Andrea Leeds was an American film actress who enjoyed a successful career in Hollywood during the late 1930s. Born on August 18, 1914, Leeds began her acting career in 1933, initially playing bit parts and using her given name. She later adopted the stage name Andrea Leeds, which she used for her more substantial roles.
Leeds' breakthrough role came in 1936 with the film Come and Get It, and she went on to achieve further success with her next film, It Could Happen to You! in 1937. She was part of an ensemble cast that included Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Lucille Ball in the critically acclaimed film Stage Door, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Despite being nominated for an Academy Award, Leeds' next film, The Goldwyn Follies, was not a success and received poor reviews. However, she continued to appear in films, including Youth Takes a Fling and They Shall Have Music, in which she played the lead female role opposite Joel McCrea.
Leeds' subsequent films included The Real Glory, in which she starred alongside Gary Cooper and David Niven, and Swanee River, a biographical drama about the life of Stephen Foster, in which she starred alongside Don Ameche. Her final film was Earthbound, a fantasy murder mystery in which her character solves the murder of her husband, aided by his ghost.
Leeds' personal life was marked by her marriage to Robert Stewart Howard, the son of a wealthy businessman and racehorse owner, in 1939. She decided to leave her acting career to devote herself to raising a family and became a successful horse owner and breeder, following in her father-in-law's footsteps.
