Before entering show business, what was the occupation of Leonard Rossiter?
"demobbed he worked for six years as an insurance clerk in the claims and accident departments of the Commercial Union Insurance Company. From childhood he was an apparently unlikely but in fact enthusiastic and capable sportsman in football, cricket, tennis and later squash. Rossiter joined the Wavertree Community Centre Drama Group and made his first appearance with the Adastra Players in Terence Rattigan's ""Flare Path"". The local critic said that he ""was particularly outstanding, his one fault being a tendency to speak too fast on one or two occasions"". He gave up his insurance job to enrol in Preston repertory"
"the ice, moved to Philadelphia for 1930–31 and then folded. Prior to the stock market crash of 1929, he invested in a car accessory business in Harlem, bought a block of flats in Jersey City and had a share in a dress-making business. Leonard worked as an after dinner speaker and lecturer after leaving boxing in 1925. With his good looks and the crowd his fame could bring, he performed in vaudeville, making several appearances as a dancer and performer shortly after his first boxing retirement. He appeared in the vaudeville musical ""Battling Butler"" in 1927. During his boxing career"
"His performance in the premiere of Michael Blakemore's stage production of Bertolt Brecht's ""The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui"" in 1969 met with critical acclaim. Rossiter's first film role was in ""A Kind of Loving"" (1962). In ""Billy Liar"" (1963) he played the title character's boss. He soon established himself as a respected actor in films and television as well as on stage. His first major television role was as Detective-Inspector Bamber in the long-running police television series ""Z-Cars"". He also had guest roles in series as diverse as ""Steptoe and Son"" (""The Lead Man Cometh"", 1964; ""The Desperate Hours"","
"relatives. Upon his return to New York, he worked as a jeweler and then as a diamond cutter in Manhattan’s diamond district. During that time, he also spent two years on scholarship, at the Neighborhood Playhouse Theatre School, where he studied acting with Sanford Meisner and movement and dance with Martha Graham. His first professional acting job was in a Summer Stock company in Bridgeton, Maine, where his colleagues included Julie Harris and Anne Meacham. He became a member of Actor’s Equity in 1945 (first enrolled under his middle name, Louis Spanier) and went on to have minor roles on"
"MacGregor breaking the news that her memoirs, which were about to be published, would include an account of the affair. Rossiter died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in 1984 while waiting to go onstage at the Lyric Theatre, London, where he was performing in Joe Orton's play ""Loot"". His funeral took place at St. Mary's Church, The Boltons, London. Leonard Rossiter Leonard Rossiter (21 October 1926 – 5 October 1984) was an English actor. He had a long career in the theatre but achieved his greatest fame for his television comedy roles, most notably starring as Rupert Rigsby in the ITV series"
"Leonard Rossiter Leonard Rossiter (21 October 1926 – 5 October 1984) was an English actor. He had a long career in the theatre but achieved his greatest fame for his television comedy roles, most notably starring as Rupert Rigsby in the ITV series ""Rising Damp"" from 1974 to 1980, and Reginald Perrin in the BBC's ""The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin"" from 1976 to 1979. Rossiter was born on 21 October 1926 in Wavertree, Liverpool, the second son of Elizabeth (née Howell) and John Rossiter. The family lived over the barber shop owned by his father. He was educated"
"at the age of 13 was threatened with a four-year stretch in reform school for buying alcohol under-age. However, the headmaster of his high school, Hugh Oliver Cook, knew that Leonard was being habitually assaulted by the guardian of the foster home, and offered to adopt him if he were not jailed. By aged 15, Leonard had a weekend job selling popcorn at a theater in Kansas City. The Charleston dance craze was sweeping the United States, and he learned how to dance it by copying the performers on stage. Soon Reed was good enough to win local Charleston contests"
"actors and others connected with television. Floyd's first cookery book, ""Floyd's Food"", published before he became a TV celebrity, had an introduction written by Leonard Rossiter, star of British TV sitcoms ""Rising Damp"" and ""The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin"". Floyd's first foray into the world of show business was as a radio chef on Radio West, an independent commercial radio station in Bristol. TV producer David Pritchard then offered him a slot on BBC West regional magazine show ""RPM"", presented by Andy Batten Foster. That led, in 1984, to his being offered his first BBC TV series ""Floyd"
