Bert Lahr, born Irving Lahrheim, (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967) was a Tony Award-winning American comic actor. Born in New York City, he is best remembered today for his role as the Cowardly Lion and the Kansas farmworker Zeke in the classic 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, but known during his life for a career in burlesque, vaudeville and Broadway.

Fittingly known to be a "Leo" for his horoscope, Bert Lahr is always remembered as the Cowardly Lion in (and the farmer "Zeke") Wizard of Oz, The (1939). But during his acting career, he has been known for being in burlesque, vaudeville, and Broadway. Dropped out of high school at the age of fifteen for a juvenile vaudeville act, Lahr worked his way up to the top billing of the Columbia Burlesque Circuit. When in Broadway, Lahr usually plays a comic actor in plays which he starred in such as the classic routine The Song of the Woodman, which he would later perform in Merry Go Round of 1938 (1937). Aside from Wizard of Oz, The (1939), Lahr's movie career never caught on because his gestures and reactions were too broad. Lahr died in 1967.