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.
IMDb mini-biography
Leila Hyams was one of the top leading ladies of the early talkie pre-code years. She was a likable, pleasing actress with a charming presence. She had much spark, personality and charisma, she had a touch of down to earthiness and naturalness that won movie fans, they could relate to her. A versatile, excellent actress she was, able to conform to any role and maintain that special heart-felt sincerity she always displayed in her role. "Freaks" was Leila's most known movie, starring as Venus, where she gave a compassionate performance. Her image on screen was 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. Those were the qualities that carried her to fame and set her apart from the other leading ladies of early Hollywood.
Trivia
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
Filmography - actress1936 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 Actor
1935 Ruggles of Red Gap Actor: Nell Kenner
1934 The Poor Rich Actor
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 Actor
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 Actor
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 Actor
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 Actor
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 Actor
1927 White Pants Willie Actor: Helen Charters
1927 The Brute Actor: Jennifer Duan
1926 Summer Bachelors Actor: Willowdean French
1926 Dancing Mothers Actor: Birdie Courtney
1926 The Kick-Off Actor: Marilyn Spencer
1924 Sandra Actor: Mate StanleyFrom All Movie Guide:
Born into a family of vaudevillians (her parents were the popular "bickering" comedy team of Johnny Hyams and Leila McIntyre), Leila Hyams started out as a juvenile performer. Leila's movie career was an outgrowth of her many appearances in magazine advertisements of the 1920s. She often played conventional ingenues, though she was allowed a bit more three-dimensionality in such roles as a baseball team owner in The Busher (1927), the prime murder suspect in The Thirteenth Chair (1929), and the wisecracking circus-artiste heroine in Freaks (1932). Hyams' finest film hour was as the good-natured saloon girl who teaches Roland Young how to play the drums in Ruggles of Red Gap (1935). Retiring from the screen in 1936, Leila Hyams maintained her show business contacts through the activities of her husband, agent Phil Berg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
