Trivia

In June of 1933 Ames, with 18 other actors, held a meeting to organize the Screen Actors Guild. He held SAG card number 15.

On February 12, 1964, Leon Ames and his wife were held hostage by Lynn Brenner who burst into their home brandishing a .22 pistol and demanding $50,000. Ames, who owned several automobile dealerships, called one of his managers to bring the money. The manager notified police who arrested Brenner and freed the couple.

(1957-1958) President of Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

Appeared sporadically on Broadway from late 1933-1958.

Leon Ames also owned the Ames Ford Dealership on Francisco Blvd in San Rafael, California in the 60s and 70s.

In the 1960s, he owned 4 California Ford dealerships. They were located in Studio City, Encino, Redondo Beach, on Pacific Coast Highway near Prospect, and Los Angeles.

In the latter part of the 1970's Leon Ames Ford was sold/bought out by Payton Craymer Ford. This in turn was sold to Power Ford. The Redondo Beach dealership closed and was moved further up the Pacific Coast highway towards Lomita.

The Los Angeles dealership remains in business today and is now called "Midway Ford". It's located at 200 N. Vermont.

He was the son of Charles Elmer Wycoff and Cora Alice (DeMoss). His patrilineal line can be traced back to Pieter Claesen Wyckoff, who was born, c. 1625, in the Netherlands. His parents' families had lived in the United States for many generations, and were mostly of British Isles ancestry.

Had three children: costume designer Robert Fletcher, Shelley Ames (born in 1940) and Leon Ames Jr. (born in 1943).

In 1934, he switched from his first stage name, Leon Waycoff, to Kurt Ames, which he used briefly in the legitimate theatre, appearing under that name in "Thirty Thousand to Go" onstage in Hollywood that year.

He played Dean Stockwell's father in both The Happy Years (1950) and Cattle Drive (1951).