
Sheldon Leonard
- Recitazione
- 22 febbraio 1907 – 10 gennaio 1997 · a 89 anni
- Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sheldon Leonard Bershad (February 22, 1907 – January 11, 1997) was an American film and television actor, producer, director, and writer. Sheldon Leonard Bershad was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of middle class Jewish parents Anna Levit and Frank Bershad. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1929. As an actor, Leonard specialized in playing supporting characters, especially gangsters or "heavies", in films such as It's a Wonderful Life (1946; as bartender Nick), To Have and Have Not (1944), Guys and Dolls (1955), and Open Secret (1948). His trademark was his especially thick New York accent, usually delivered from the side of his mouth. In Decoy (1946), Leonard uses his "heavy" persona to create the hard-boiled police detective Joe Portugal. On radio from 1945 to 1955, Leonard played an eccentric racetrack tout on The Jack Benny Program and later in the TV series of the same name. His role was to salute Benny out of the blue in railroad stations, on street corners, or in department stores ("Hey Bud. C'mere a minute."), ask Benny what he was about to do, and then proceed to try to argue him out of his course of action by resorting to inane and irrelevant racing logic. As "The Tout," he never gave out information on horse racing, unless Jack demanded it. One excuse the tout gave was, "Who knows about horses?" Leonard was part of the cast of voice actors on the Damon Runyon Theatre radio show (1948-1949). He was part of the ensemble cast of the Martin and Lewis radio show. He also appeared frequently on The Adventures of the Saint, often playing gangsters and heavies, but also sometimes in more positive roles. Leonard was also a regular on the radio comedy series The Adventures of Maisie in the 1940s. During the 1950s, Leonard provided the voice of lazy fat cat Dodsworth in two Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoons directed by Robert McKimson. In the adventure movie The Iroquois Trail (1950), Leonard played against type in the significant role of Chief Ogane, a Native American warrior, who pursues and fights the frontiersman Nat "Hawkeye" Cutler (George Montgomery) in a climactic duel to the death with knives. Later in the 1950s and 1960s, he established a reputation as a producer of successful television series, including The Danny Thomas Show (aka Make Room For Daddy) (1953–64), The Andy Griffith Show (1960–68), Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. (1964–69), The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–66), and I Spy (1965–68). He also directed several TV series episodes, including four of the first eight episodes of the TV series Lassie (Season 1, 1954). Leonard also provided the voice of Linus the Lionhearted in a series of Post Crispy Critters cereal TV commercials in 1963-64, which led to a Linus cartoon series that aired on Saturday (and later, Sunday) mornings on CBS (1964–66) and ABC (1967–69). He also was briefly the star of his own television show Big Eddie (1975), where he played the owner of a large sports arena. The show lasted for only ten episodes.
Titoli più noti
Filmografia48
- 1990
Dream OnSerie TV6.9
- 1986
American MastersSerie TV7.0
MatlockSerie TV7.0
- 1984
- 1982
- 1979
- 1978
- 1974
Dinah!Serie TV7.0
- 1972
Sanford and SonSerie TV7.5
- 1968
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-InSerie TV6.8
- 1964
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.Serie TV7.1
- 1963
- 1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonSerie TV7.6
The Merv Griffin ShowSerie TV6.8
The Lucy ShowSerie TV7.1
- 1961

The Mike Douglas ShowSerie TV5.8
The Dick Van Dyke ShowSerie TV7.6
- 1957
Tonight Starring Jack PaarSerie TV7.5
- 1955
- 1953

The Danny Thomas ShowSerie TV6.2
- 1951
- 1950
The Jack Benny ProgramSerie TV7.8
The George Burns and Gracie Allen ShowSerie TV7.2
The Colgate Comedy HourSerie TV6.9
The Bob Hope ShowSerie TV7.0
- 1949
Take One False StepFilm5.4

Daughter of the JungleFilm5.0
- 1947
- 1946


The Last Crooked MileFilm5.5
Bowery BombshellFilm6.5
- 1945


Why Girls Leave HomeFilm5.7

- 1944
The Falcon in HollywoodFilm6.2

- 1943
- 1942
- 1941
Tall, Dark and HandsomeFilm6.1
- 1939













