Leonard, Sheldon (22 Feb. 1907-10 Jan. 1997), performer, director, producer, and writer, primarily for television, radio, and film, was born Sheldon Leonard Bershad in New York City, the only child of Frank Bershad, a salesman, and Anna Levitt Bershad, an immigrant from Russia whose father had been a scribe to the Romanoff court. The family lived in the polyglot Morrisania section of the Bronx except for a period of three years during Leonard's early teens, when they lived in Belleville, New Jersey. In his autobiography Leonard describes Belleville as a "WASPy suburb" that made him self-conscious of the urban working-class accent and mannerisms that would become his trademarks as a performer as well as his Jewish background.

Leonard attended Stuyvesant High School, a New York City public school for the intellectually gifted. Reaching his adult height of six feet, he played leading roles in dramatic productions and was a varsity football player. Active in scouting, he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. Syracuse University offered him an athletic scholarship in 1925.

A Phi Beta Kappa student at Syracuse, Leonard took business courses and studied acting with Sawyer Falk, a drama professor Leonard later described as his "brutal and gentle" mentor. Despite Falk's encouragement, Leonard did not believe himself sufficiently talented for a stage career, and after graduation he returned to his parents' home to find a job in the securities industry. The stock market crashed on his first day of work at Bauerdorf and Company, wiping out the firm.

Supporting himself as a longshoreman, Leonard had better luck on Broadway than on Wall Street, winning roles in Fly Away Home (1935) and Kiss the Boys Goodbye (1938) and appearing in several short films made by the Vitaphone Corporation in New Jersey. In 1931 he married Frances Bober, whom he met while working at a summer camp run by the Hebrew Orphans Society. The couple had two children.

Leonard relocated to Los Angeles in 1939. He appeared in some seventy-five features during his Hollywood screen career, though never in a starring role. Typecast from the start, he was confined to playing gangsters, cops, and other roles that exploited his ability to deliver "dese-dem-dose" dialect. At first he was cast in straightforward genre pictures, such as The Gangster (1942) and Taxi, Mister? (1943). More often he was called on to play Runyonesque caricatures in comedies, such as Bowery Bombshell (1946), Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), and Guys and Dolls (1955). He appeared in several prestige films, including adaptations of John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat (1942) and Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not (1944), but even these roles were tailored for his iconic persona. Perhaps Leonard's best-remembered screen moment is in the dream sequence of It's a Wonderful Life (1946), when he turns from a friendly neighborhood bartender into a heartless monster. Leonard's signature tough-guy talk brought him abundant work on network radio as well, including recurring roles in such popular series as The Jack Benny Program, The Lineup, and The Martin and Lewis Show.

As is often the fate of character actors, Leonard's name remained largely unknown despite the familiarity of his voice and image. With his possibilities as a performer proscribed, he began refocusing his career toward behind-the-scenes work in the late 1940s, selling dramatic scripts to radio (Broadway Is My Beat) and television (Colgate Theater). Leonard never gave up performing completely, taking custom-made guest roles in dozens of television shows, including his own productions.

In 1953 Leonard began a television apprenticeship with Danny Thomas, who was producing and starring in a prime-time situation comedy. He learned the essentials of television production while directing episodes of this and other series in which Thomas held interests, including The Real McCoys and Lassie. In 1961 Leonard and Thomas formed a partnership, T and L Productions.

Leonard's first effort as a television "hyphenate" (that is, writer-director-executive producer) was The Andy Griffith Show on CBS (1960-1968), a sitcom about a small-town North Carolina sheriff, a widower with a young son. It became one of the most popular series ever aired on television. Leonard followed with The Dick Van Dyke Show on CBS (1961-1966), which he created with Carl Reiner from a concept CBS had previously rejected. Set in New York, the show follows a television comedy writer who commutes between suburbia and the Manhattan show business world. The plotting shook loose of the moralistic child-rearing stories then dominant in the genre, making it a milestone in the maturation of the genre. A third Leonard hit, Gomer Pyle, USMC, on CBS (1964-1969) was less well received by critics but even more successful in the ratings. A spin-off of the Griffith show, it concerns a filling station attendant who joins the marines. Though set during the period of massive U.S. troop deployments to Vietnam, the war is never mentioned in the more than 100 episodes.

By mid-decade Leonard had placed five sitcoms in prime time, three of them rated among Nielsen's top ten, and his reputation for understanding popular taste put him in demand as a script doctor and director of pilot episodes. Flush with success, Leonard switched genres to produce an espionage series that would have lasting impact on television culture. One of a handful of television producers who regularly cast black actors in supporting roles, he was appalled that no African American performer held a starring role in prime time. In 1965 he took the risky step of casting Bill Cosby, then a nightclub comedian, as costar of I Spy on NBC (1965-1968). Despite threats of sponsor boycotts, the series effectively broke the color line, opening the door for many performers. Leonard's effort was recognized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which honored him with a special achievement award in 1968.

As respect for Leonard grew, his ability to produce TV hits seemed to diminish. My World and Welcome to It, a sitcom based on the short fiction of James Thurber, used animated sequences to convey daydreams. It was quickly canceled for poor ratings but won the Emmy Award in 1969-1970 as "outstanding comedy." Similarly Shirley's World (1972), featuring Shirley MacLaine as an international photojournalist, was scotched after just a few episodes, but it won Leonard a Golden Globe from the Hollywood foreign press corps.

In his later years Leonard emerged as an elder statesman in the television industry. He was active in many professional organizations, including the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, for which he served as trustee and vice president, and the Directors Guild of America, where he held many posts, including trustee. Though never nominated for honors as a performer, he received three Emmys (1956, 1961, 1969), a Sylvania (1973), a Christopher (1955), and other awards for his work behind the camera.

Leonard's seamless transition from performer to executive exemplifies the complementary nature of artistic and managerial talents in high-stakes mass media production. His success may be due to a moderate vision of the self, something not often associated with artistic temperament. While a working actor, he accepted the limits of his prospects and moved on. As a television producer, he became wealthy and used his position to achieve social goals; when popularity waned, he again moved on. Able to find satisfaction in his achievements, he enjoyed a stable family life, the respect of his colleagues, and a long retirement. He died in his Beverly Hills home of natural causes.

Leonard's autobiography And the Show Goes On: Broadway and Hollywood Adventures (1995) leaves the reader with a strong sense of his personality. Jan Barthel, "What a TV Producer Produces," New York Times Magazine, 21 Nov. 1965, is a sketch of Leonard that appeared at the height of his success. Also of interest are Morris Gelman, "The World Is His Back-Lot," Television, Apr. 1966; and Deborah Haber, "Kings among the Jesters," Television, Sept. 1963. An obituary is in the New York Times, 13 Jan. 1997.