Wholesome, girl-next-door who flourished at Warner Bros. during the early 1940s, particularly as the virginal girl who melts Humphrey Bogart's cold heart in High Sierra (1941), the sweetheart of Gary Cooper in Sergeant York (also 1941) and of James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1943). She even sang and danced with Fred Astaire in RKO's The Sky's the Limit (also 1943)-and celebrated her 18th birthday on the set. Leslie was a trouper from age three who'd done a song-and-dance act with her sisters, and had also been a child model. She had more spunk than others who had the same kind of parts in
… More films, and consequently was more entertaining to watch. She first appeared on screen under her own name, playing bits in films such as Camille (1937), Love Affair (1939), Star Dust, Susan and God and Foreign Correspondent (all 1940). As Joan Leslie, she joined Warners in 1941 and had six good years; she was featured in a short-subject called Alice in Movieland (1940) that paralleled her own Cinderella-like success story. Other films for the studio include The Wagons Roll at Night (1941), The Male Animal, The Hard Way (both 1942), This Is the Army, Thank Your Lucky Stars (both 1943), Hollywood Canteen (1944), Where Do We Go From Here? (for 20th Century-Fox), Rhapsody in Blue, Too Young to Know (all 1945), Cinderella Jones, Janie Gets Married and Two Guys From Milwaukee (all 1946).
A battle with Warner Bros. over her long-term contract ended her tenure there and made it hard for her to find work at the other major studios. She got one good part in the independently produced Repeat Performance (1947), and then ended up at Republic Pictures, where prestige was scarce but some great roles came her way. Other later films include Born to Be Bad (1950), Hellgate (1952), Flight Nurse, Jubilee Trail (both 1954) and The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956). Happily married since 1950, she retired in the mid 1950s to raise a family, but has worked in commercials and occasional TV episodes in recent years, and had a small part in a TV movie remake of Repeat Performance called Turn Back the Clock (1989).
