http://metv.com/stories/rip-joan-leslie Sad to hear of Joan Leslie's passing, loved her in Yankee Doodle Dandy and Hollywood Canteen.
That pic is a bit too stern and formal for me When I think of Joan Leslie I think of the smiling girl-next-door, the wholesome pinup reminding WWII soldiers what was waiting for them back home.
Also great in High Sierra, Thank your Lucky Stars and The Sky's the Limit. Last one is Fred Astaire's most underrated movie, great bitter WWII black humor and a great drunken dance scene set to "Blues in the Night."
My favorite movie of hers is Woman They Almost Lynched, co-starring Audrey Totter and recently released on DVD & Blu-ray by Olive Films. Rest in peace, Ms. Leslie.
One of my favorites. I fell in love with her when I saw Hollywood Canteen for the first time and then actively went looking for every other film I could find. Lovely woman, great personality, she really had that undefinable "star quality", she seemed to glow on the screen.
I sure wish TCM would grab some of tjese older actors before they arr gonr and let yom intervirw them.
I recently rewatched High Sierra. The interplay between her (as the young girl with a club foot, who blossoms socially after surgery) and Bogart (as the aging gangster who pays for the operation but sees her drift away) was something I had forgotten. It really makes the movie.