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Sheldon Leonard

Sheldon Leonard

Actor · 1907 – 1997 · 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.

Movies24

  • Movie8.3

    It's a Wonderful Life

    1946 · 5.1K votes

  • Movie7.5

    To Have and Have Not

    1945 · 587 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Money from Home

    1953 · 31 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Guys and Dolls

    1955 · 264 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Captain Kidd

    1945 · 38 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Hit the Ice

    1943 · 31 votes

  • Movie7.3

    Pocketful of Miracles

    1961 · 189 votes

  • Movie6.3
  • Movie6.2

    The Brink's Job

    1978 · 72 votes

  • Movie5.8

    Tortilla Flat

    1942 · 28 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Sinbad the Sailor

    1947 · 51 votes

  • Movie7.1

    Another Thin Man

    1939 · 145 votes

  • Movie5.3

    Frontier Gal

    1945 · 6 votes

  • Movie6.5

    My Dream Is Yours

    1949 · 23 votes

  • Movie6.5
  • Movie6.7

    Somewhere in the Night

    1946 · 74 votes

  • Movie6.9

    Color Adjustment

    1992 · 13 votes

  • Movie5.2

    The Gangster

    1947 · 19 votes

  • Movie6.2

    The Falcon in Hollywood

    1944 · 14 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Week-End in Havana

    1941 · 13 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Decoy

    1946 · 36 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Come Fill the Cup

    1951 · 6 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Harvest Melody

    1943 · 2 votes

  • Movie5.5

    The Last Crooked Mile

    1946 · 15 votes

Series24

  • TV7.5
  • TV5.8

    The Mike Douglas Show

    1961 · 11 votes

  • TV7.1

    The Facts of Life

    1979 · 108 votes

  • TV7.5

    Murder, She Wrote

    1984 · 471 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Merv Griffin Show

    1962 · 12 votes

  • TV7.6

    Cheers

    1982 · 713 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Cosby Show

    1984 · 514 votes

  • TV7.0

    Matlock

    1986 · 143 votes

  • TV7.6

    The Dick Van Dyke Show

    1961 · 110 votes

  • TV7.9

    I Love Lucy

    1951 · 264 votes

  • TV6.3

    Burke's Law

    1963 · 12 votes

  • TV7.5
  • TV7.1

    The Lucy Show

    1962 · 53 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Bob Hope Show

    1950 · 5 votes

  • TV7.1

    Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

    1964 · 35 votes

  • TV7.0

    Dinah!

    1974 · 4 votes

  • TV6.9

    The Colgate Comedy Hour

    1950 · 13 votes

  • TV7.3
  • TV7.0

    American Masters

    1986 · 25 votes

  • TV7.8

    The Jack Benny Program

    1950 · 17 votes

  • TV6.8
  • TV7.5

    Sanford and Son

    1972 · 102 votes

  • TV5.4
  • TV6.5

    I Spy

    1965 · 31 votes