"as a dancer, competing in Charleston contests. In the 1930s, he joined a vaudeville troupe, then began touring with the big bands, playing nightclubs all over the country. During World War II he toured bases with the United Service Organizations. ""The Tonight Show"", hosted by Jack Paar, marked his first national exposure. For the next several years he worked steadily in Las Vegas, and made hundreds of television appearances on various panel and variety shows. He made occasional recordings, and appeared in a handful of motion pictures, such as ""Three Sailors and a Girl"". Leonard's comedic method was sarcastic and"
"even"" was because he wanted the audience ""to understand why they would hang out with me. If my character wasn't necessarily likable, I wanted him to be charismatic enough that you weren't going to have a dull time if you were with him."" In another interview, Sarsgaard said he felt ""empowered"" by playing Lotter. His first leading role was in the 2001 feature ""The Center of the World"", where he plays Richard Longman, a lonely young entrepreneur who skips out on his company's big initial public offering and pays a stripper (Molly Parker) $10,000 to fly to Las Vegas with"
"Star-Telegram"" interview, adding, ""But I didn't let dancing stop me from doing other things. I have the ability to be multitalented."" In 1937, he was injured in a car accident and so was unfit for service during the Second World War, which he spent entertaining troops. Leonard was an avid golfer and played many all-white courses in the 1940s. After years of passing as white and enduring racial slurs and insults, he decided to do something that currently affects every citizen of the US: he appeared before The Supreme Court of the United States to have the racial designation removed"
"an insurance company in New Zealand in the 1980s. He also appeared in the 1986 Christmas Special of ""Duty Free"". He was president of the actors' union Equity from 1978 to 1982 and vice-president in 1977 and again from 1984-89. His one hobby was enjoying fine wine, which he also inspired his friend Leonard Rossiter to take up. An active supporter of the Conservative Party, he presented a Party Political Broadcast on their behalf in the 1980s and features supporting his party's policies on the BBC's ""Newsnight"" programme. He was married three times: first to the actress Joan Sterndale-Bennett which"
"but there's no doubt you have talent,"" said Briggs. Briggs referred him to ""Chicago Tribune"" editorial cartoonist Carey Orr, who suggested Leonard take the C. L. Evans correspondence course in cartooning. Leonard did so, mailing in assignments drawn in hotel rooms as he traveled about the country. Later, he took night courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and New York's Art Students League. In the spring of 1925, Leonard left his salesman job and started working full-time as a cartoonist. As an inker at the Bray Productions animation studio, he took home a salary of $11"
"to New York University in which he played football. Shortly after he graduated from New York University, he was drafted into the military where he served during the Second World War. He was a pilot and instructor in the United States Navy. After World War II, in 1946 Leonard moved to Hollywood and became an independent producer. Leonard's first credit as producer was the movie ""Conquest in Cochise"" in 1953. He soon became production manager for Screen Gems, the television subsidiary of Columbia Pictures where he produced several memorable programs for the company. His early television producing projects included ""The"
"""Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C."" (1964–69), ""The Dick Van Dyke Show"" (1961–66), and ""I Spy"" (1965–68). He also directed several TV series episodes, including four of the first eight episodes of the TV series ""Lassie"" (Season 1, 1954). Leonard also provided the voice of Linus the Lionhearted in a series of Post Crispy Critters cereal TV commercials in 1963-64, which led to a ""Linus"" cartoon series that aired on Saturday (and later, Sunday) mornings on CBS (1964–66) and ABC (1967–69). He also was briefly the star of his own television show ""Big Eddie"" (1975), where he played the owner of a large"
"in the 1980s she debated representatives from the feminist organization Women Against Pornography at numerous college campuses. She won the Best Actress award for ""Taboo, American Style"" from the AFAA. Leonard is a member of the X-Rated Critics Organization (XRCO) Hall of Fame and Adult Video News (AVN) Hall of Fame. Leonard was Jewish and raised in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City. She was a single mother, more mature than most porn ingenues, and had had other occupations, such as a Wall Street broker and publicist. She was formerly married to adult-film producer/director Bobby Hollander. Her first two"
