Biography for
Lenore Aubert More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

18 April 1918, Cilli, Austria-Hungary (now Celje, Slovenia)

Date of Death

31 July 1993, Great Neck, Long Island, New York, USA

Birth Name

Eleanore Maria Leisner

Mini Biography

Lenore Aubert was born in present-day Slovenia, at the time still connected to the Austro-Hungarian Empire (her French name was pure Hollywood hokum, designed to make her background more exotic - though she did live for some time in Paris). Eleanore Maria Leisner was the daughter of an Austrian general and spent her formative years in Vienna where she studied acting and appeared in a few movies as an extra. Her marriage to a Jewish boy obliged her to leave Austria after the 'Anschluss' and the couple emigrated to the United States via France. In New York, Lenore found work as a model and was eventually offered a lucrative stage role as Lorraine Sheldon in "The Man Who Came to Dinner" at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego. Determined to get the part, Lenore crossed the U.S. by bus.

Once settled in California, Lenore was 'discovered' twice. The first time, she was spotted by an agent for Samuel Goldwyn and signed to appear as the alluring Nazi spy trying to tempt Bob Hope in They Got Me Covered (1943). Though Dorothy Lamour wryly commented on Lenore's sexy walk, there was not enough screen time for the newcomer to seriously challenge the established star in the popularity stakes. After that, Lenore went into Action in Arabia (1944) opposite George Sanders. This picture did not make much of a splash either, but attracted the attention of Republic studio boss Herbert J. Yates, who was still desperately searching to find a replacement for his failed star Vera Ralston. Lenore was consequently cast in the period thriller The Catman of Paris (1946) which was launched with a (for Republic) bigger-then-average publicity campaign and went on to be exhibited at the better cinemas. Unfortunately, in the course of the 65 minutes, sets and cinematography were the real stars. Though the cast tried hard, they failed to overcome the deficiencies of lacklustre direction,a silly script and the even sillier makeup for the not very scary top- hatted 'werecat' monster. Needless to say, that 'Catman' did nothing for the careers of any involved.

During the next few years, Lenore appeared in a number of B-movies, such as The Return of the Whistler (1948) and _Barbary Pirate (1949). Her own favourite among her screen roles was that of Viennese singer/actress Fritzi Scheff (1879-1954) in I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947). Several times she had screen-tested, unsuccessfully, for A-grade productions. These included Saratoga Trunk (1945) and _For Whom The Bell Tolls_ (1943), but on both occasions she lost out to Ingrid Bergman. Lenore's greatest success in film was probably retrospectively, due to the popularity and later cult status enjoyed by two films starring her with Abbott and Costello, made back-to-back: Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) (generally regarded as the duo's best) and 'Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer,Boris Karloff_ (1948)_. A story goes, that, during production of the first, Lenore (attired all in mink) walked actor Glenn Strange, who played the Frankenstein monster, on a leash in full make-up, up and down the studio lot in full view of visiting tourists arriving on the tour tram - good publicity !

In the 1950's, Lenore joined her husband, who was in the garment business, in New York. The business succeeded, the marriage did not. With the exception of a couple of minor European films, Lenore's acting career was effectively over. She devoted much of her remaining life to charitable causes, doing work for the United Nations and the Museum of Natural History in New York.

IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis

Spouse

Milton Greene	(1959 - 1974) (divorced)
Julius Altman	(1938 - ?) (divorced)

Trivia

Was discovered by a talent scout while performing in a Los Angeles community theatre production

In the 1960s was active in the United Nations Activity and Housing Section

She was the only woman to portray a mad scientist in the Golden Age of the cinema. This occurred when she was cast as Dr. Sandra Mornay in the movie Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).