Leonard Mudie Cheetham was born in Cheetham Hill, a suburb of Manchester, England, the son of Thomas Hurst Cheetham and Lucy Amy Mudie. He made his stage debut with Annie Horniman's company at the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester in 1908. He remained with the company for several seasons, in a wide range of roles including Humphrey in "The Knight of the Burning Pestle", Verges in "Much Ado About Nothing", Alan Jeffcoate in the première of "Hindle Wakes", Joseph Surface in "The School for Scandal", Gordon Jayne in "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray" and Walter How in " Justice".