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Clan Leslie is one of the most multi-talented clans we’ve come across so far! It has been a treat to explore just a few of their greatest achievements in fields spanning from science to Hollywood. We hope you will feel as inspired as we have while reading about their stunning successes!
Meet the Famous Leslies
Rose Leslie
One member of the family you may have heard of is Rose Leslie, a Scottish actress known for 'Downton Abbey', 'Game of Thrones' and 'Vigil'.
Rose Eleanor Artbuthnot-Leslie was born on 9th February 1987 to Sebastian Arbuthnot-Leslie, the Aberdeenshire Chieftain of Clan Leslie, and Candida Mary Sibyl Leslie of Clan Fraser of Lovat, a descendant of Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat and King Charles II. Her family lives at the beautiful 12th century Wardhill Castle in Aberdeenshire, which has been in the Leslie family for over 800 years.
Rose went to Rayne North School in Aberdeenshire, but at age 10 she moved with her family to France where they lived for three years, and she learnt the language. When they returned to the UK, she went to a boarding school in Somerset, Millfield, where her love for drama and acting flourished, and her talent nurtured, before she studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art for three years. In 2008, she graduated from the Academy with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours degree.
At age 21, Rose won the Scottish BAFTA ‘Best Acting Performance – New Talent Award’ for her first on screen leading role in the TV film ‘New Town’ (2009) – also known as ‘Purves + Pekkala’. She went on to star in the popular TV drama ‘Downton Abbey’ in 2010, and the famous fantasy series ‘Game of Thrones’ on HBO in 2011. From here on in she was cast in many TV shows and films, such as ‘Vigil’, ‘The Good Fight’, and ‘The Last Witch Hunter’, making her mark worldwide.
Leslie married actor Kit Harington, who played her love interest Jon Snow in ‘Game of Thrones’, at the Kirkton of Rayne church in Aberdeenshire in 2018, and together they have two children.
Joan Leslie
You may be less familiar with our next famous face for today, but she was once an iconic star of the silver screen! Joan Leslie was an American actress who made her name during Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Born on the 26th of January 1925 as Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel, in Detroit, Michigan, her family faced serious financial struggles during the Great Depression. Joan and her three sisters decided to support their parents by entering show business as vaudeville performers. They toured across Canada and the United States, lying about their age to escape child labour laws, and began to develop admirable performance skills.
It was Joan who stood out among the three sisters, showing an uncanny knack for impressions, amusingly impersonating figures such as Katharine Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, and Jimmy Durante.
At the age of just eleven, Leslie caught the attention of a talent scout while she was performing in New York and was given a six-month contract with MGM studios, earning $200 a week.
Her first role was in a film named ‘Camille,’ a romantic comedy starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor. She played Taylor’s younger sister, but her scenes were unfortunately ultimately cut. Shortly after, MGM let her go and she began to work freelance for a variety of studios.
She got her big break when she signed a contract with Warner Bros. in 1941. It was then that she adopted the ‘Leslie’ surname to avoid confusion with the actress Joan Blondell. She went on to star opposite Humphrey Bogart in ‘High Sierra,’ play Gracie Williams, the love interest of Gary Cooper in ‘Sergeant York,’ and lead alongside James Cagney in the musical, ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy.’
During World War II, she regularly volunteered at the Hollywood Canteen, where she danced with soldiers and signed countless autographs.
By 1946, Leslie was beginning to grow restless and dissatisfied with her career, feeling that she wasn’t offered enough serious or mature roles. She took Warner Bros. to court and managed to get released from her contract early.
From then on, she worked for a variety of studios, including Republic Pictures, but she slowly started to focus more on her family life with her husband, William G. Caldwell, and their two children.
Leslie passed away on the 12th of October 2015 at the grand age of 90 and remains a beloved star from the classic Hollywood age to this day. Her talent, tenacity, and drive are undeniably inspirational!
Sir John Leslie
Our final famous face today was a renowned Scottish mathematician and physicist who made great breakthroughs in the studies of heat transfer and thermodynamics.
Sir John Leslie was born in Fife in 1766 to Robert Leslie, a joiner and cabinetmaker, and his wife, Anne Carstairs. He impressed his parents and tutors with his natural aptitude for maths and was encouraged to matriculate at the University of St Andrews at just thirteen years old.
He graduated in 1784 before going on to study divinity at the University of Edinburgh.
Over the next decade, he dedicated himself to the field of science, publishing various papers in Nicholson’s Philosophical Journal. His career gained traction in 1804 when he published ‘An Experimental Inquiry into the Nature and propagation of Heat.’ This was groundbreaking work for which he was awarded the prestigious Rumford Medal of the Royal Society of London.
The following year, he conducted one of his most famous experiments, using a cube filled with boiling water to show how the emission of thermal radiation varies across different surfaces. This apparatus came to be known as the ‘Leslie cube’ and is still used in physics education today.
In 1805, he was appointed as Professor of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh and published a number of texts over the course of his tenure, including two volumes of ‘A Course of Mathematics.’
In 1810, he performed another groundbreaking experiment, managing to freeze water using an air pump, becoming the first person to create artificial ice. In 1813, he published a report on this discovery called ‘A Short Account of Experiments and Instruments depending on the relations of Air to Heat and Moisture.’
Over the following decade, he continued to work prolifically, releasing the famous and best-selling book ‘The Philosophy of Arithmetic,’ in 1820. He also made a name for himself as a rather eccentric figure in his later life, even dying his hair purple!
Leslie was knighted in 1832 for his excellent contributions to science. He passed away later that year, but his work still has a great impact today, having laid the foundations for modern studies of heat transfer and thermodynamics. It’s certain that he has impacted and inspired generations of scientists.
That brings us to the end of this month’s Famous Faces blog. We have had a great time discovering the brilliant talents of Clan Leslie and hope you have, too!
If you would like to learn more about this mighty clan, head over to our Clan Leslie page, and make sure to keep an eye out for the rest of our content to come.
Image Sources:
Scottish actress Rose Leslie at HBO's "Game Of Thrones" Season 3 Seattle Premiere at Cinerama. by Suzi Pratt, CC BY-SA 2.0
American actress Joan Leslie (b. 1925) by Dell Publishing, 1946, Public Domain
John Leslie (1766-1832), Scottish physicist, Sheet: 24.4 x 16.9 cm by Ambroise Tardieu (1788-1841), Public Domain
