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Sheldon Leonard

Sheldon Leonard

Birthday: 1907-02-22 | Place of Birth: Manhattan, 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.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1978
The Brink's Job

as    J. Edgar Hoover

1961
Pocketful of Miracles

as    Steve Darcey

1955
Guys and Dolls

as    Harry the Horse

1954
The Duke

as    Sam Marco

1953
Money from Home

as    Jumbo Schneider

1953
The Diamond Queen

as    Mogul

1952
Young Man with Ideas

as    Rodwell 'Brick' Davis

1951
1950
The Iroquois Trail

as    Chief Ogane

1949
Daughter of the Jungle

as    Dalton Kraik

1949
Take One False Step

as    Detective Pacciano

1949
My Dream Is Yours

as    Grimes

1948
Open Secret

as    Detective Sgt. Mike Frontelli

1948
Alias a Gentleman

as    Harry Bealer

1948
Madonna of the Desert

as    Nick Julian

1947
Sinbad the Sailor

as    Auctioneer

1947
The Gangster

as    Cornell

1946
Bowery Bombshell

as    Ace Deuce Baker

1946
Rainbow Over Texas

as    Kirby Haynes

1946
Somewhere in the Night

as    Sam

1946
Decoy

as    Sergeant Joe Portugal

1945
Frontier Gal

as    'Blackie' Shoulders

1945
Crime, Inc.

as    Capt. Ferrone

1945
Captain Kidd

as    Cyprian Boyle

1945
To Have and Have Not

as    Lt. Coyo

1945
Radio Stars on Parade

as    Lucky Maddox

1944
Gambler's Choice

as    Chappie Wilson

1944
The Falcon in Hollywood

as    Louie Buchanan

1943
Hit the Ice

as    Harry 'Silky' Fellowsby