Last night’s episode of Blue Bloods featured a tribute to the show’s executive producer Leonard Goldberg, who died on Wednesday at the age of 85.
The tribute, which aired at the end of the episode, read: “In Loving Memory of Our Founder and Mentor: Leonard Goldberg.”
According to a statement by his family, Goldberg died on Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles due to injuries he suffered in a fall.
He died at the hospital surrounded by members of his family.
CBS’s Blue Bloods was mostly Goldberg’s brainchild, according to Deadline. He also recommended Tom Selleck to play Police Commissioner Frank Reagan.
The dinner table scene at the end of last night’s episode of the show, titled Bones to Pick, was a nod to Goldberg who introduced the idea of the end of show dinner table scene, Deadline reported.
Goldberg was formerly the president of Twentieth Century Fox. He was also formerly head of programming at ABC. He served as a production executive at Columbia Pictures Television (then Screen Gems).
Goldberg’s TV credits included the 1970s series Starsky and Hutch. He worked with the TV producer Aaron Spelling on shows such as Charlie’s Angels, Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, The Rookies, and S.W.A.T.
He won the NAACP Image Award for TV Producer of the Year for The Rookie.
Leonard Goldberg. Giant of film and television. Champion of Blue Bloods. Kind, gentle man. He will be missed. pic.twitter.com/N2ojDopMBL
— CBS Tweet (@CBSTweet) December 6, 2019
He co-produced the science fiction thriller WarGames (1983), with Richard Hashimoto, Harold Schneider, and Bruce McNall. He also produced the 1991 romantic thriller Sleeping with the Enemy.
During his long career, Goldberg helped to launch the careers of TV and movie stars, such as Farrah Fawcett, Matthew Broderick, Richard Gere, and Kate Jackson.
Blue Bloods fans, colleagues, actors, and friends, have been paying tribute. Blue Bloods actors who have paid tribute on Twitter include Donnie Wahlberg, Nicholas Turturro, and Hank Chen.
The world of movies and television lost an icon today.
I lost a mentor and a friend.
Thank you for believing in me, Mr Goldberg.
There will never be another like you.#RIPLeonardGoldberg ? pic.twitter.com/NycgI0r5eu
— Donnie Wahlberg (@DonnieWahlberg) December 6, 2019
I just wanna send my deepest sympathy for Leonard Goldberg producer and creator #BlueBloods and many other great shows it was great getting to know you and working for you was a pleasure class act!!!!
— Big Nick Turturro (@NickTurturro1) December 5, 2019
Oh man… Leonard Goldberg loved actors and signed off on my second acting job: Blue Bloods. That was the fourth episode I has auditioned for that season and he was in the room every time, greeting actors, watching us work. A true legend #RIP https://t.co/fgfijB8o2h
— Hank Chen (@Hanksterchen) December 5, 2019
Wahlberg also posted a tribute on Instagram.
“Leonard Goldberg was quite simply irreplaceable. As a creative force, as a boss, as a friend, as a husband, and a father,” Selleck said.
Goldberg is survived by his wife Wendy and three children.
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