Shortly after he graduated from New York University, he was drafted into the military where he served during the Second World War.
Although his uncle was Nate Spingold, an executive at Columbia Pictures, Leonard preferred not to ask him for a job at the studio.
When a production manager suddenly died in 1949, Katzman asked Leonard to take over the job and finish the movie.
"Over the next four years," writes author Susan Orlean, "he managed the production of 80 more Katzman movies.
"[2] Leonard studied Katzman's shrewd production methods, which economized at every turn: crowd scenes would be filmed first, then many of the actors would be dismissed; the remaining featured players would perform their scenes, and then leave; until finally only the two or three leads were still on the payroll, working with a few recognizable bit players.
Screen Gems, Columbia's TV subsidiary, accepted it and Leonard became its producer, leaving Katzman.
A romance of the road that emphasized a sense of rootlessness, it stood out from many of the dramas and situation comedies that were its contemporaries.
Among Leonard's movie credits are Popi, a 1969 comedy-drama directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Alan Arkin.
[6] Leonard succumbed to the disease and died in his daughter Gina's Los Angeles home on October 14, 2006, six days after his 84th birthday.