Leslie Fuller

Leslie Fuller (9 October 1888 – 24 April 1948) was a British comedy film actor. He was married to the actress Nancy Bates. Albert Leslie Fuller was born in 1888 at 14 Pollard Row, Bethnal Green, London, although many biographies wrongly state Margate, as he had a lifelong association with this seaside town. His father was Albert Fuller and his mother was Amelia Lepley. In 1891 his father was running a coffee house, but by 1901 he was a self-employed printer and as a boy, Leslie would help his father in the business. From an early age Leslie became obsessed with show business and started performing in a small schoolboy minstrel troupe. Blessed with a voice of sorts (he described himself as a ‘bad baritone’) and with a repertoire of only three songs, he joined a troupe playing on Brighton beach. He then moved on to join a troupe in Maidenhead, playing in a small marquee by the river and during the regatta on the river itself in a small punt! Between 1909-1912 both Leslie and Dave Fuller performed in ‘The Silloth Pierrots’ at Silloth in Cumbria. In 1914 at the end of a summer season in Weston-Super-Mare, Leslie married one of his fellow entertainers a 26-year-old dancer and male impersonator Beatrice Witham.