Leon Janney (1917-1980) was an actor and radio star. He was elected to The Lambs in 1940 as a Theatrical member. He served on the boards of Equity, the Screen Actors Guilds, and AFTRA.
Leon Elbert Janney was born in Ogden, Utah, to Nathan Haines Janney and Bernice Rebecca Kohn. Janney made his first theatrical appearance at age two before an audience at the Pantages Theatre in his hometown. He spent some years in vaudeville, and made his first appearance on radio in 1926, making the leap to legitimate theater soon after. His movie debut came with Victor Sjöström‘s The Wind starring Lillian Gish.
Producer Hal Roach took notice of Janney and hired him to appear in the Our Gang comedy Bear Shooters as “Spud.” By the mid-1930s, Janney was considered the quintessential male juvenile star, and was earning more than $100,000 a year.
In the 1930s and 1940s he adapted to radio and appeared on scores of shows and programs, including The Parker Family and the Adventures of Dick Cole. Janney appeared in bit roles on such television shows as Car 54, Where Are You?, The Defenders and The Jackie Gleason Show.
On Broadway, Janney appeared in Three Men on a Horse (1969), Kelly (1965), The Last Analysis (1964), Nobody Loves an Albatross (1963), Venus at Large (1962), A Call on Kuprin (1961), The Gazebo (1958), A Shadow of My Enemy (1957), Measure for Measure (1957), Threepenny Opera (1955), The Flowering Peach (1954), Madam, Will You Walk (1953), Ghost for Sale (1941), Foreigners (1939), The Bough Breaks (1937), Mulatto (1935), Parade (1935), The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles (1935), and Every Thursday (1934).
Janney was a member of the board of the Screen Actors Guild and the council of Actors’ Equity Association. He was also involved in activities of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, including being president of its New York local in 1963.
Leon Janney died of cancer on October 28, 1980, in Guadalajara, Mexico. He was 63 years old.