Leila Hyams

Leila Hyams
Hyams as seen in Photoplay (1930)
Born	(1905-05-01)May 1, 1905 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	December 4, 1977(1977-12-04) (aged 72) Bel Air, Los Angeles, U.S.
Years active	1924 – 1936
Spouse(s)	Phil Berg (1927–1977, her death)
Parent(s)	John Hyams and Leila McIntyre Hyams

Leila Hyams (May 1, 1905 – December 4, 1977) was an American model, vaudeville and film actress. Her relatively short film career began in the 1920s during the era of silent films and ended in 1936. Although her career only lasted around ten years, she appeared in more than 50 film roles.

She was born in New York City to vaudeville comedy performers John Hyams, (1869-1940) and Leila (née McIntyre) Hyams (1882-1953). Both parents appeared in films and mother Leila Senior was also a noted stage performer; her parents can later be seen together in several Hollywood films such as in 1939's The Housekeeper's Daughter. Hyams appeared on-stage with her parents while still a child. As a teenager, she worked as a model and became well known across the United States after appearing in a successful series of newspaper advertisements. This success led her to Hollywood.

She made her first film in 1924, and with her blonde hair, green eyes, delicate features, and good-natured demeanor, was cast in a string of supporting roles, where she was required to do very little but smile and look pretty. She proved herself capable of handling the small roles she was assigned, and over a period of time, she came to be taken seriously as an actress. By 1928, she was playing starring roles, achieving success in MGM's first talkie release, Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928) opposite William Haines, Lionel Barrymore, and Karl Dane. The following year, she appeared in the popular murder mystery The Thirteenth Chair, a role that offered her the chance to display her dramatic abilities as a murder suspect. At Fox that same year, she appeared in director Allan Dwan's now lost romantic adventure The Far Call opposite Charles Morton. The quality of her parts continued to improve as the decade turned, including a role as Robert Montgomery's sister in the prison drama The Big House (1930) with Chester Morris and Wallace Beery, for which Hyams once again received positive reviews. She then appeared in Surrender (1931).