Phil Leeds

In 1949, Leeds began his considerable television career as a regular on "Front Row Center," a musical revue program presented on the DuMont network featuring guests from Broadway theater productions. He guested on CBS' "The Dick Van Dyke Show" in 1962, appeared in "All in the Family" and did several episodes of ABC's police comedy "Barney Miller" throughout its eight season run. More recently, Leeds was a regular on the 1995 CBS series "Double Rush," playing 'The Kid', a crafty elderly messenger in Manhattan who made up for his lack of speed with his knowledge of all the city's shortcuts. The busy actor had a recurring role on the short lived NBC comedy "Singer & Sons" (1990), but was probably best known for his guest spots on more successful comedies, his stable of off-beat characters including over the hill comedians, wacky neighbors and certifiable judges. He played these and many other types on nearly every well-known sitcom from "Dream On" and "The Larry Sanders Show" to "Night Court" and "Mad About You," "Roseanne" and "Coach" to repeat appearances on "The Closer" and "Dave's World." The actor proved adept at dramatic work as well as evidenced by his guest stints on "ER, "Nothing Sacred" and "Civil Wars." One of his last recurring roles was as especially trying jurist in episodes of "Ally McBeal." In May 1998, just months before his death in August, Leeds guest starred in four shows that aired on the same night: the season finales of "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS) and "Ally McBeal" (Fox) and the series finales of "Murphy Brown" (CBS) and "Ellen" (ABC).