Sheldon Leonard

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.

It's a Wonderful Life

8.3

Cheers

7.6

To Have and Have Not

7.5

The Cosby Show

7.0

Murder, She Wrote

7.5

Guys and Dolls

6.6

I Love Lucy

7.9

Pocketful of Miracles

7.3

Another Thin Man

7.1

Matlock

7.1

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Invisible Man

6.4

The Facts of Life

7.0

The Dick Van Dyke Show

7.4

Sanford and Son

7.5

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

7.4

Somewhere in the Night

6.7

The Brink's Job

6.0

The Lucy Show

7.0

Sinbad the Sailor

5.9

Dream On

6.9

Decoy

5.9

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

6.5

Money from Home

5.8

Captain Kidd

6.0

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

7.1

I Spy

6.3

Zombies on Broadway

5.1

Hit the Ice

5.9

Tortilla Flat

5.4

My Dream Is Yours

6.5

Uncertain Glory

6.6

Street of Chance

5.3

Take One False Step

5.5

Violence

5.2

The Danny Thomas Show

6.0

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show

6.8

Behave Yourself!

6.1

The Jack Benny Program

7.7

The Gangster

4.8

The Falcon in Hollywood

6.0

Kiddin' the Kitten

6.2

A Peck o' Trouble

5.6

Burke's Law

6.0

The Colgate Comedy Hour

7.0

Color Adjustment

6.9

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts

5.4

Week-End in Havana

6.6

The Last Crooked Mile

4.7

Young Man with Ideas

4.7

The Merv Griffin Show

5.6

The Mike Douglas Show

5.1

Her Kind of Man

5.8

Open Secret

6.5

Tall, Dark and Handsome

5.4

Sock a Doodle Do

6.3

Passport to Suez

5.7

Frontier Gal

4.4

Why Girls Leave Home

5.0

Trocadero

5.4

Come Fill the Cup

7.0

Crime, Inc.

4.2

Born to Sing

5.0

Taxi, Mister

4.3

Alias a Gentleman

6.5

The Iroquois Trail

5.8

Pierre of the Plains

4.2

The Fabulous Joe

5.8

Tonight Starring Jack Paar

6.5

Jinx Money

4.7

Lucky Jordan

6.0

Married Bachelor

5.8

Gambler's Choice

6.0

Timber Queen

5.7

Daughter of the Jungle

4.3

Ouanga

5.0

Klondike Kate

5.7

Linus the Lionhearted

6.7

General Electric Theater

6.0

Screen Director's Playhouse

6.5

The Bob Hope Show

7.0

Rise and Shine

6.0

Bowery Bombshell

6.0

If You Knew Susie

7.5

City Without Men

5.0

Buy Me That Town

6.0

The Making of 'It's a Wonderful Life'

6.0

My World and Welcome to It

5.5

Dinah!

6.5

Stop, You're Killing Me

5.0

Sheldon Leonard's Wonderful Life

10.0

Rainbow Over Texas

4.0

Breakdown

6.0

Here Come the Nelsons

6.0

Madonna of the Desert

6.0

Harvest Melody

4.0

Joe Palooka in Winner Take All

6.0

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

6.0

Shep Comes Home

6.0

The David Susskind Show

5.0

The Gem of the Ocean

0.0

The Diamond Queen

0.0

Top Secret

0.0

Radio Stars on Parade

0.0

My Mummy's Arms

0.0

The Islander

0.0

Private Nurse

0.0

It's Always Sunday

0.0

The Bowery Boys: Legends of Laughter

0.0

River Gang

0.0

The Gentleman Misbehaves

0.0

Big Eddie

0.0

The Duke

0.0