Leona Anderson was born as Leona Aronson on April 3, 1885, in
St. Louis, Missouri. She was the younger sister of
Broncho Billy Anderson, who co-founded
Essanay Studios in Chicago in 1907. She appeared in several films for Essanay Studios without much success beginning in 1914. In 1915, she appeared with
Charlie Chaplin in the Essanay Studios comedy
In the Park. In 1922, she had a starring role opposite
Stan Laurel in the comedy
Mud and Sand, a spoof of the
Rudolph Valentino film
Blood and Sand. Kovacs' widow,
Edie Adams, later recalled that "She (Anderson) knew she was
camp, but she was very funny, and very sweet." This led
Columbia Records to issue two singles by Anderson in 1954–55. This was followed by the comedic album
Music to Suffer By on Unique Records in 1957, and "Limburger Lover". By the late 1950s, she had become widely known for her bad singing, which was apparently an act she created to mock the pompous style of serious opera singers; "Opera singers just can't kid themselves properly ... they can never let their voices go," Anderson was quoted as saying. Music critic Ned Raggett asserts "hearing her crack, strain, burble, and otherwise demonstrate that her singing voice is completely surplus to any requirements might either be seizure-inducing or seizure-removing, depending on how you place your speakers." Anderson's final film appearance was as the frightening Mrs. Slydes in the 1959 horror film
House on Haunted Hill, directed by
William Castle and starring
Vincent Price. In 1973, at age 88, she died in
Fremont, California. ==Partial filmography==