Lila Leeds

Lila Leeds born Lila Lee Wilkinson January 28 1928 September 15 1999 was an American film actress She signed with MetroGoldwynMayer and began appearing in small roles in the Red Skelton film The ShowOff 1946 Lady in the Lake 1947 based on a Raymond Chandler story and in the Lana Turner vehicle Green Dolphin Street She had a small part in So You Want to Be a Detective which was part of the Joe McDoakes series of comedy shorts the film being a reworking of the subjective camera style used in Lady in the Lake in which Leeds had previously appeared Leeds was producer Harold Hechts top choice to star in Kiss the Blood Off My Hands the first film by Hecht and costar Burt Lancasters production company Norma Productions Leeds was ultimately replaced by Joan Fontaine who was already under contract with the movies financer and distributor UniversalInternational Pictures On September 1 1948 Leeds gained notoriety for being arrested together with actor Robert Mitchum on charges of marijuana possession She subsequently spent sixty days in jail Considered a Lana Turner lookalike Leeds was 20 years old and engaged to Turners exhusband Stephen Crane at the time of her arrest Although she starred in the Reefer Madnessstyle film She Shoulda Said No 1949 following her release from jail her acting career unlike Mitchums never recovered from the scandal She died of a heart attack at age 71 in Los Angeles