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Hal LeSueur

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Hal LeSueur
LeSueur in 1936
Born
Hal Hays LeSueur

September 3, 1901[1] or 1903[2]
DiedMay 3, 1963 (aged 59–61)
Spouses
  • Jessie Burress
    (m. 1922; div. 1929)
  • Kasha Haroldi
    (m. 1931; div. 1935)
Children1
Relatives

Hal Hays LeSueur (3 September 1901/1903 – 3 May 1963)[1][3][4][2] was an American actor and the brother of American actress, Joan Crawford.

Early life

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Hal LeSueur was born on 3 September 1903 at 326 Rivas Street,[5] San Antonio, Texas, the first child of Thomas E. LeSueur (1867–1938) and Anna Bell Johnson (1884–1958). His older half-sister was Daisy McConnell (1901–1904) and his younger sister was Lucille Fay LeSueur (1906–1977), who later became an actress with the stage name Joan Crawford. After Thomas had abandoned the family, Anna wed businessman Henry J. Cassin. The family lived in Lawton, Oklahoma, then moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1917. Hal LeSueur moved from Kansas City around 1928 to Los Angeles. He found work in the stock department at MGM in bit parts or as an extra.[6]

Marriages

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LeSueur first wife was Jessie Burress.[7] They wed on October 21, 1922, in Kansas City, Missouri (age given as 21)[8] and divorced in 1929.[9] His second wife was Kasha Haroldi. Hal and Kasha married in Santa Ana, California, on September 16, 1931, with Hal's age given as 30.[1] They had one child, a daughter, named Joan Crawford LeSueur (1933–1999),[10] who was named after Hal's sister and became a dancer on Broadway, known professionally as Joan Lowe. Kasha and Hal LeSueur divorced in 1935. She won custody of their daughter. She remarried and became Mrs. Kasha Lowe; her daughter became Joan Lowe, the name by which she was known professionally, later Mrs. Joan Fowler.[citation needed]

Controversy

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On 9 November 1935, LeSueur was in a head-on collision at the top of Cahuenga Pass. The other car caught fire and the three people inside (Earl Gose, who was driving; his wife, Golda; and his sister, Grace) were pulled from the blaze. Their car burned to a charred hulk.[11] LeSueur suffered severe cuts and bruises on his hands, face, arms and legs. The other people were also seriously injured. All were taken to a hospital in Hollywood. The injuries of Grace Gose proved fatal three days later. His mother, Anna, and his ex-wife, Kasha, accompanied him to the coroner's inquest on November 15. Earl and Golda Gose were unable to appear. LeSueur testified that he was driving near the center of the highway when the other car suddenly pulled out from behind another car into his lane and he was unable to avoid the collision.[12] The Coroner's jury exonerated him of blame for the crash, returning a verdict of accidental death.[13]

In February 1936, Earl and Golda Gose sued him, seeking $86,400 in damages. Golda, who was taken into court on a hospital stretcher, which was placed before the jury box, testified that LeSueur was driving on the wrong side of Cahuenga Boulevard when his car collided with theirs. LeSueur not only denied responsibility for the accident, but in his cross-complaint for $10,000 charged that the crash came about through Gose's negligent driving. The suit was then abruptly dropped, however, when a settlement was reached. LeSueur agreed to pay them $8,500, one tenth of what they had originally sought.[13]

Later years and death

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Tired of being an uncredited actor in the films on which he worked, he decided to try his hand at make-up work at MGM for a while. When he left that job, he worked as a sporting goods salesman. LeSueur made one final movie appearance, playing a reporter in Jeanne Eagels (1957). He made one TV appearance in an episode of the series State Trooper, titled No Fancy Cowboys, which aired on 13 March 1957. When he left the sporting goods business, LeSueur began working as a desk clerk at a Los Angeles hotel, and supplemented his income working as a switchboard operator at the motel where he lived.[14] LeSueur died of a ruptured appendix on 3 May 1963 at the Los Angeles General Hospital. He was interred in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California. His sister, Joan Crawford reportedly sent him telegrams from New York to the hospital before he died, but did not attend his funeral.[15]

Filmography

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Films listed below were distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, except for Jeanne Eagels which as distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Year Title Role Notes
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty Millard Uncredited
1936 After the Thin Man Polly's Admirer Uncredited
1937 Mama Steps Out Steward With Key Uncredited
Bad Guy Prison Switchboard Operator Uncredited
My Dear Miss Aldrich Reporter Uncredited
Madame X Spectator Uncredited
Mannequin Tout Uncredited
1938 Man-Proof Guest in Drawing Room Uncredited
The Girl of the Golden West Adjutant Uncredited
Judge Hardy's Children Joe, the Chauffeur Uncredited
Three Comrades Dancer Who Stumbles with Erich Uncredited
The Toy Wife First Brother Uncredited
The Crowd Roars Usher at Madison Square Garden Uncredited
1939 Dancing Co-Ed Boy Uncredited
1940 I Take This Woman Man in Cafe (scenes deleted)
Broadway Melody of 1940 Casey's Chauffeur Uncredited
The Golden Fleecing Clerk Uncredited
Sky Murder Al, co-pilot Uncredited
Dulcy Businessman in Meeting Uncredited
Flight Command Hell Cat Uncredited
1941 Respect the Law Reporter Film short, Uncredited
The Big Store Chauffeur Uncredited
Married Bachelor Man vying for table in cafe Uncredited
Shadow of the Thin Man Reporter Uncredited
1942 The Bugle Sounds Recruit Uncredited
Whistling in Dixie Sound Effects Man Uncredited
Stand by for Action Lookout Uncredited
1957 Jeanne Eagels Reporter Uncredited

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Marriage License, State of California, County of Orange". FamilySearch.org. p. 380. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946". FamilySearch.org. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  3. ^ Hal LeSueur's Los Angeles Times obituary (dated Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1963), his U.S. Army Enlistment papers, California State Death records and his gravestone all indicate 1903 (see below).
  4. ^ "California Death Index, 1940–1997". FamilySearch.org. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  5. ^ Lesueur (1903). "Texas Birth Certificates, 1903–1935". FamilySearch.
  6. ^ Don Blanding (November 10, 2012). "Lucille Was Here in Lawton". Okie Magazine. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  7. ^ "ssdi".
  8. ^ "Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800–1991". FamilySearch.
  9. ^ "Biography". IMDb.
  10. ^ Joan Fuller's dates of birth and death, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936–2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007.; accessed September 30, 2015.
  11. ^ "Wrecked Ford at 4606 West Adams Boulevard, wrecked & burned Chrysler at 6245 Lexington Avenue, Hal LeSueur assured, Los Angeles, CA, 1935". digitallibrary.usc.edu. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  12. ^ "Coroner Frank Nance and Hal Le Sueur at inquest, Los Angeles, 1935 – UCLA Library Digital Collections". digital.library.ucla.edu. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  13. ^ a b "The Best of Everything". Joancrawfordbest.com. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  14. ^ "Hal Hays LeSueur". Geni. September 3, 1903. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  15. ^ Hal LeSueur obituary, joancrawfordbest.com; accessed September 6, 2014.
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