Career
Born Lila Lee Wilkinson in Iola, Kansas, Leeds ran away from home as a teen. She worked as a dancer in Saint Louis before moving to Los Los Angeles The marriage was annulled when Leeds discovered that Little was still married.
After taking an acting course at the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting, Leeds signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and began appearing in film roles.
Leeds appeared in the Red Skelton film The Show-Office (1946). Lady in the Lake (1947), based on a Raymond Chandler story.
And in the Lana Turner vehicle Green Dolphin Street, where she played a Eurasian who drugs the leading man and rolls him for his money. She had a small part in So You Want to Be a Detective, which was part of The Joe McDoakes series of theatrical shorts.
On September 1, 1948, Leeds gained notoriety for being arrested together with actor Robert Mitchum on charges of marijuana possession.
She subsequently spent sixty days in jail. Considered a Lana Turner look-alike, Leeds was 20 years old and engaged to Turner"s ex-husband Stephen Crane at the time of her arrest. After Leeds was arrested, Stephen Crane fled to Europe rather than become entangled in scandal.
Although she starred in the Reefer Madness-style film She Shoulda Said Number! (1949) following her release from prison, her acting career never recovered from the episode.
Leeds left California in 1949. She eventually traveled back to Los Angeles in 1966 where she began studying religion and volunteered at local missions.
According to the Social Security Death Index, Lila West. Leeds died on September 15, 1999.
