Sheldon Leonard's thick Brooklyn accent and tough guy looks earned him many roles playing bad guys in films and television over several decades. He was also involved in television production (The Andy Griffith Show for one).
The role of his I always loved though was that of Nick the Bartender in "It's a Wonderful Life." In the first part of the film he was a jovial nice-guy bartender. When George sees how things are if he had never lived, he finds that Nick no longer has love for his fellow man, and runs a rowdy flop-house of a bar. The end of that scene shows him laughing and opening the cash register again and again to make the bell ring "Get me- I'm givin' out wings!"
I sent this to him not long after I found out he was still alive, and was thrilled to get it back. Unfortunately passed away about a year later at age 89.
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