death_date death_place birth_place birth_date spouse yearsactive birthname article_title name occupation death_cause
28 august 2011 hartford , connecticut , u.s. bronx , new york , u.s. 27 september 1929 mary 2 children -rrb- ann wurth -lrb- 1961 - 1973 -rrb- ; 1976 -- 1980 leonard jerome harris leonard harris -lrb- actor -rrb-
 leonard harris actor , pneumonia
leonard harris -lrb- actor -rrb-

leonard harris -lrb- september 27 , 1929 -- august 28 , 2011 -rrb- was an american critic , author , and actor .
he played senator charles palantine in the martin scorsese film `` taxi driver '' and the mayor in `` hero at large '' .
leonard jerome harris was born in the bronx on sept. 27 , 1929 .
he graduated from city college and served in the army at fort dix during the korean war .
in 1961 he married mary ann wurth .
they divorced in 1973 .
he also had homes in stanfordville , n.y. , and west palm beach , fla. .
mr. harris began his career writing obituaries and book reviews for the hartford courant in 1958 .
in 1966 he became a culture critic at wcbs-tv in new york city , a position he held until 1974 .
he had three novels published and worked as a television writer later in his career .
he served on the tony award nominating committee in the later 1980s and early 1990s .
mr. harris also played the mayor in a 1980 romantic comedy , `` hero at large . ''
he wrote three novels published in his lifetme .
his first , `` the masada plan , '' was called `` gripping , fast-moving , expertly engineered '' by the novelist meyer levin in the new york times book review .
a fourth novel was published posthumously .
he died on august 28 , 2011 in hartford , connecticut , aged 81 , from complications of pneumonia .
