Sheldon Leonard
Gender: Male
Born: 22nd February 1907
Died: 10th January 1997
Nationality: United States of America
TV programs: Linus the Lionhearted, The Colgate Comedy Hour, Big Eddie
Movies: Zombies on Broadway, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Behave Yourself!, The Falcon in Hollywood, Here Come the Nelsons, Jinx Money, Bowery Bombshell, Guys and Dolls, To Have and Have Not, Captain Kidd, My Dream Is Yours, Gambler's Choice, Crime, Inc., Open Secret, Money From Home, Somewhere in the Night, Street of Chance, It's a Wonderful Life, Pocketful of Miracles, Uncertain Glory, Trocadero, Lucky Jordan, Rainbow Over Texas, The Brink's Job, Diamond Queen, Violence, Sock-a-Doodle-Do, Week-End in Havana, Born to Sing, Married Bachelor, Pierre of the Plains
Sheldon Leonard (born Sheldon Leonard Bershad; February 22, 1907 – January 10, 1997) was a pioneering American film and television producer, director, writer, and actor.
Leonard was born Sheldon Leonard Bershad in New York City, the son of middle class Jewish parents Anna and Frank Bershad. As an actor, Leonard specialized in playing supporting characters, especially gangsters or "heavies", in films such as It's a Wonderful Life (1946), To Have and Have Not (1944), and Open Secret (1948). His trademark was his especially thick New York accent, usually delivered from the side of his mouth. In the cult classic Decoy, Leonard uses his "heavy" persona to create the hard-boiled police detective Joe Portugal. In the 1950s, Leonard provided the voice of lazy cat Dodsworth in two Warner Bros. cartoons directed by Robert McKimson. Sheldon Leonard Bershad graduated from Syracuse University in 1929.
In radio, Leonard played an eccentric racetrack tout on The Jack Benny Program in the late 1940s and early '50s. His role was to salute Benny out of the blue in railroad stations, on street corners, or in department stores ("Hey Bud, come here a minute"), ask Benny what he was about to do, and
(This is information generated from a Wikipedia article, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.)
Internet Movie Database