Leslie Banks, CBE (9 June 1890 – 21 April 1952) was an English theatre and cinema actor, director, and producer now best remembered for playing gruff, menacing characters in black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s. Leslie Banks was born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, to George and Emily (née Dalby) Banks. He went to school in Scotland at Glenalmond College and later studied at Keble College, Oxford with the intention of becoming a parson but decided against this. He joined F.R. Benson's company and made his acting debut in October 1911 at the town hall, Brechin, playing Old Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice. He then toured the United States and Canada with Henry V. Esmond and Eva Moore 1912-1913. Returning to London, he appeared for the first time on the West End stage at the Vaudeville Theatre on 5 May 1914, as Lord Murdon in The Dangerous Age. When the First World War broke out, he served with the Essex Regiment 1914-1918. He received injuries that left his face partially scarred and paralysed.