Leon Cortez (27 May 1898 – 31 December 1970) was a British musician and actor who appeared regularly on stage and in films and television in a career that spanned five decades.
Biography Leon Cortez was born in London as Richard Alfred Chalklin,Adrian Room, Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers (2010) - Google Books pg 118 the son of Alice and Richard Ernest Chalklin, a house decorator.London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754–1932 for Richard Alfred Chalklin From August 1915 he served in the British Army and the Royal Air Force during World War I. After the War he married Hilda Adelaide Hunt in December 1918 and went into cinema management before turning to the stage. He became well known as a Cockney comedian and variety actor and he was regularly heard in his Cockney Coster Band (the act was top of the bill at the Adelphi in Slough in 1936 and appeared in the 1937 film Calling All Stars)Leon Cortez and His Coster Band - British Film Institute websiteObituary for Ralph Herman - The Telegraph - 16 November 2014 and The 'Appy 'Alf 'Our on BBC Radio during the late 1930s and early 40s.Paul Rixon, Radio Critics and Popular Culture: A History of British Radio Criticism, Palgrave Macmillan (2018) - Google Books pg 77Leon Cortez and The 'Appy 'Alf 'Our - BBC website Cortez also became known for his Shakespearean comedy parodies. In addition to his frequent film and television roles he continued to work on the stage for much of his life as well as being a regular in pantomime.
His television appearances included Dixon of Dock Green (1960–62); One Step Beyond (1961); Dice Player in Echo Four Two (1961); Lapie in Maigret (1961); Citizen James; Honest Arthur in Suspense (1963); First Driver / Court Usher in Bootsie and Snudge (1963); Innkeeper in Richard the Lionheart (1963); Mac / Birdie in The Saint (1964–68); Mr. Crogan in Beggar My Neighbour (1967); Samuels in Out of the Unknown (1969); Christofis in Christ Recrucified (1969); Noony in A Cuckoo in the Nest (1970) and Will in Play for Today (1970). His roles in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army include Henry the Milkman in Museum Piece (1968) and the Small Man in Man Hunt (1969).Leon Cortez in Man Hunt - BBC Dad's Army website
His film roles include Townsman (uncredited) in Can't Help Singing (1944); Lou in Strip Tease Murder (1961); Grimes in Gang War (1962); Busker in I Could Go On Singing (1963); Caretaker in Echo of Diana (1963) and 'Uncle Marty' in Secrets of a Windmill Girl (1966);
Cortez was about to begin rehearsals for two other television plays when he suddenly died in Brighton in East Sussex on 31 December 1970 aged 72.Richard Alfred Chalklin in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007
References
External links Cortez on Internet Movie Database Film of Leon Cortez And His Coster Band - 'Chords, Cues And Costers' (1936) - Pathé News