Leo the Lion (MGM)

Leo the Lion
Jackie being recorded for his roar
Incumbent
Leo
since 1957
Amazon MGM Studios
StyleMascot of MGM Studios
StatusMascot of MGM
Member ofMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Reports toMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
ResidenceMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc,
Beverly Hills, California,
United States
SeatMascot
Appointer
Formation1917; 107 years ago (1917)
First holderUnknown (1917–1921)
WebsiteMGM official site

Leo the Lion is the mascot for the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and one of its predecessors, Goldwyn Pictures. The logo was created by artist Lionel S. Reiss, who served as art director at Paramount Pictures.[1]

Since 1917, and through the time the studio was formed by the merger of Samuel Goldwyn's studio with Marcus Loew's Metro Pictures and Louis B. Mayer's company in 1924, several different lions have been used for the MGM logo.

Although MGM has referred to all of the lions used in their trademark as "Leo the Lion", only the lion in use since 1957 was actually named "Leo". In 2021, MGM debuted a new CGI logo which features a lion partially based on Leo. This version of the logo remains in use as of 2023 by Amazon MGM Studios, mainly for film productions following their acquisition of the studio in 2022.

  1. ^ "Reiss, Lionel".