- published: 24 Feb 2011
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Leonard King "Len" Lesser (December 3, 1922 – February 16, 2011) was an American actor. He was known for a key role in the Clint Eastwood movie Kelly's Heroes and his recurring role as Uncle Leo in Seinfeld, which began during the show's second season in "The Pony Remark" episode.
Lesser was born in The Bronx in 1922. His father, a grocer, was a Jewish immigrant from Poland. Lesser received his bachelor's degree from the City College of New York in 1942 at the age of 19. Lesser enlisted in the United States Army the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II.
Lesser worked for years in film, TV and on stage. His résumé included projects with Clint Eastwood, Barbra Streisand, Lee Marvin, Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen. Lesser appeared on American television steadily since 1955 on scores of TV classics such as The Monkees, Have Gun-Will Travel,The Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Get Smart, Quincy, The Rockford Files, The Amazing Spider-Man, Mad About You, Seinfeld,All in the Family, Boy Meets World, Smart Guy, The Munsters, and, most recently, Castle. He appeared in a variety of films such as The Outlaw Josey Wales and the 1977 cult classic Supervan.
Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom, starring Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton. It originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996 to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the show's writing staff. The main characters on the show are also loosely based on Romano's and Rosenthal's real-life family members.
The show reruns in syndication on different channels such as TBS, TV Land, and in most TV markets on local stations. From 2000 to 2007, KingWorld distributed the show for off-network syndication. In 2008, CBS Television Distribution took over King World's distribution, although its logo is retained on TBS. CBS only owns American syndication rights; ancillary rights are controlled by HBO and Warner Bros. Television (WBTV distributes the series outside the US in conjunction with HBO; while HBO Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video own DVD rights worldwide).
The show revolves around the life of Italian-American Raymond Barone, a newspaper sportswriter for Newsday living with his family in Lynbrook, Long Island, New York. Whiny and flippant, Raymond does not take many things seriously, making jokes in nearly every situation, no matter how troubling or problematic, and constantly avoiding any sort of real responsibility.