, assisted by his wife, invaigles his way into a gang of foreign saboteurs. Comedy thriller, ably executed by a satisfactory cast.

Law and Disorder

1940

1930s · 6 titles

Pygmalion poster
7.0

When linguistics professor Henry Higgins boasts that he can pass off Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle as a princess with only six months' training, Colonel George Pickering takes him up on the bet. Eliza moves into Higgins's home and begins her rigorous training after the professor comes to a financial agreement with her dustman father, Alfred. But the plucky young woman is not the only one undergoing a transformation.

Pygmalion

1938

Jump for Glory poster
5.7

A London cat burglar falls for the girlfriend of a stockbroker who used to be his partner.

Jump for Glory

1937

The Drum poster
6.1

Set in the India of the British Raj, the evil and untrustworthy Prince Guhl (Raymond Massey) plans to wipe out the British troops as they enjoy the hospitality of Guhl's spacious palace. It's up to the loyal young Prince Azim (Sabu) to warn the troops of Guhl's treachery by tapping out a message on his drum.

The Drum

1938

Kate Plus Ten poster
8.3

Kate is secretary to Lord Flamborough. But she is also leader of a criminal gang. Can Mike Pemberton catch her red-handed?

Kate Plus Ten

1938

The Rat poster
8.1

Jean Boucheron the cat burglar is the darling of the Montmartre whores--and catches the eye of slumming socialite Zelia de Chaumont, who decides to "reform" him. A complication is his lovely young ward Odile... murder and a grand courtoom scene ensue.

The Rat

1937

Accused poster
10.0

Tony and his dance partner/wife Gaby headline a Paris musical. Tony becomes the unwilling target for the attentions of performer Yvette. She is later murdered with the dagger used by Tony and his wife in their act, and Gaby is accused of the crime.

Accused

1936

Series credits

The Merv Griffin Show poster
6.8

No synopsis available yet.

The Merv Griffin Show

1962

The Virginian poster
6.5

The Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Henry Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western.

The Virginian

1962

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

The Wednesday Play poster
5.2

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

The Wednesday Play

1964

Tonight Starring Jack Paar poster
7.5

Tonight Starring Jack Paar is an American talk show hosted by Jack Paar under The Tonight Show franchise from 1957 to 1962. It originally aired during late-night. During most of its run it was broadcast from Studio 6B inside the RCA Building. The same studio would also host early episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Its theme song was an instrumental version of "Everything's Coming Up Roses", and the closing theme was "So Until I See You" by Al Lerner.

Tonight Starring Jack Paar

1957

No artwork available
5.9

No synopsis available yet.

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

1963

The Defenders poster
6.3

The Defenders is an American courtroom drama series . It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son defense attorneys who specialized in legally complex cases, with defendants such as neo-Nazis, conscientious objectors, civil rights demonstrators, a schoolteacher fired for being an atheist, an author accused of pornography, and a physician charged in a mercy killing.

The Defenders

1961

The Persuaders! poster
7.7

An English aristocrat and an American millionaire come together to tackle crime.

The Persuaders!

1971

The Expert poster
9.0

The Expert is a British television series produced by the BBC between 1968 and 1976. The series starred Marius Goring as Dr. John Hardy, a pathologist working for the Home Office and was essentially a police procedural drama, with Hardy bringing his forensic knowledge to solve various cases. The Expert was created and produced by Gerard Glaister. The series was also one of the first BBC dramas to be made in colour, and throughout its four series had numerous high quality guest appearances by actors such as John Carson, Peter Copley, Rachel Kempson, Peter Vaughan, Clive Swift, Geoffrey Palmer, Peter Barkworth, Jean Marsh, Ray Brooks, George Sewell, Anthony Valentine, Bernard Lee, Lee Montague, Geoffrey Bayldon, Mike Pratt, Edward Fox, André Morell, Brian Blessed, Nigel Stock, Philip Madoc and Warren Clarke.

The Expert

1968

Your Show of Shows poster
7.2

Your Show of Shows was a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC, from February 25, 1950, until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Bill Hayes, Judy Johnson, The Hamilton Trio and the soprano Marguerite Piazza. José Ferrer made several guest appearances on the series. The series was telecast from the now-demolished International Theatre at 5 Columbus Circle and the Century Theater, now demolished, in New York. During 2002, Your Show of Shows was ranked #30 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Your Show of Shows

1950

Screen Director's Playhouse poster
7.0

Presented by Eastman Kodak, this show was a series of original scripts directed by acclaimed directors and featuring well-known performers. The stories ranged from musicals to comedies and dramas.

Screen Director's Playhouse

1955

The World of Hammer poster
6.8

The World of Hammer is a thirteen-part British documentary series created and written by Robert and Ashley Sidaway for Channel 4. Initially broadcast from 12 August to 4 November 1994, the series is narrated by English actor and frequent Hammer collaborator Oliver Reed.

The World of Hammer

1994

Hallmark Hall of Fame poster
8.8

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

On Trial poster
NR

A series of real trials from British history, famous and notorious, dramatised from the court records.

On Trial

1960

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956