by Hal Erickson
biography
Liverpool native Leslie Fenton was raised in the U.S., where he secured work as a stage juvenile. In films from 1924, Fenton specialized in playing charming but slightly slimy rogues; one of his more memorable movie assignments was as dapper bootlegger Nails Nathan in The Public Enemy (1931). In 1939, Fenton switched from acting to directing, working on such brisk programmers as Tell No Tales (a truly accomplished 1939 crime melodrama), Tomorrow the World (1944), Saigon (1948) and Whispering Smith (1948). For many years, Leslie Fenton was the husband of film star Ann Dvorak, who moved to England with Fenton while he served the British military during World War II.
