Hal LeSueur

Hal Hays LeSueur (September 3, 1901[1], or 1903[3][4][2] – May 3, 1963) was an American actor and the older brother of Oscar-winning actress Joan Crawford.

Hal LeSueur
Born	Hal Hays LeSueur September 3, 1901[1] or 1903 [2] San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Died	May 3, 1963
Spouse(s)	Jessie Burress ​ ( m. 1922; div. 1929) Kasha Haroldi ​ ( m. 1931; div. 1935)
Children	1
Relatives	Joan Crawford (sister) Christina Crawford (niece)

Background

Hal LeSueur was born in San Antonio, Texas, the second child of Thomas E. LeSueur (died 1938) and Anna Bell Johnson (died 1958). His older sister was Daisy LeSueur and his younger sister was Lucille Fay LeSueur, later the Oscar-winning film star Joan Crawford. After Thomas LeSueur had abandoned the family, Anna wed businessman Henry J. Cassin (1868–1922). The family lived in Lawton, Oklahoma, then moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1917. Hal LeSueur moved from Kansas City around 1928 to Los Angeles. He found work in the stock department at MGM in bit parts or as an extra.[5]

Marriages

He was married twice. His first wife was Jessie Burress (July 17, 1904[6]– December 2, 1977). They wed on October 21, 1922 in Kansas City, Missouri[7] (age given as 21) and divorced in 1929[8]. His second wife was Kasha Haroldi (March 31, 1907 – June 26, 1992). Hal and Kasha married in Santa Ana, California on September 16, 1931, with Hal's age given as 30.[1]. They had one child, a daughter, named Joan Crawford LeSueur (December 2, 1933 – December 15, 1999), [9] who was named after Hal's sister and became a dancer on Broadway, known professionally as Joan Lowe. Kasha and Hal LeSueur divorced in 1935. She won custody of their daughter. She remarried and became Mrs. Kasha Lowe; her daughter became Joan Lowe, the name by which she was known professionally, later Mrs. Joan Fowler.

Controversy

On November 9, 1935, LeSueur was in a head-on collision at the top of Cahuenga Pass. The other car caught fire and the three people inside, Earl Gose, who was driving, his wife, Golda, and his unmarried sister, Grace, were pulled from the blaze. Their car burned to a charred hulk.[10] LeSueur suffered severe cuts and bruises on his hands, face, arms and legs. The other people were also seriously injured. All were taken to a hospital in Hollywood. The injuries of Grace Gose proved fatal three days later. His mother, Anna, and his ex-wife, Kasha, accompanied him to the coroner's inquest on November 15. Earl and Golda Gose were unable to appear. LeSueur testified that he was driving near the center of the highway when the other car suddenly pulled out from behind another car into his lane and he was unable to avoid the collision.[11] The Coroner's jury exonerated him of blame for the crash, returning a verdict of accidental death.[12]

In February 1936, Earl and Golda Gose sued him, seeking $86,400 in damages. Golda, who was taken into court on a hospital stretcher, which was placed before the jury box, testified that LeSueur was driving on the wrong side of Cahuenga Boulevard when his car collided with theirs. LeSueur not only denied responsibility for the accident, but in his cross-complaint for $10,000 charged that the crash came about through Gose's negligent driving. The suit was then abruptly dropped, however, when a settlement was reached. LeSueur agreed to pay them $8,500, one tenth of what they had originally sought.[12]

Later years

Tired of being an uncredited actor in the films on which he worked, he decided to try his hand at make-up work at MGM for a while. When he left that job, he worked as a sporting goods salesman. LeSueur made one final movie appearance, playing a reporter in Jeanne Eagels (1957), the only role for which LeSueur received screen credit. He made one TV appearance in an episode of the series State Trooper, titled No Fancy Cowboys, which aired on March 13, 1957. When he left the sporting goods business, LeSueur began working as a desk clerk at a Los Angeles hotel, and supplemented his income working as a switchboard operator at the motel where he lived.[13]

