He was the Aberdeen man with stars in his eyes who met many of the biggest names in the film industry after taking a leap of faith in the 1950s.
George Leslie’s name might be little known outwith the Hollywood environs, but he used his powers of persuasion and meticulous attention to detail as a means of helping bring some of the most famous movies ever made to fruition.
The Towering Inferno
And, whenever the opportunity arose, he fitted in roles as an extra to the extent that the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) credits him with involvement in an eclectic range of work, ranging from the Oscar-winning The Towering Inferno in 1974 and the acclaimed Altered States in 1980 to the much-derided The Swarm in 1978, which has been widely described as one of the worst films – and it’s no short list – on Michael Caine’s CV.
While he was growing up in the Granite City, it would have seemed faintly absurd to imagine that Mr Leslie would one day jettison a job in his homeland, fly off to the States on a wing and a prayer and end up counting some of the world’s most stellar actors and actresses as his personal friends.
But his son, Ian, has unearthed a scrapbook which contains a selection of his father’s most-prized photographs and features a diverse array of images of him with a galaxy of stars.
The Duke
They include the great Western maestro, John Wayne, Paul Newman, William Holden, Michael Caine, Richard Burton, Robin Williams, Glenn Close and William Hurt, who were just some of the leading actors with whom Mr Leslie mingled after he landed a job with Warner Brothers in Hollywood.
Mr Leslie was employed as a location controller, auditor and even became a bit-part actor during a remarkable career which has enough twisty yarns and quirky features to be a decent Tinseltown script in its own right.
His IMDb profile simply mentions that he “moved from Aberdeen to America with his wife Betty where he worked as an extra for a TV show”.
Treasure trove
But that all-too-brief resume glosses over the impact which he had on so many of the A-list men and women who plied their trade in the industry.
Ian Leslie, a retired microbiologist, has spoken about his father’s connections to Tinseltown after unearthing a treasure trove of memorabilia following his father’s death in December 2011, at the age of 92.
Mr Leslie, one of those redoubtable little Scottish coiled springs of energy, who rolled up his sleeves and made dreams come true through the sheer force of his personality, worked with Newman and Holden – a brace of the biggest box office draws throughout their careers – on the blockbuster disaster movie about a skyscraper which is engulfed by fire.
And he became friends with the legendary cowboy Wayne while they were involved in the shooting of three different films, including the classic Rio Bravo.
Streets paved with gold
His son revealed there were precious few stars in Hollywood in the 1960s and 1970s who did not find themselves close to Mr Leslie, not least because of his enthusiasm for the silver screen and willingness to work tirelessly behind the scenes on a wide range of productions.
His son offered a glimpse at some of the myriad images from the golden age of movies and said: “It was in 1954 when a relative told him: ‘Do you know California is paved with gold’.
“And that was it.
“He didn’t take a second glance before walking away from a good newspaper job and travelling to the United States to make his mark.
“He started out by pulling the nails out of a board on a stage set, so they could be used again.
“But he persevered.
“And it just grew from there. He gradually moved up the ladder at Warner Bros, and when they suffered some problems, he moved on to the famous Disney studio.
“He really enjoyed the challenge, but it was in the late 1960s and the 1970s when he was involved in some really big blockbusters such as The Towering Inferno, which was nominated for eight Oscars in all, winning three.”
In addition to Steve McQueen and Newman, the cast includes William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Susan Blakely, Richard Chamberlain, OJ Simpson, Robert Vaughn, Robert Wagner, Dabney Coleman and Jennifer Jones.
There were some big egos on the sets of his various projects, but Mr Leslie took people as he found them, invariably managed to find mutual topics of interest and gradually established himself as one of the most reliable people in the industry, even while dealing with some volcanic characters.
Francis Ford Coppola
His son added: “He didn’t talk much about his work, but later on, I heard plenty of stories about how he had to keep films on budget when there was a risk to the budget.
“That meant locking up a hotel bar on one occasion, so that Richard Burton wouldn’t try to get any more drink.
“Then, on another occasion, (the Oscar-winning director of Apocalypse Now) Francis Ford Coppola wanted to shoot a scene on somebody’s private land and my father had to go and tell him: ‘Francis, you just can’t do this’.
“He was able to get his message across without any fuss and the people he worked with obviously liked that. It does make me feel proud when I look at all the photographs which my father collected during his life.
“He really liked Paul Newman, John Wayne, Brian Keith and Glenn Close and he relished the bit parts which arrived when he got to appear on screen as well, including a role as a priest in a film with Malcolm McDowell.”
The little fellow pursued a long-held ambition with a trip into the unknown and made it happen.
He has left behind a genuine trove of precious photographs and other items for his family to cherish.
That’s definitely a feel-good script in these troubling times.
