{"id":6989,"date":"2018-12-06T07:56:21","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T12:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=6989"},"modified":"2018-12-07T10:56:20","modified_gmt":"2018-12-07T15:56:20","slug":"from-savannah-to-hollywood-and-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2018\/12\/06\/from-savannah-to-hollywood-and-back\/","title":{"rendered":"From Savannah to Hollywood and Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Alumnus Stratton Leopold Adds Local Flavor<\/em><\/h2>\n

\"\"Distinguished Armstrong Alumni Award recipient, film producer and owner of Savannah\u2019s legendary Leopold\u2019s Ice Cream, Stratton Leopold (\u201864) is no stranger to the bright lights of Hollywood.<\/p>\n

With more than 60 film and TV credits to his name, he previously served as a Paramount Pictures executive vice president and an executive producer for blockbuster films \u201cMission Impossible III,\u201d \u201cThe Sum of All Fears\u201d and \u201cPaycheck,\u201d among others. At present, he is independently producing films, including adaptations of a nonfiction New York Times bestseller and a book by the venerable Naval Institute Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this stage in my career I am fascinated by memoirs and stories that have meaning and have changed people’s lives,\u201d said Leopold.<\/p>\n

Gov. Nathan Deal also appointed Leopold as chairman of the Georgia Film Advisory Board, which oversees the state\u2019s $9.5 billion film and TV industry.<\/p>\n

Yet, it was as a liberal arts transfer student on the historic Armstrong Mansion campus that Leopold first offered a glimpse of an impending career in the spotlight. Landing the lead role as the \u201cKing of the Birds\u201d in a classical, English-translation staging of the comedy \u201cThe Birds,\u201d written by ancient Greek classicist Aristophanes, he also played a title character in the two-act musical, \u201cLeave it to Jane,\u201d on the Jenkins Theater stage, located just behind the mansion.<\/p>\n

Armstrong College, a two-year institution at the time, wasn\u2019t initially in the cards for Leopold, who began his college career at Vanderbilt University as a pre-med major. However, he returned to Savannah following the death of his father, a Greek immigrant who opened Leopold\u2019s Ice Cream with his brothers in 1919 at the streetcar crossing of Gwinnett and Habersham Streets. Leopold\u2019s intentions were to return to collegiate studies in Nashville, \u201cbut life got in the way,\u201d and he enrolled here in Savannah to be close to home in order to assist with the family business.<\/p>\n

By the time Leopold graduated from Armstrong, the theater bug was fully embedded and he headed to New York to pursue a job in entertainment. Soon introduced to the film business, he was enticed to move to Atlanta in the early \u201870s, where he and a handful of other novices launched the state\u2019s fledgling film and TV industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a small group of us who started it, but none of us knew what we were doing,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cThis was when Burt Reynolds was starting to make movies and Atlanta had just formed a film commission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without a guide map, Leopold and his peers developed the blueprint for Georgia\u2019s film advisory committee today, drafting tax incentives and touting the state\u2019s diverse set of location sites and quality of life.<\/p>\n

Leopold\u2019s skill set also expanded as he became a casting agent, location scout and production manager across the region for 12 years. He was involved in films like \u201cThe Big Chill\u201d and \u201cWise Blood\u201d with legends like director John Huston.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Hollywood called. Over the next several decades, Leopold\u2019s career veered into producing, which took him on location shoots around the world. This included stints in Italy with Robin Williams to film \u201cThe Adventures of Baron Munchausen\u201d and a year-and-a-half commitment to produce \u201cMission Impossible III,\u201d starring Tom Cruise.<\/p>\n

While Leopold is happy to share animated stories about Williams\u2019 Italian-accented improv routines at Rome\u2019s airport terminal and behind-the-scene takes on Cruise\u2019s daredevil stunts, there\u2019s a particular twinkle in his eye when he talks about his family\u2019s ice cream shop. The locale has been hailed one of the best ice cream spots in the country by Travel & Leisure, Forbes, Thrillist, Food and Wine, Saveur, Martha Stewart Weddings, USA Today and The Travel Channel. The Toronto Sun ranked Leopold\u2019s as one of the top five ice cream shops in the world.<\/p>\n

The Leopold\u2019s Ice Cream umbrella now harbors a flagship store on Broughton Street in downtown Savannah, featuring props and photos from Leopold\u2019s movie shoots, a stateof- the-art creamery where they produce the family\u2019s secret, small-batch ice cream recipes for the store and nationwide online shipping orders and catering services. They are also currently restoring the original shop location.<\/p>\n

Leopold\u2019s pride in his family\u2019s business stems from producing quality ice cream and from its legacy of giving back to the community, especially educational initiatives.<\/p>\n

During Georgia Southern\u2019s Homecoming game in October, the University and Leopold\u2019s Ice Cream unveiled True Blue ice cream, which features Leopold\u2019s handcrafted lemon custard ice cream filled with whole blueberries and toasted almond slices. The customized ice cream colors are a direct nod to the history and coming together of Georgia Southern\u2019s multiple campuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited to partner with Georgia Southern,\u201d said Leopold. \u201cEducation is one of cornerstones of what we believe in and to have a partner such as Georgia Southern is an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Melanie Sim\u00f3n<\/em><\/p>\n

True Blue ice cream is available for purchase in Statesboro at GUS Mart in the Russell Student Union and the IT Building, as well as Armstrong Campus\u2019 Student Union. Leopold\u2019s will donate a percentage of True Blue ice cream sales to alumni scholarships.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alumnus Stratton Leopold adds local flavor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":6992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-6989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-fall-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}