Rex Lloyd Lease was born on February 11, 1903, in West Virginia, and grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Initially interested in the ministry, he attended Ohio Wesleyan University before deciding to pursue an acting career instead. Lease moved to Hollywood at the age of 19 in 1924 and began his career as an extra and bit player in silent films.
Lease's first significant role was in the melodrama A Woman Who Sinned (1924),and he soon became a popular silent film star, appearing in romantic dramas, jazz-age comedies, canine adventures, and rugged action films such as The Law of the Range (1928) alongside Joan Crawford.
When sound films became popular, Lease continued to work as a hero and romantic leading man in early talkies like Borrowed Wives (1930) and The Sign of the Wolf (1931). He also appeared in westerns like The Utah Kid (1930) and The Cowboy and the Bandit (1935),which helped establish him as a minor cowboy hero.
However, Lease's hero status was short-lived, and he often found himself playing secondary partners or villains for other established or rising western stars. By the late 1930s, he was relegated to minor roles and occasional featured parts in films like A Chump at Oxford (1940) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940).
Lease continued to work in films throughout the 1940s and 1950s, appearing in serials, westerns, and TV shows like "The Abbott & Costello Show" and "The Roy Rogers Show." He also had minor roles in films like Ride, Vaquero! (1953) and Calamity Jane (1953).
Lease's personal life was marked by five marriages and divorces, including two marriages to actresses. He eventually retired and died on January 3, 1966, at the age of 62. His son, Richard, was shot to death at age 25 the following year in a traffic altercation.
