Leon Errol
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Leonce Errol Simms (July 3, 1881 - October 12, 1951) known by the stage name Leon Errol, was an Australian-born comedian and actor in the United States popular in the first half of the 20th Century. Born in Sydney, he managed a traveling vaudeville troupe and gave a young comedian named Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle his first professional opportunity. in America Errol became a well-known vaudevillian who played skits with such notables as Bert Williams and who appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies. Errol made a successful transition to films in a variety of comedy roles. His comic trademark was a silly, unsteady walk, moving as though his legs were made of rubber; this bit served him well in drunk routines.
Leon Errol is well remembered for his recurring dual role of affable Uncle Matt and foggy British nobleman Lord Epping in the Mexican Spitfire movies opposite Lupe Vélez and his work in the "Joe Palooka" series of films in the 1940s, but he had a long career in a variety of two-reel comedy shorts in the 1930s and 1940s. He also appears in the very surrealistic W.C. Fields film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break - Fields was also a former vaudevillian and an almunus of Ziegfeld's productions. With roles in over 150 films from 1923, Errol worked steadily until his death in 1951 (he made seven films that year).