"a brief career as an actor on Broadway, playing among other roles, Orestes in Sophocles's ""Electra"". On December 3, 1929 he married Russian born Fania Esiah Mindell of New York, a theater set and costume designer, artist, and feminist who, together with Margaret Sanger and her sister Ethel Byrne, had been a co-defendant in the Brownsville Clinic Trials of 1917. Well before meeting Fania, Roeder had shown interest in leftist causes. As a freshly minted college graduate Roeder had traveled to Mexico during the Revolution which began in 1910. He had sided with Pancho Villa as a volunteer, and at"
"National Medal of Arts in 2005 as an arts advocate and patron. Tim Russert credited Leonard Garment with getting him into the news business as Garment had a friend at NBC News who was looking to rebuild their news division. Garment and Russert had previously worked together in 1976 during the U.S. Senate election of Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Garment was a close associate of I. Lewis (""Scooter"") Libby, as law partners, at Dechert, Price & Rhoads. Garment, who had been ill, died July 13, 2013 at his Manhattan home. He was 89. Leonard Garment Leonard Garment (May 11, 1924 –"
"shows in Chicago theaters at the age of seven, with his older brother, Jerry, who later became host of ""Broadway Open House"", the television forerunner of ""The Tonight Show"". He claimed in interviews that an early booster was the notorious mobster Al Capone, who helped the underage entertainers get jobs in nightclubs. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Lester, already an established stand-up comedian, stage actor, and radio host, eventually began appearing in films and on TV, becoming a popular character actor. His first film role was playing himself, as a nightclub entertainer, in the 1959 movie,"
"Rhythm For Sale Rhythm For Sale is a biography about the life and times of performer, choreographer, director Leonard Harper. Rhythm For Sale chronicles Harper rise from an unknown child performer to Broadway's top black theater director. In 1921 the Schubert Brothers signed Harper with his partner and future wife Blanks to be the first Black act to tour the all-white Schubert circuit of theaters. In 1923 Leonard Harper showcases his Cabaret Floorshows and black musical comedies in Harlem's Cotton Club and his mainstay Connie's Inn and the Lafayette Theater. The tome details how Leonard Harper and black filmmaker Oscar"
"an event that was covered by three television networks. Later, as the only person on the company who had ever listened to the group, Solters assigned Goldberg to represent Led Zeppelin, which gave him the contacts and persona he needed to succeed in the rock business. Lee Solters Lee Solters, (June 23, 1919 – May 18, 2009) born Nathan Cohen, was an American press agent who used his flamboyant style to represent celebrities from stage, movies and sports including 26 years with Frank Sinatra. Born Nathan Cohen in Brooklyn, New York on June 23, 1919, to Jewish-American parents (Jacob and"
"Leonard Harper (producer) Leonard Harper (April 9, 1899, Birmingham, Alabama – February 4, 1943, Harlem, New York) was a producer, stager, and choreographer in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s. Harper's works spanned the worlds of vaudeville, cabaret, burlesque and Broadway musical comedy. As a dancer, choreographer and studio owner, he coached many of the country's leading performers, including Ruby Keeler, Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire, and the Marx Brothers. He produced floor shows and theatrical revues both uptown in Harlem and downtown on Broadway's Great White Way. He co-directed and staged the ensemble"
"industry, among them veteran CBC News reporter David Ridgen and Emmy Award-winning producer Jon Alpert. Rossier's first film, ""Life is a Dream: a Street Poet in New York"" was released in 2000 and won him the Audience Award at the New York Independent Film Festival. He followed up with ""Brothers and Others"" in 2003 which exposed the impact and backlash of the events of 9/11 on Arab and Muslim communities within the United States which aired primetime on the Hallmark Channel several times. Nicolas Rossier was born and raised in Geneva, Switzerland. He pursued a career in the financial sector"
"he nearly drowned in a creek during a flood in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, his childhood was uneventful. He stayed home a lot, reading comic books and playing with his dog. His mother said: ""He never did talk too much. We never could tell what he was thinking. But I never had any problems with him. I never had to go to school once because of him."" Leonard started boxing at the Palmer Park Recreation Center in 1969. His older brother, Roger, started boxing first. Roger helped start the boxing program, urging the center's director, Ollie Dunlap, to form a team."
