- Resumed her acting career once her daughters had grown up.
- Joan Leslie was an accomplished piano player.
- Performed under her real name, debuting in Camille (1936), until adopting "Joan Leslie" for High Sierra (1940).
- Gave birth to her 1st and 2nd children at age 25, twin daughters Ellen Marie and Patrice Joan Caldwell on January 5, 1951. Children's father was her husband, Dr. William Caldwell.
- Was in four Oscar Best Picture nominees: Love Affair (1939), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Sergeant York (1941), and Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).
- She has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Sergeant York (1941) and Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).
- A devout Catholic, she was heavily involved in charitable works and was named 'Girl of the Year' in 1948 by the Catholic Youth Organisation.
- Her sister, Mary Brodel, had a short career in the 1940s, as did her other sister, Betty Brodel.
- In the early 1940s Joan had a pet terrier named "Microphone", which she called "Mike" for short.
- Mentioned in The Andrews Sisters' song "Corns for My Country": "We're not petite like Joan Leslie".
- First appeared on stage at the age of two. Subsequently became part of a vaudeville act with her older sisters, touring extensively through Canada and the U.S. East Coast.
- She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, CA.
- She was born on the same day as actor Paul Newman.
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