Phil Leeds

Leeds was born into a New York City to a Jewish family on April 6, 1916. His father was a post office clerk. Raised in the Bronx, he was a peanut vendor for some time near Yankee Stadium and Manhattan's Polo Grounds.^[2] After serving in the US Army in World War II, he started his entertainment career.

He began his career as a standup comedian and then went on to appear in several films, including Rosemary's Baby, Ghost, and Beaches; and on sitcoms, such as, All in the Family, Three's Company, Night Court, Wings, Ally McBeal, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Larry Sanders Show, Barney Miller, Car 54, Where Are You?, The Patty Duke Show, The Monkees, The Odd Couple, Happy Days, ALF, Friends, Roseanne, Mad About You, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Golden Girls, and Double Rush.

At age 80, he appeared on the 1996 Halloween episode of Roseanne, "Satan, Darling", in which Roseanne finds herself drawn into a parody version of Rosemary's Baby (Leeds had played Dr. Shand in the original 1968 film). His final role was a brief scene in Lost & Found (1999).

Leeds was married to fellow character actress Toby Brandt for 53 years (1934–1987) until her death. Leeds was Jewish.^[5]

Leeds died of pneumonia on August 16, 1998, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles^[1] at age 82. "Happy Trails", an episode of Ally McBeal, featured footage of his prior appearances on the show, eulogizing his character.^{[citation needed]}