Leonard Elliott
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| name = Leonard Elliott
| image = Cropped_Photo_of_Leonard_Elliott.jpg
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|11|23}}
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|1989|12|31|1905|11|23}}
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{{Short description|American actor}}
{{about|the actor|the cricketer|Leonard Elliott (cricketer)}}
Leonard Elliott (November 23, 1905, New York City — December 31, 1989, New York City{{cite work|title=Leonard Elliott, Actor, 84|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/05/obituaries/leonard-elliott-actor-84.html|work=The New York Times|date=January 5, 1990}}) was an American actor and comedian of the stage, television, and film.
Life and career
Born Leonard Elliott Gothelf in New York City, Elliott began his career as a comedienne in nightclubs and in vaudeville in the 1920s. He remained active as a nightclub performer in Manhattan for five decades. He made his Broadway debut as Bomboski in Brad Greene and Fabian Storey's 1938 musical Right This Way with Joe E. Lewis and Joey Ray. He appeared in seven more Broadway production during his career; including Lenore Coffee and William Joyce Cowen's Family Portrait (1939, as Judas; with Judith Anderson); William Shakespeare's As You Like It (1941, as Touchstone); Clay Warnick's Dream With Music (1944, as Sinbad); George Marion, Jr. and Karl Farkas's Marinka (1945, as Francis); Molière's The Would-Be Gentleman (1946, as Covielle; with Bobby Clark); Albert Wineman Barker's Grandma's Diary (1948, as Boris); and Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz's The Gay Life (1961-1962, as Franz).{{cite work|title=Obituaries: Leonard Elliott|work=Variety|date=January 17, 1990|page=69}} He also appeared in light operas and musicals in summer stock.
Elliott was a character actor in several classic Hollywood comedies from 1940 to 1970. He made his film debut as Tilchinski, the orchestra conductor, in the 1940 Yiddish film Overture to Glory. In 1941 he portrayed Henry in the Abbott and Costello musical military comedy Buck Privates.Bob Furmanek & Ron Palumbo, Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, Perigree Books 1991 p 42-48{{Cite news|title=Town Called HOLLYWOOD|author=Scheuer, Philip K.|date=May 4, 1941|work=Los Angeles Times|page=C3}} Other Hollywood comedies he appeared in included Bachelor Daddy (1941, as Clark), It Started with Eve (1941, as Reverend Stebbins), and Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970, as M. Henri).{{cite news|last=Greenspun|first=Robert|date=August 11, 1970|title='Diary of a Mad Housewife' Bows: Perrys Present View of Emotional Crisis|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0CEFDF1038EE34BC4952DFBE66838B669EDE|newspaper=The New York Times}} He also appeared as Ken in the drama Weddings and Babies which won the Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1958.{{cite magazine |title=The New Pictures | date=1960-11-14 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,711975,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071205011347/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,711975,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 5, 2007 | magazine =Time }}{{cite book |last=Ellis |first=Jack C. |author2=Betsy A. McLane |title=A New History of Documentary Film |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=2005 |pages=210 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dyxSCoq9fKEC&q=Lovers+and+Lollipops&pg=PA210 |isbn=978-0-8264-1750-3 }}
Elliott's first appeared on television in 1948 in the title role of Captain Applejack for Kraft Television Theatre.{{cite work|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8f-CgAAQBAJ&dq=Leonard+Elliott+Captain+Applejack&pg=PA241|title=Live {{sic|Telev|ison|nolink=y}} Drama, 1946-1951|author=William Hawes|year=2001|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=9780786409051 }} Elliott portrayed Merlin in the 1955 television adaptation of the Rodgers and Hart musical A Connecticut Yankee.{{cite work|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=syUkCQAAQBAJ&dq=Leonard+Elliott+A+Connecticut+Yankee&pg=PA258|title=Cinema Arthuriana: Twenty Essays, Rev. Ed.|editor=Kevin J. Harty|year=2015|page=258|publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476608440 }} He appeared twice on The Billy Rose Show in 1950-1951, and twice on Mister Peepers in 1952.{{cite work|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZwz_KUqh3gC&dq=Leonard+Elliott++Mister+Peepers&pg=PA313|title=Matthau: A Life|author=Rob Edelman, Audrey Kupferberg|year=2002|page=313|publisher=Taylor Trade Publications |isbn=9780878332748 }} Other television programs he appeared as a guest on included Star Tonight (1955), The Phil Silvers Show (1957), Naked City (1962), ABC Stage 67 (1966), and Coronet Blue (1967).{{cite work|title=Television Drama Series Programming: A Comprehensive Chronicle, 1959-1975|volume=2|author=Larry James Gianakos|year=1978|publisher=Scarecrow Press}}
Elliott died the age of 84 at Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers on New Year's Eve 1989.
References
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Category:Male actors from New York City
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:American male musical theatre actors