Leslie Howard with a Spitfire plane in the background, from a promotional still for the film ‘The First of the Few’ (1942).
AFTER leaving his cavalry regiment in 1916 suffering from shell-shock, Leslie Howard turned to acting, starring as Percy Blakeney in ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ in 1934, and most famously as Ashley Wilkes in ‘Gone With The Wind’.
That same year, however, war broke out and Howard pledged himself to Britain’s cause, broadcasting searing criticisms of Nazism across occupied Europe and in wavering America.*
Germany, he believed, had made ‘no progress’ towards democracy, whereas Britain had blended Roman government, Greek democracy and freedom of art, French traditions of the family, a certain Viking courage, and Christian faith, into something worthy of defence.*
Howard was flying home from Portugal on 1st June 1943 when his plane was shot down over the Bay of Biscay by the Luftwaffe.
Exactly what this ‘British cultural ambassador’ to Franco’s Spain had been doing remains a mystery, but like the muddle-headed professor he played in ‘Pimpernel Smith’ (apparently infuriating Goebbels), there was always more to Howard than met the eye.
For the direct quotation, see Britain’s Destiny here on this website. For a fuller biography of Leslie Howard, including his movies, see Lifetime TV.
Précis
British actor Leslie Howard, star of iconic movies including ‘Gone with the Wind’, played a key role in Britain’s defence against the rise of Nazism, making films and radio broadcasts celebrating Britain’s unique blend of freedom, principle and democracy. He was killed when the civilian plane on which he was travelling on his war-work was shot down in 1943. (58 / 60 words)
