1907-02-22 ( 118 years old ) in 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.
Movies
The Bowery Boys: Legends of Laughter
2020-01-01
Sheldon Leonard's Wonderful Life
2011-01-01
Color Adjustment
1992-01-29
The Making of 'It's a Wonderful Life'
1990-10-18
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1988-11-22
The Brink's Job
1978-12-08
The Islander
1978-09-16
Top Secret
1978-06-04
Pocketful of Miracles
1961-12-18
Guys and Dolls
1955-12-23
Money from Home
1953-12-31
The Diamond Queen
1953-11-28
A Peck o' Trouble
1953-03-27
Stop, You're Killing Me
1952-12-10
Breakdown
1952-07-16
Sock a Doodle Do
1952-05-09
Young Man with Ideas
1952-05-02
Kiddin' the Kitten
1952-04-05
Here Come the Nelsons
1952-02-23
Come Fill the Cup
1951-10-24
Behave Yourself!
1951-09-22
The Iroquois Trail
1950-06-15
Take One False Step
1949-08-14
My Dream Is Yours
1949-04-15
Daughter of the Jungle
1949-02-08
Shep Comes Home
1948-12-03
Joe Palooka in Winner Take All
1948-09-19
Jinx Money
1948-06-27
Madonna of the Desert
1948-02-23
Open Secret
1948-02-14
If You Knew Susie
1948-02-07
Alias a Gentleman
1948-02-03
The Gangster
1947-11-25
The Fabulous Joe
1947-08-28
Violence
1947-05-09
Sinbad the Sailor
1947-01-13
It's a Wonderful Life
1946-12-20
Decoy
1946-09-14
The Last Crooked Mile
1946-08-09
Bowery Bombshell
1946-07-20
Somewhere in the Night
1946-06-12
Her Kind of Man
1946-05-11
Rainbow Over Texas
1946-05-09
The Gentleman Misbehaves
1946-02-28
Frontier Gal
1945-12-14
Captain Kidd
1945-11-22
Why Girls Leave Home
1945-10-09
River Gang
1945-09-21
Radio Stars on Parade
1945-08-01
Zombies on Broadway
1945-05-01
Crime, Inc.
1945-04-15
To Have and Have Not
1945-01-20
The Falcon in Hollywood
1944-12-08
Gambler's Choice
1944-04-27
Trocadero
1944-04-24
Uncertain Glory
1944-04-07
Timber Queen
1944-01-13
Klondike Kate
1943-12-16
Harvest Melody
1943-11-22
Passport to Suez
1943-08-19
Hit the Ice
1943-06-02
Taxi, Mister
1943-04-16
City Without Men
1943-01-14
Lucky Jordan
1942-11-16
Street of Chance
1942-10-03
Pierre of the Plains
1942-07-29
Tortilla Flat
1942-05-21
Born to Sing
1942-02-18
Rise and Shine
1941-11-21
Week-End in Havana
1941-10-17
Married Bachelor
1941-10-16
Buy Me That Town
1941-10-03
Private Nurse
1941-08-22
Tall, Dark and Handsome
1941-01-24
Another Thin Man
1939-11-17
Ouanga
1935-12-03
The Gem of the Ocean
1934-11-19
My Mummy's Arms
1934-06-28
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