Leonard Fenton
Leonard Fenton (born Leonard Finestein; 29 April 1926 – 29 January 2022) was an English actor, director and painter. He is best known for playing Harold Legg in the BBC soap EastEnders, a role he first had from 1985 to 1997 and then returned for brief stints in 2000, 2004, 2007 and 2018–2019.
He was born in Stepney, London, to a Jewish family. He went to Raine Foundation Grammar School and started training to be a civil engineer at King’s College London. During World War II he served as an army engineer. After the war he worked as an engineer for five years but then changed to acting. He won a scholarship to the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, starting a career that lasted more than six decades.
Fenton acted in television, theatre, film and radio. Early in his career he worked with Orson Welles on Chimes at Midnight, and he appeared in programs such as Studio Four, Colditz, Secret Army, Z-Cars, Play for Today, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Shine on Harvey Moon. In the theatre he played Willie in Beckett’s Happy Days at the Royal Court in 1979.
Aside from EastEnders, his TV work included Rumpole of the Bailey and The Bill. His film roles included Up the Creek, The Devil-Ship Pirates, Give My Regards to Broad Street, Morons from Outer Space and The Zombie Diaries. He also did radio drama for BBC Radio 4 and directed the stage piece After Chekhov in 2004.
Fenton was also a professional painter with several exhibitions. He was married to Madeline Thorner in 1967 and they had four children; they later separated. He supported the Labour Party before the 2010 general election.
Leonard Fenton died in Hillingdon, London, on 29 January 2022, at the age of 95. His former EastEnders co-star June Brown remembered him as a kind and charming man.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 01:32 (CET).