Leo G. Carroll made doctors, butlers and men in charge worth attending to. We rate the weight he brought to supporting parts, especially for Hitchcock, though the familiar casting could leave him too little room to surprise us.
Fi1m perspective
In North by Northwest (1959), Cary Grant makes panic funny and Leo G. Carroll supplies the Professor's authority. We like Carroll in that position, giving weight to a thriller whose leading man is busy being alarmed. We laughed at Grant's panic because he makes fear recognisable without making the danger seem harmless. Alfred Hitchcock keeps the chase carefully controlled, and Carroll fits that discipline without competing with its leading man. We recommend it readily, provided its unlikely plotting is not going to spoil the evening.
Carroll's Joseph in Wuthering Heights (1939) belongs to a film we admire with more reservations. Wyler and cinematographer Gregg Toland give it handsome, shadowed images, and Olivier's Heathcliff has the necessary heat. Hecht and MacArthur's screenplay cuts the novel in half, while Merle Oberon's Cathy lacks the force the romance needs. Carroll's presence cannot repair those weaknesses. Valuing a reliable supporting actor need not mean recommending everything around him equally, and this is a less persuasive starting point for his work.
The Hitchcock collaboration ran from Rebecca (1940) to North by Northwest, taking in six films. Carroll's parts included Dr. Baker in the former, Dr. Murchison in Spellbound (1945) and Senator Morton in Strangers on a Train (1951). Doctors, butlers and other authority figures were recurrent jobs, and the limitation is plain: another professional title can make us feel we know the character before the actor has much opportunity to distinguish him. We value the weight Carroll brought to these parts, but would not pretend the repeated casting always offered something fresh.
Television gave him continuing roles as Cosmo Topper (1953–1956) and Alexander Waverly in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968). Those are substantial stretches of work to set beside the film appearances, rather than a footnote to his employment by Hitchcock. They also keep us from treating a supporting speciality as the whole of an acting life. For a first encounter, choose North by Northwest and keep an eye on the supporting cast.
Biography
Leo G. Carroll (25 October 1886 – 16 October 1972) was an English actor. He began his career on stage and made his film debut in 1934.
He appeared in six films directed by Alfred Hitchcock: Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Spellbound (1945), The Paradine Case (1947), Strangers on a Train (1951) and North by Northwest (1959). Other film roles include Joseph in Wuthering Heights (1939), Dr Murchison in Spellbound, Senator Morton in Strangers on a Train and the Rev. Dr Mosby in The Parent Trap (1961).
On television he had regular roles in the series Topper, Going My Way and The Man from U.N.C.L.E..
