Sheldon Leonard - 1975

[Yhtapmys]

Sheldon Makes Comeback
By GARY DEEB
Chicago Tribune
The "comeback kid" is 68 years old.
Sheldon Leonard, who played a variety of gangsters and ruffians in dozens of movies before becoming one of television's most successful
producers, is going back to acting this fall. He'll take the title role in a CBS comedy series called Big Eddie.
For Leonard the return to the other side of the camera comes after a seven-year drought in which all of the shows he produced bombed
out, most notably a pair of situation comedies starring Don Rickles and Shirley MacLaine.
In the early '50s, Leonard often appeared as the racetrack tout who would sidle up to Jack Benny and mutter, "Hey. Bud." Now, a quarter-century later, he'll undertake that same basic persona.
Big Eddie is an ex-gambler who has attained a certain degree of culture and an extraordinary vocabulary. He finally married his longtime girl friend, a former showgirl played by Sheree North, in order to adopt his 8-year-old granddaughter.
It's a Damon Runyonesque situation, with Leonard's character an extravagant mixture of elegance and vulgarity. And while Leonard himself
insists the show will be contemporary and not nostalgic, you can bet CBS is banking on an audience yearning to return to that earlier, simpler era when even mobsters were depicted as softhearted gents who spoke the Queen's English with Brooklyn accents.
Big Eddie is derivative of a lot of old B movies such as "Stop. You're Killing Me," a harmless farce featuring Broderick Crawford and Claire Trevor up front. (Ironically, Leonard appeared in that film as a bumbling "Guys and Dolls" type).
It was 20 years ago that Leonard teamed up with Danny Thomas and began to shift from acting to producing and directing.
By 1960 both he and Danny were millionaires, and Leonard embarked on a winning streak of hit TV programs, including the original Dick Van Dyke series. The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, I Spy, and My World and Welcome to It.
Then came that dry spell. Leonard's Midas Touch turned to ashes. The flops were unending — My Friend Tony, The Avengers, From a Bird's-Eye View, Shirley's World, and The Don Rickles sitcom.
At any rate, the network obviously hasn't held a grudge. Apparently buoyed by the viewer-reaction to Leonard's appearance in a Schlitz beer commercial, CBS is high on Big Eddie. Actually the show originally was tailored for Rod Steiger. But Steiger lost interest and the producers
quickly contacted Leonard to step in. He says he was glad to do it.
At 68 he may be "rookie of the year."