I’m very grateful to still be here.

Leon is 84 years old, but don’t let that fool you. “I haven’t grown up yet,” he says with a laugh. Though, his joints beg to differ. “I don’t walk well,” he admits. “Sometimes, I have pain in my knees.” Recently, they’ve been giving him more trouble. Now, he needs a cane to get around.  

As a young man, Leon was constantly on the go, always jumping from one project to the next. He was only the second black person hired by NBC, which had its challenges. “Racism takes its form so many different ways,” he says. 

Leon worked there for three years selling commercial time slots before he left to pursue his dream of acting. “The first year or two, I didn’t make a dime,” he recalls. But after he booked his first commercial, he was able to get steady work. Over the course of his career, Leon appeared in over 100 commercials, countless magazine ads and radio spots. He even has a few film credits.  

His work brought him around the world, but for Leon, there’s no place like New York. While he’s lived in on the Upper East Side for decades — “Virtually my whole adult life,” he says — he’s only been in this apartment for a year. His previous apartment was a five-floor walk-up. When Leon’s arthritis started to affect his mobility, he needed to move into a building with an elevator. It’s smaller than his last place, but it suits him just fine. “I love the neighborhood,” he says.  

The best part is that his daughter lives nearby. She stops by when she can, but as a working professional, she can’t always be there. Which is why Leon relies on home-delivered meals to remain independent. He’s been receiving the service for just over a year. “I haven’t had a bad meal at all,” he says. “The food is very well-cooked and very well-seasoned.”  

Getting older isn’t easy, Leon admits. “But I’m very grateful to still be here because many of my friends aren’t around,” he says. “I don’t have any regrets. I believe if you have God as your co-pilot, you don’t have to worry about turbulence.”