Leon Ames

Leon Ames (born Harry Leon Wycoff; January 20, 1902 – October 12, 1993) was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing father figures in such films as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) with Lucille Bremer, Margaret O'Brien and Judy Garland as his daughters, Little Women (1949), On Moonlight Bay (1951) and By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953). His best-known dramatic role may have been as DA Kyle Sackett in the crime film The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Early years Leon Ames was born Harry Leon Wycoff on January 20, 1902 in Portland, Indiana to Charles Elmer Wycoff and Cora Alice (DeMoss) Wycoff. Some sources list his original last name as Wykoff or Waycoff, and in his early films, he acted under the name of Leon Waycoff. In 1935, Ames explained that he had changed his name because Waycoff was often misspelled and mispronounced. Ames was his mother's maiden name. In the 1910 census, when his family was residing in Fowler, Indiana, Ames' name was given as Harry L. Wycoff and his father was listed as a manager of a meat market. During World War I, Ames served in the field artillery of the U.S. Army and later in the flying corps (the Army Air Service). Stage Ames' involvement with entertainment began when he worked as a stage manager for the Charles K. Champlin Theatre Company. He ventured into acting with the group and progressed to the lead in a production of Tomorrow and Tomorrow in Los Angeles. He acted for three years with the Stuart Walker Stock Company in Cincinnati.