"Act 1948, Foster served with the Royal Air Force. He subsequently trained as an actor, having won a scholarship to train at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where he earned the affectionate soubriquet 'Fozza' (which would stay with him throughout his life), arriving there aged 20. It was here he became friends with actor and playwright Harold Pinter. Foster would much later appear on stage in three of Pinter's plays, ""The Basement"" and ""The Tea Party"" and ""A Slight Ache"" in 1987. Foster's professional stage debut came in 1952 as Lorenzo in ""The Merchant of Venice"""
"Harry Solter Henry Lewis ""Harry"" Solter (November 19, 1873 – March 2, 1920) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter and director. Solter began his career as an actor in 1908 with Biograph Studios. That same year he met actress Florence Lawrence while making the film ""Romeo and Juliet"" for Vitagraph Studios and married on August 30 of that year. In 1909, Solter began working for Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures Co. of America (IMP) as an actor but also as a director. Over the next nine years, he directed 148 silent films. In 1912, Harry Solter and his wife"
"to pursue professional wrestling instead. He was an accomplished weightlifter, and he once bench pressed 625 pounds. While awaiting his murder trial, he ran a home renovation business until he was unable to secure a bank loan to cover business expenses. After closing the business, he supported himself by working as a used car salesman. Croitoru lived in Vancouver, British Columbia with his common-law wife Tracy Edwards. He had most recently worked as a bodyguard for Lion's Gate Entertainment, providing protection for such entertainers as Jack Nicholson and Cyndi Lauper. He also had a brief acting career, appearing in a"
"field of musical comedy, writing several amateur shows. They made their professional debut with the song ""Any Old Place With You"", featured in the 1919 Broadway musical comedy ""A Lonely Romeo"". Their first professional production was the 1920 ""Poor Little Ritz Girl"", which also had music by Sigmund Romberg. Their next professional show, ""The Melody Man"", did not premiere until 1924. When he was just out of college Rodgers worked as musical director for Lew Fields. Among the stars he accompanied were Nora Bayes and Fred Allen. Rodgers was considering quitting show business altogether to sell children's underwear, when he"
"an insurance representative for Commonwealth Burial Association, an African-American firm. Although he had a secure job during the depression, he nevertheless struck out on his own preferring ""freedom"" to ""security."" His career as an entrepreneur started after he borrowed twenty-five dollars using his car as collateral. Along with his friend Lestine Thornton (who later became his wife), he invested in a load of soap from Boyer International Laboratories, manufacturer of Jean Nadal Cosmetics and HA Hair Arranger. His success selling soap door-to-door inspired him to invest another $1000. He incorporated Fuller Products in 1929. In four years he would be"
"132nd Street. Harper was named a 2015 NAACP History Maker. Leonard Harper (producer) Leonard Harper (April 9, 1899, Birmingham, Alabama – February 4, 1943, Harlem, New York) was a producer, stager, and choreographer in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s. Harper's works spanned the worlds of vaudeville, cabaret, burlesque and Broadway musical comedy. As a dancer, choreographer and studio owner, he coached many of the country's leading performers, including Ruby Keeler, Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire, and the Marx Brothers. He produced floor shows and theatrical revues both uptown in Harlem and downtown on"
"in 1929. His father had changed his name to Nolan and it was as Bob Nolan that he began a career as a singer on the Chautauqua tent-show circuit and as a lifeguard in Santa Monica. In September 1931 Nolan answered a classified ad in ""The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner"" that read ""Yodeler for old-time act, to travel. Tenor preferred."" The band was The Rocky Mountaineers, led by a young singer named Leonard Slye, who would later change his name to Roy Rogers. After listening to the tall, slender, tanned Nolan sing and yodel, Slye hired Nolan on the spot. Although"
"listening to one of his favorite songs, a rendition of ""Over the Rainbow"" sung by Ella Fitzgerald. Gene Wilder Jerome Silberman (June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016), known professionally as Gene Wilder, was an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, singer-songwriter and author. Wilder began his career on stage, and made his screen debut in an episode of the TV series ""The Play of the Week"" in 1961. Although his first film role was portraying a hostage in the 1967 motion picture ""Bonnie and Clyde"", Wilder's first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1967 film ""The Producers"" for"
"was not appropriate for a comic. Thus, at the age of 27, Mostel dropped every other job and occupation to start his show business career. Mostel's rise from this point on was rapid. In 1942 alone his salary at the Café Society went up from $40 a week to $450; he appeared on radio shows, opened in two Broadway shows (""Keep Them Laughing"", ""Top-Notchers""), played at the Paramount Theatre, appeared in an MGM movie (""Du Barry Was a Lady""), and booked into ""La Martinique"" at $4,000 a week. He also made cameo appearances at the Yiddish theatre, the style of"