Atterbury Dodd
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,061
- Location
- The South
On June 1, 1943 at 9:40 A.M., a tall handsome man with wavy light reddish-brown hair boarded a flight for England.
The plane started off down the runway as onlookers waved goodbye. Gaining speed it lifted off of the runway, up, up higher and higher, then disappeared into the blue. This happened every day in the Lisbon airport..... At least the flight of this particular Douglas DC 3 airliner would appear routine. Who knew that the crowd of onlookers was laced with Nazi spies, that the plane would be shot down in flames several hours later over the Bay of Biscay by German Ju 88 twin engine fighters, and that the plane contained a brave and famous actor possibly doing secret work for the British intelligence?
It is the tall man with wavy reddish-brown hair that I want to bring your attention to. The actor. You might be surprised to know that he is Leslie Howard, one of the great but forgotten actors of the golden era, a man that helped launch the career of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. He is probably best known for his role as Ashley Wilkes in Gone With The Wind and as the seemingly foppish (but in reality dashing and brave) Sir Percy Blakely out of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
But let's start at the beginning.
Leslie Howard was born in England in 1893. Joining the cavalry in World War I he was put out of action by shell shock; a doctor recommended acting as a therapy. He became a well known actor on the British stage, then, in 1930’s got his first role in the sound movie Outward Bound (he had been in a few silents before this). Hollywood was looking for actors with trained stage voices for the talkies, and Leslie Howard was a very experienced stage actor. After Outward Bound he continued to rise, with The Scarlet Pimpernel, Petrified Forrest, and then winning an Oscar for his acting in Pygmalion. He reached his pinnacle with Gone With The Wind in 1939.
With the black cloud of war rising again in Europe, Leslie Howard worked very hard, devoting much time to encouraging the allied war effort. He made talks over the radio and several pro-allied movies (Pimpernel Smith, First of the Few). Howard was very patriotic and wanted to do as much as possible to help defeat the Nazis. His bravery and unbridled patriotism led to his unfortunate death in 1943, while returning from one of his patriotic trips on KLM flight 777 from Lisbon Portugal to England.
It is still not known exactly why the plane Leslie Howard was aboard was shot down. Leslie Howard was a towering figure in the British government’s anti-Nazi propaganda policy and his anti-German radio broadcasts and movies had infuriated Joseph Goebbels, the fiendish Nazi propaganda minister and Howard's bitterest enemy. Goebbels had tremendous influence in wartime affairs and it seems possible that he arranged to have Leslie Howard assassinated. It is also possible that the plane was destroyed because most of the men on board had likely or proven connections with British or allied intelligence (including Howard who could have been using his trip as a cover-up for an intelligence mission).
It is probably not possible to know the reason Leslie Howard’s flight was shot down, but I would like to remember on this day (64 years after Howard's death) Leslie Howard’s bravery and devotion to what he believed was right. He was wealthy, he could have just stayed home (he was too old to fight). Instead he risked his life for freedom and paid the price. He was a great actor and a real patriot.
Here's to Leslie Howard!
The plane started off down the runway as onlookers waved goodbye. Gaining speed it lifted off of the runway, up, up higher and higher, then disappeared into the blue. This happened every day in the Lisbon airport..... At least the flight of this particular Douglas DC 3 airliner would appear routine. Who knew that the crowd of onlookers was laced with Nazi spies, that the plane would be shot down in flames several hours later over the Bay of Biscay by German Ju 88 twin engine fighters, and that the plane contained a brave and famous actor possibly doing secret work for the British intelligence?
It is the tall man with wavy reddish-brown hair that I want to bring your attention to. The actor. You might be surprised to know that he is Leslie Howard, one of the great but forgotten actors of the golden era, a man that helped launch the career of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. He is probably best known for his role as Ashley Wilkes in Gone With The Wind and as the seemingly foppish (but in reality dashing and brave) Sir Percy Blakely out of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
But let's start at the beginning.
Leslie Howard was born in England in 1893. Joining the cavalry in World War I he was put out of action by shell shock; a doctor recommended acting as a therapy. He became a well known actor on the British stage, then, in 1930’s got his first role in the sound movie Outward Bound (he had been in a few silents before this). Hollywood was looking for actors with trained stage voices for the talkies, and Leslie Howard was a very experienced stage actor. After Outward Bound he continued to rise, with The Scarlet Pimpernel, Petrified Forrest, and then winning an Oscar for his acting in Pygmalion. He reached his pinnacle with Gone With The Wind in 1939.
With the black cloud of war rising again in Europe, Leslie Howard worked very hard, devoting much time to encouraging the allied war effort. He made talks over the radio and several pro-allied movies (Pimpernel Smith, First of the Few). Howard was very patriotic and wanted to do as much as possible to help defeat the Nazis. His bravery and unbridled patriotism led to his unfortunate death in 1943, while returning from one of his patriotic trips on KLM flight 777 from Lisbon Portugal to England.
It is still not known exactly why the plane Leslie Howard was aboard was shot down. Leslie Howard was a towering figure in the British government’s anti-Nazi propaganda policy and his anti-German radio broadcasts and movies had infuriated Joseph Goebbels, the fiendish Nazi propaganda minister and Howard's bitterest enemy. Goebbels had tremendous influence in wartime affairs and it seems possible that he arranged to have Leslie Howard assassinated. It is also possible that the plane was destroyed because most of the men on board had likely or proven connections with British or allied intelligence (including Howard who could have been using his trip as a cover-up for an intelligence mission).
It is probably not possible to know the reason Leslie Howard’s flight was shot down, but I would like to remember on this day (64 years after Howard's death) Leslie Howard’s bravery and devotion to what he believed was right. He was wealthy, he could have just stayed home (he was too old to fight). Instead he risked his life for freedom and paid the price. He was a great actor and a real patriot.
Here's to Leslie Howard!
