Leo Willis (January 5, 1890[1] – April 10, 1952) was an American actor who began his career in the silent era.
[2] He played mainly tough guys and comic villains, notably opposite Harold Lloyd, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy at the Hal Roach Studios.
"[5] Willis again figured prominently, this time alongside fellow villain Thomas Kurihara, in Hart's followup western, The Devil's Double.
[6][7] The Philadelphia Inquirer, in its contemporaneous review of Harold Lloyd's 1927 comedy The Kid Brother, states that Walter James, Willis, and Olin Francis, in their respective portrayals of the hero's father and two older brothers, "create a new standard of character work in a feature-length comedy,"[8] a point echoed by New-York Tribune critic Harriette Underhill, who characterized the trio's work as "singularly earnest [and] without exaggeration for a work of this sort.
"[9] Beginning in 1927, the final decade of Willis's screen career featured appearances—mostly in minor roles—in 11 films alongside Laurel and Hardy, including a pair, Call of the Cuckoo and Flying Elephants, in which the two appeared together prior to becoming a full-fledged team, as well as his final role, in the 1936 Charlie Chase short, On the Wrong Trek, in which the famous team makes only a cameo appearance.