February 17, 1995
DGA President Gene Reynolds today announced that longtime Guild activist Sheldon Leonard will be awarded an Honorary Life Membership in the Directors Guild of America at the 47th Annual DGA Awards banquet on Saturday, March 11 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Life membership in the DGA is the guild's recognition for outstanding creative achievement or contribution to the Guild or the profession of directing.
"There is no one who deserves this award more than Sheldon Leonard," commented Reynolds. "Sheldon's tireless dedication to the Directors Guild has helped to make the DGA what it is today. As our treasurer, he has helped guide the DGA through some of its most exciting times. He has also enjoyed a wonderfully distinguished career. And to top it, he has recently become an author."
Mr. Leonard has been the Secretary-Treasurer of the DGA for more than thirty years. As chairman of the DGA Buildings Committee, he helped guide the planning and construction of the DGA's Hollywood landmark national headquarters which opened in 1989. He is also on the Board of Directors for the DGA Health and Welfare Plan. His memoir, "And the Show Goes On," was recently published by Limelight Press.
Mr. Leonard has made his mark on Hollywood as an actor, writer and director. As an actor, he worked intimately with the likes of Spencer Tracy, Errol Flynn, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Stewart, and other Hollywood legends. He has written extensively for both radio and television, and directed seventeen television pilots, all of which were sold.
He either directed or served as executive producer on "The Danny Thomas Show," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "The Real McCoys," "Lassie," "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," "The Andy Griffith Show," "I Spy," "My Favorite Martian," "My World and Welcome to It" and others. He helped to break the color barrier against using Afro-Americans in leading television roles when he introduced Bill Cosby in "I Spy."
Mr. Leonard has been nominated for eighteen Emmy Awards, and has won five. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1992.
Other Honorary DGA Life Members include Charles Chaplin, Robert Wise, Sidney Lumet, Gil Cates, Lew Wasserman, George Sidney, and Arthur Hiller.