Rumpole of the Bailey interest in nineteenth-century anarchists, especially the Russian Peter Kropotkin from whom the title of the play was drawn. The character's name was later changed to Horace Rumpole when it was discovered that there was a real barrister called Horace Rumbold. The title of the play was briefly changed to "Jolly Old Jean Jacques Rousseau" before settling on the less esoteric "Rumpole of the Bailey". Mortimer was keen on Michael Hordern for the role of Rumpole. When Hordern proved unavailable, the part went to Australian-born actor Leo McKern. Mortimer was initially unenthusiastic about McKern's casting but changed his opinion upon seeing
Leo Koffler Leo Koffler Leo Koffler (1879—1931) (full name Leon Bernhard Koffler, also known as Oskar Koffler) was a screenwriter, actor and singer. Living and working in Berlin in the beginning of the 20th century, he was one of the pioneers of cinema. Koffler was born on June 7, 1879 in Zurawno, near Lemberg, now Lviv, Ukraine, when the city was in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. His family moved to Vienna in 1882, where he received his education. He made his "Abitur" and became an opera singer. In 1911 he became the director of a theatre in Colmar, Alsace which was then in