Ciceri, Leo, 1924-1970 : Leo Ciceri, actor, was born in Montreal in 1924. He studied at St. Leo's Academy and Sir George Williams College, before joining the RCAF in 1943. After his discharge in 1945, Ciceri attended McGill University, graduating in 1948 with a B.A. in English.
Ciceri's stage career began during his years at McGill. He acted at the summer theatre Brae Manor in Knowlton (Quebec) in 1946 and returned as its stage manager the next summer. He acted in McGill University productions as well as with the Montreal Drama Guild, Open Air Playhouse, Shakespeare Society of Montreal and Canadian Art Theatre. He began a long association with the Montreal Repertory Theatre in 1947 and was a member of the Sorel Modern Dance Group in 1948.
In the fall of 1948, Leo Ciceri left Canada to study acting at the Old Vic Theatre School in London, England. He spent 2 years at the school and then spent a season in repertory with the Salisbury Arts Theatre. Later on he worked at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, for two years, 1951-1952, then won the role of Aumerle in Sir John Gielgud's production of Richard II in London, followed by the role of Telemachus in Tennent Productions' The Private Life of Helen, which toured England in 1953. After working a year in revue, and doing repertory work in Hornchurch near London as well as television and radio work for the BBC, Ciceri won the role of Paris in Tiger at the Gates, which opened on Broadway in 1955.
Ciceri appeared on Broadway again in 1956, in The Lark with Julie Harris. After touring with The Lark in the U.S. and working again briefly in England, Ciceri returned to Canada where he appeared in Gratien Gelinas' production of L'Alouette at Montreal's Comédie Canadienne, 1957, and in the University of British Columbia's productions of The Salzburg Everyman and The Caucasian Chalk Circle for the Vancouver International Festivals, 1958-1959. Ciceri played Dr. Banting in the National Film Board's film The Quest and appeared in a number of Montreal Repertory Theatre productions during his first years back in Canada.
In 1960, Ciceri made his first appearances at the Stratford Festival, in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet, beginning an association with Stratford Festival that was to last until his death. During the next 11 years, Ciceri was part of the Stratford Company, as well as working at the Montreal Repertory Theatre during Stratford's off-season and appearing in Chicago in productions of Shakespeare at the Goodman Memorial Theatre. He played Pope Pius XII in the Crest's production of The Deputy in 1965 and in 1968, spent a season as a member of the repertory company at New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre.
Leo Ciceri died in 1970 at the age of 46 in a car accident near Stratford, Ontario.
