, an executive at 20th Century Fox who developed “The Matrix” while at Silver Pictures, where he also worked on “Lethal Weapon IV” and “The Manchurian Candidate” remake, died April 21 after a long battle with cancer. He was 66.
Leon had been a story analyst at Fox since the mid 2000s. Before that, from 1997-99, he was VP of production at Fox Family Films, where he developed “Ever After,” “Home Alone III” and “Anastasia.”
He was director of development at Silver Pictures in the mid-’90s and before that a story analyst at Columbia Pictures and Lorimar. He was VP of production at Dan Curtis Productions in the mid 1980s.
Born in New York City, he earned a B.A. from Marlboro College and a PhD in music from Harvard U.
In the mid 2000s, Leon was a union organizer at the Motion Picture Editors Guild.
He is survived by his wife, Shannon Mow, and a daughter.
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