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L.H. LaLeavitto
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born:
14 April 1898 Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States of America |
died:
25 December 1972 Los Angeles County, California, United States of America (age 74) |
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Dark-haired American actor; some 1923-24 newspapers mention him also being a tenor vocalist. Tracking one of the phone numbers (592-369) given for L. H. LaLeavitto in several of his 1924 Standard Casting Directory ads through the September 1927 Kelts' Geographical Directory (at the Los Angeles Public Library website), we find L. H. LaLeavitto living at 4875 Lexington Avenue in Los Angeles. Tracking this address through Los Angeles City Directories and California voter registrations, we ultimately discover that LaLeavitto's real name was Leavitt H. Smith, and from there, the above and below information... Smith/LaLeavitto was arrested in an April 1934 raid and sentenced to life in San Quentin State Prison on a morals conviction; in December 1940, he appealed to Gov. Culbert L. Olson for a pardon. Smith was ultimately paroled in June 1941, but he was again arrested in July 1947 for violating said parole; he was residing in Fayetteville, Tennessee, at the time, and papers reported that as he sat in the Nashville City Jail awaiting California officials to deliver him back to San Quentin, he demanded "better food, two blankets and a pillow," remarking, "I've been used to better." In the 1950 Census, he is serving time at Folsom State Prison. He was paroled again in 1955, and was discharged from parole in 1957. Interestingly, in the 1930 U.S. Census, his brother Vance W. Smith (1900-1990) is living at 620 North Camden Drive in Beverly Hills -- right next to Lyle Tayo (listed as Minnie L. Shipman) and her sister, Bernice S. Reynolds, who are living at 622 North Camden Drive. |
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Real name: Leavitt Harrell Smith Height: 5'11" |
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography. |
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