Leslye Banning(1930-2014)
- Actress
She was born Mary Louise Welch, pert, blonde and blue-eyed, with singing, dancing and acting experience from the age of four.
Unfortunately, her eventual sojourn in Hollywood did not lead to any substantial acting parts and her career fizzled out after a mere seven years.
Leslye (or Leslie, as she was sometimes billed) started out performing in junior plays at Glendale High School and went on to become a cheerleader. Aged 19, she was signed to a 5-year contract by Universal, though she was loaned out to Columbia for her first three pictures. Her roles were almost entirely confined to second features, particularly B-grade westerns, as the perfunctory ornamental female lead or second lead opposite sage brush heroes like Charles Starrett or Tex Williams. Her one standout role was in RKO's Fini de rire (1951), a superior gangster film with a big cast headed by Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell and Raymond Burr.
By 1952, Leslye's film roles had dried up and she spent a few more years acting in early anthology dramas on TV. With her career effectively over, Leslye devoted herself to family life. She had married her first husband, Jane Russell's brother Wally Russell, in 1949. They had three children. A second marriage (to school teacher Keith E. Rogers) produced another seven! Leslye resided for many years in the Simi Valley. There, as Mary Lou Rogers, she returned to acting on the stage with the local community theatre, the Horizon Players. She passed away -- very much off radar -- on July 22 2014 at the age of 83.
Leslye (or Leslie, as she was sometimes billed) started out performing in junior plays at Glendale High School and went on to become a cheerleader. Aged 19, she was signed to a 5-year contract by Universal, though she was loaned out to Columbia for her first three pictures. Her roles were almost entirely confined to second features, particularly B-grade westerns, as the perfunctory ornamental female lead or second lead opposite sage brush heroes like Charles Starrett or Tex Williams. Her one standout role was in RKO's Fini de rire (1951), a superior gangster film with a big cast headed by Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell and Raymond Burr.
By 1952, Leslye's film roles had dried up and she spent a few more years acting in early anthology dramas on TV. With her career effectively over, Leslye devoted herself to family life. She had married her first husband, Jane Russell's brother Wally Russell, in 1949. They had three children. A second marriage (to school teacher Keith E. Rogers) produced another seven! Leslye resided for many years in the Simi Valley. There, as Mary Lou Rogers, she returned to acting on the stage with the local community theatre, the Horizon Players. She passed away -- very much off radar -- on July 22 2014 at the age of 83.
