Ferdinand Leon

Ferdinand Leon (born 1922) was an African American writer who wrote for television shows.

Early life

Ferdinand Leon was born on January 29, 1922 in Louisiana, New Orland to Ferdinand Leon Sr. and Ida Leon. He attended school in Louisiana with his four sisters. During his youth, Ferdinand lived in New Orleans and Los Angeles.[1]

Career

Ferdinand Leon was an African American writer who wrote for television shows in the 1960s and 1970s. He wrote storylines, screenplays, and teleplays.

Upon attending African American writing classes conducted by Earl Barret and Bob Goodwin, Leon was recognized as a 'promising student' and gained enough recognition to be hired as a freelance writer.[2]

Among his most noted work was writing for the groundbreaking television show Julia. He was one of multiple African American writers for the show alongside Robert Goodwin, Harry Dolan, and Gene Boland.[3] For Julia, Leon wrote 8 episodes between 1968 and 1970, one of which was a teleplay. These episodes included; "Gone with the Whim" (1970), "The Prisoner of Brenda" (1970), "Love is a Many Slighted Thing" (1969), "I Thought I Saw a Two Timer "(1969), "Sticks and Stones Can Break My Pizza" (1969), "The One and Only, Genuine, Original, Family Uncle" (1968), and "Designers Don't Always Have Designs" (1968). Leon is mentioned in Hal Kanter's (producer for Julia) autobiography as a great literate writer.[4]

Leon also wrote for two other shows in his television career. He contributed one episode to Love, American Style in 1970; "Love and the Safely Married Man/Love and the Uncoupled Coupled Couple/Love and the Many Married Couple". He also contributed one episode to The Partners in 1971; "How Many Carats in a Grapefruit".

Leon contributed to the journal "Modern Drama Vol.2 (1968): 87-96. His work was entitled, "Time, Fantasy, and Reality in Night of the Iguana".[5] It is published as a review of Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III's screenplay, "The Night of the Iguana."[6] He now teaches foreign languages in the Los Angeles City Schools, and still writes minimally for television. In addition to his review of Tennessee Williams' work, Leon has also completed a book on the dramatic uses of time in Williams' plays, which was scheduled to be published in 2014.

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References
  1. "Archives Census Report".
  2. Dean, Marian (22 September 1968). "Julia Is With It". Independent Star News. Pasadena, California. p. 74.
  3. "Julia". Ebony. 57. November 1968.
  4. Kanter, Hal (1999). My Life in Show Business. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
  5. "The Contributors". Project MUSE. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  6. Leon, Ferdinand (1968). "Time, Fantasy, and Reality in Night Of The Iguana". Modern Drama. 11.1: 87–96.

[1]

  1. Bogle, Donald (2015-08-18). Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television. Macmillan. ISBN 9781466894457.
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