Death

Hal LeSueur died of a ruptured appendix at General Hospital. He was interred in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California. He was originally believed to have been 59 years old, but may have been 61. His sister reportedly sent him telegrams from New York to the hospital before he died, but did not attend his funeral.[14]

Filmography

Year	Title	Distributed	Role	Notes
1935	Mutiny on the Bounty	MGM	Millard	Uncredited
1936	After the Thin Man	MGM	Polly's Admirer	Uncredited
1937	Mama Steps Out	MGM	Steward With Key	Uncredited
1937	Bad Guy	MGM	Prison Switchboard Operator	Uncredited
1937	My Dear Miss Aldrich	MGM	Reporter	Uncredited
1937	Madame X	MGM	Spectator	Uncredited
1937	Mannequin	MGM	Tout	Uncredited
1938	Man-Proof	MGM	Guest in Drawing Room	Uncredited
1938	The Girl of the Golden West	MGM	Adjutant	Uncredited
1938	Judge Hardy's Children	MGM	Joe, the Chauffeur	Uncredited
1938	Three Comrades	MGM	Dancer Who Stumbles with Erich	Uncredited
1938	The Toy Wife	MGM	First Brother	Uncredited
1938	The Crowd Roars	MGM	Usher at Madison Square Garden	Uncredited
1939	Dancing Co-Ed	MGM	Boy	Uncredited
1940	I Take This Woman	MGM	Man in Cafe	(scenes deleted)
1940	Broadway Melody of 1940	MGM	Casey's Chauffeur	Uncredited
1940	The Golden Fleecing	MGM	Clerk	Uncredited
1940	Sky Murder	MGM	Al, co-pilot	Uncredited
1940	Dulcy	MGM	Businessman in Meeting	Uncredited
1940	Flight Command	MGM	Hell Cat	Uncredited
1941	Respect the Law	MGM	Reporter	Short, Uncredited
1941	The Big Store	MGM	Chauffeur	Uncredited
1941	Married Bachelor	MGM	Man vying for table in cafe	Uncredited
1941	Shadow of the Thin Man	MGM	Reporter	Uncredited
1942	The Bugle Sounds	MGM	Recruit	Uncredited
1942	Whistling in Dixie	MGM	Sound Effects Man	Uncredited
1942	Stand by for Action	MGM	Lookout	Uncrredited
1957	Jeanne Eagels	Columbia	Reporter	Uncredited, (final film role)

References

1. "Marriage License, State of California, County of Orange". FamilySearch.org. p. 380. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
2. ""United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946"". FamilySearch.org. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
3. Hal LeSueur's Los Angeles Times obituary (dated Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1963), his birth certificate, his U.S. Army Enlistment papers, California State Death records and his gravestone all indicate 1903 (see below).
4. ""California Death Index, 1940-1997". FamilySearch.org. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
5. Don Blanding (November 10, 2012). "Lucille Was Here in Lawton". Okie Magazine. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
6. "ssdi".
7. "Biodata". ancestry.com. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
8. "Imdb.com".
9. Joan Fuller's dates of birth and death, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007.; accessed September 30, 2015.
10. "Wrecked Ford at 4606 West Adams Boulevard, wrecked & burned Chrysler at 6245 Lexington Avenue, Hal LeSueur assured, Los Angeles, CA, 1935 ::". digitallibrary.usc.edu. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
11. "Coroner Frank Nance and Hal Le Sueur at inquest, Los Angeles, 1935 - UCLA Library Digital Collections". digital.library.ucla.edu. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
12. "The Best of Everything". Joancrawfordbest.com. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
13. "Hal Hays LeSueur". Geni. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
14. Hal LeSueur obituary, joancrawfordbest.com; accessed September 6, 2014.

External links

• Hal LeSueur on IMDb
• Hal LeSueur at Find a Grave