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Leonard Hill is an American television producer who was born on October 11, 1947 in Westwood, California, USA. After graduating from both high school and college, he will soon to become a television veteran.
He first wrote two scripts for Jack Webb's "Adam-12". He switched its focus to be an associate producer, working freelance at Universal TV, Paramount Television and MTM. He quietly joined NBC as an executive in drama series. He later joined ABC as vice president of movies.
Both Hill and Phillip Mandelker first met in the mid 1970s. In 1980, following the success of "Amber Waves", Leonard Hill left ABC to join forces with former Time-Life Television producer Phillip Mandelker to start his own production company Hill/Mandelker Films with a non-exclusive distribution pact with Novacom, Inc. (later King Features Entertainment). The first project was "Freedom", starring Mare Winningham and Jennifer Warren. The next project was "Dream House" which Phillip Mandelker wrote the story, starring Victor Argo, produced for Time-Life Television, who was Mandelker's old home.
The production company briefly made its foray into television series with the establishment of subsidiary Hill/Mandelker Television. He is producing hour-long dramas and half-hour sitcoms. The division produced the television series "Tucker's Witch" and the unsold pilot "High School U.S.A,", which is based on the 1983 television movie of the same name.
In 1984, following Phillip Mandelker's death, the company was renamed to Leonard Hill Films. The first project under the new banner was "Mirrors", a television movie produced for NBC, starring Tim Daly. This followed it up with the miniseries "The Long Hot Sunmer", starring Don Johnson. The company went on to be the most successful television movie producers of all time. In 1986, Robert O'Connor joined the company, and then he left in 1988. They briefly renamed it to Hill O'Connor Television, and its most ambitious project was the miniseries "Jack the Ripper" for Thames Television and Lorimar-Telepictures. The company produced its television series "Rags to Riches" in partnership with New World Television.
In 1989, Leonard Hill Films, along with fellow television movie producers The Steve Tisch Company, Robert Greenwald Productions, Von Zerneck/Sertner Films, Michael Jaffe/Spectator Films, The Konigsberg/Sanitsky Company, The Avnet/Kerner Company and Steve White Productions teamed up to form a consortium called Allied Communications, Inc., which is short for ACI. This put an end to Leonard Hill's relationship with King Features. In 1995, the company was sold to Pearson plc, integrating it into the Pearson Television division.
In 1993, both Leonard Hill Films and Joel Fields Productions who were separate companies merged together to form Hill/Fields Entertainment, with Joel Fields becoming its partner. The first project Hill/Fields received was "A Matter of Justice", starring Patty Duke for NBC. This followed in 1994 was "Justice in a Small Town". The partnership then produced "Welcome to Paradise", "Falling from the Sky: Flight 714", "Deadly Whispers", "Stolen Innocence", "Hijacked: Flight 285", "Shaughnessy" and "Detention: The Siege at Johnson High".
In 1998, Joel Fields left the company, and reverted back to using its old name Leonard Hill Films. There the company produced one more television movie "Stolen from the Heart", before he could retire. The popularity of television films declined. In 2001, Leonard Hill switched to real estate development and partnered with Yuval Bar-Zemer to start Linear City Developmemt. They transformed existing buildings, and started the Toy Factory Lofts, the Biscuit Company Lofts and the Elysian. In addition to constructing their own. buildings, Leonard Hill briefly resumed its production through its Leonard Hill Films banner, producing only one more film before his death, "Dorfman His Love".
In 2016, Hill donated $1.9 million to create a new public park under the newly constructed Sixth Street Bridge. Shortly after, he died in his home on Hancock Park on June 7, 2016 due to brain tumor.
