City Council Pays Tribute to Actor Francis Lederer

Francis Lederer of West Hills, a former matinee idol who will celebrate his 100th birthday this week, was recognized by the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday.

Councilwoman Laura Chick presented Lederer with a resolution citing his acting credits in stage, film and television roles and his civic activism as a commissioner for the departments of Parks and Recreation and Cultural Affairs.

With wit and wisdom, Lederer said the secret of longevity “is to live a long time.”

Born Frantisek Lederer in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on Nov. 6, 1899, he began his career on stage and eventually became a film star in Berlin and Vienna.

Lederer moved to Hollywood in 1934 and over the next two decades established himself as a leading man, usually in roles as a continental lover with a mean streak. His most noted roles from that era were in “Confessions of a Nazi Spy” in 1939 and “The Man I Married” in 1940.

On television, Lederer made guest appearances on “Mission: Impossible,” “Ben Casey,” “The Untouchables” and “It Takes a Thief,” among other shows.

With his film career winding down, Lederer and his wife, Marion, who attended Wednesday’s ceremony, settled in the west San Fernando Valley in the 1940s.

The couple purchased 300 acres surrounding and including Canoga Hill, near Sherman Way and Woodlake Avenue. The Lederers built a Spanish mission-style home of local stone.

Lederer served as honorary mayor of Canoga Park, established Canoga Park’s sister city program with Taxco, Mexico, and founded the Hollywood Museum.

In 1957, Lederer, one of the earliest members of the Screen Actors Guild, founded the American National Academy of Performing Arts in Studio City, where he continues to teach a weekly actors workshop. The school’s walls are covered with photos of former students.

Lederer’s political activism at times put him at odds with colleagues and government officials. In 1940, he was exonerated by a U.S. House subcommittee of being a Communist Party sympathizer.

A bitter dispute with board members of the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills prompted Lederer to withdraw a $17-million bequest in 1982 because he said the board was not receptive to how he thought the money should be used.

Lederer’s philosophy about life and acting, he said, is “learn by doing.”