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LIFETIME 1991
Leonard is introduced and welcomed to Lifetime. First question: "One day in high school you decided to be an actor. Why?"
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I think probably the deciding factor was a play I did when I was a teenager and I was in that family and it was about a family like mine. And I got to play the role of a young guy who wanted to reach out for something better than he saw going on around him, |
trying to improve his life and...
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"I was reading that you are a little upset that you aren't getting the pretty girls. Is that true?"
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| No. | You were probably reading about Bill Shatner. |
"You went from struggling actor to unbelievable success. What was that like for you to go from being a struggling person to be so much in demand?"
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| ... from the time I left home to Star Trek it took about 15 years. It was a long apprenticeship. | The best thing I can say about it is that is character-building |
"What is the worst job you had to do prior to....? "
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| The worst job ... I had a tough job to do in a serial for Republic in 1951 called "Zombies of the Stratosphere" | The two of us came from another planet with a couple of 45s and a pickup truck to take over earth - and I was one of them. |
"When you did Star Trek did you ever think it would become the vehicle...?"
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No, no, no...
...This coming September will be the 25th anniversary |
I don't believe that anybody could have predicted that... I find it hard to realize, even today, that we have become part of the culture |
"... A project I know you are very close to ..."
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| Yes, this is very close to my heart. It is based on a true story... Never Forget... There is an organization called "The Institute for Historical Review". They are Neo-Nazis who in the late 1970ies published a claim that the Holocaust was a hoax. That it never happened, that the Nazis never killed any Jews during the second world war. |
They are trying
to clean up Hitler's image and the image of the
Third Reich in Germany. And a man who lives in Southern California today, named Mel Mermelstein, lost his Family in Auschwitz and he came out alone when he was 18... |
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...and started a new
family in Southern California, has a small business.
A scene from the film is shown.
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He took the challenge and he went to court and I played the role. It is one of the stories of the Holocaust which works out well, fortunately. |
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It is a story of today
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I feel good every time I think about having done it |
