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Leo G. Carroll (October 25 1892–October 16 1972) was an English character actor, best known for his roles in several Hitchcock films and The Man from U.N.C.L.E..

He was born in Weedon, Buckinghamshire to a wealthy Catholic family, who named him after the reigning pope Leo XIII. Carroll made his stage debut in 1912, and played in London and Broadway until he moved to Hollywood in 1934 to start a career in film. Once there he soon made his film debut in Sadie McKee (1934). More parts followed, often playing doctors or butlers. He made notable appearances as Marley's ghost in A Christmas Carol (1938) and as Joseph in Wuthering Heights (1939).

Carroll is perhaps most well-known for his roles in six of Alfred Hitchcock's films. As with earlier roles he was often cast as doctors or other figure of authority, such as the spymaster The Professor in North by Northwest. He was also popular on television as the befuddled banker Topper (1953–56) and later as spymaster Alexander Waverly on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–68), echoing his earlier work for Hitchcock. Several U.N.C.L.E. films followed, and a spin-off The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966). He was one of the first actors to appear in two different television series as the same character. He is also remembered for his role as the frustrated banker haunted by the ghosts of George and Marion Kirby, in the 1950's television series Topper which also starred Anne Jeffreys, Robert Sterling and Lee Patrick.

In 1972 he died in Hollywood of pneumonia brought on by cancer and was interred in the Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Selected films

• Clive of India (1935)
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
• Tower of London (1939)
• The House on 92nd Street (1945)
• Forever Amber (1947)
• Father of the Bride (1950)
• The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
• The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
• We're No Angels (1955)
• Tarantula (1955)
• The Parent Trap (1961)
• The Prize (1963)

With Alfred Hitchcock:

• Rebecca (1940)
• Suspicion (1941)
• Spellbound (1945)
• The Paradine Case (1947)
• Strangers on a Train (1951)
• North By Northwest (1959).

As Alexander Waverly (Man from U.N.C.L.E. films):

• The Spy with My Face (1965)
• One Spy Too Many (1966)
• One of Our Spies Is Missing (1966)
• The Spy in the Green Hat (1966)
• The Karate Killers (1967)
• The Helicopter Spies (1968)
• How to Steal the World (1968)

External links

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