Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Television's Leon Friedman














Lee Philips (Leon Friedman 1927-1999) was an American actor, and film and television director. The New York City-born Philips acting career started on Broadway, which led to a starring role in the film adaptation of Peyton Place. The handsome actor possessed versatility and intensity in his roles. His most visible presence was in television, guest starring in numerous popular shows from the early Fifties through the Seventies. His credits include The Fugitive, The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, and I Spy, among many others. He guest-starred in a few series that he would also direct at some point. His twelve appearances as the title character in 1959's The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen were his most lengthy. 

By the early to mid-Sixties, his career included directing, with a wide range of television credits including Peyton Place, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Room 222, and The Waltons to name a few. As a director, Philips and Dick Van Dyke worked together numerous times beginning with The Dick Van Dyke Show, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, and Diagnosis Murder. By far his longest tenure as director was his sixty episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. In between he directed several television movies throughout the Seventies and Eighties.

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