:Leon Pownall

{{Short description|Welsh-Canadian actor and director (1943–2006)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Leon Pownall

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

children = 2

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth_date|1943|4|26}}

| birth_place = Wrexham, Denbighshire, Wales

| death_date = {{death_date_and_age|2006|6|2|1943|4|26}}

| death_place = Stratford, Ontario, Canada

| occupation = Actor

}}

Leon Pownall (April 26, 1943 – June 2, 2006) was a Welsh-Canadian actor and director.

He was born in Wrexham, Wales and moved to Hamilton, Ontario with his family in 1957. He performed at the Stratford Festival during the 1960s and returned several times to the festival over the years to perform, the last time in 2002 as a director.{{cite web | url =https://archives.stratfordfestival.ca/AIS/Details/people/8988 | title = Leon Pownall acting and directing credits | website = Stratford Festival Archives | access-date=June 21, 2019}}

Pownall wrote and performed a one-man play, Do Not Go Gentle, about Dylan Thomas. Geraint Wyn Davies later performed this work off-Broadway in 2005 and at the Stratford Festival in 2010.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2005/legit/reviews/do-not-go-gentle-1200525615/|title=Do Not Go Gentle |date=May 22, 2005|publisher=Variety|via=}}{{cite web |url=https://archives.stratfordfestival.ca/AIS/Details/productions/675 | title = Do Not Go Gentle (2010) production credits | website = Stratford Festival Archives |access-date=June 21, 2019}}

His film credits include Dead Poets Society (1989), in which he shared the screen with Robin Williams, as well as the title role in Handel's Last Chance (1996) and a supporting role in the Golden Globe-winning Dirty Pictures (2000). Pownall was nominated for a Gemini Award for the role of Dr. Ewan Cameron in the 1998 Canadian television mini-series The Sleep Room. He also appeared in television series such as The Beachcombers, Street Legal, Wiseguy, and Slings & Arrows.

Pownall died from cancer in Stratford, Ontario, on June 2, 2006, at the age of 63.[https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/stratford-actor-director-dies-at-63-1.596542 CBC News]{{cite web|url=https://playbill.com/article/leon-pownall-canadian-actor-who-wrote-directed-and-taught-dead-at-63-com-132982|title=Leon Pownall, Canadian Actor Who Wrote, Directed and Taught, Dead at 63|date=June 5, 2006|author=Kenneth Jones|website=Playbill|access-date=December 10, 2022}}