Eleanor Thatcher

Biography

Eleanor Thatcher was born in Binghamton, New York on February 21, 1910. Growing up she sang often in church and later developed a deep love of dancing. With the start of the Great Depression in the early 1930s Eleanor decided to leave Broome County for the glamour and excitement of Hollywood. Arriving there in 1932 she secured work at MGM studios as a dress extra and was cast in a musical short entitled Wild People (1933) followed by another short, Over the Counter (1932) (which is still considered to be one of the most risque musical shorts to have ever been made during the Pre-Code era). With her ice cream blonde hair, blue eyes, and creamy skin she was soon becoming a popular face in musical shorts. She was later known for her "wiggle" that she showed audiences in ''Campus Crawl'' (1933). In 1934 she appeared as a singer in The Road to Ruin (1934) and upon its completion MGM Studios dropped her, citing her as having no talent and little public interest. After three years in Hollywood, Eleanor packed her bags and moved back to Binghamton. In 1935 she met Daniel Lesle who was employed by a department store in Binghamton. Following their marriage she secured secretarial work in the Managements Office of the same department store where her husband work and later mothered two children. Although her time in the spotlight may have been short Eleanor felt that it was a blessing and that it was better to have been a has-been then a never was. On March 13, 1987 Eleanor Thatcher Lesle died at Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton due to an intestinal ailment. She was 77 years old.