Tears shed for the leading man flow (6)
I believe the answer is:
stream
'flow' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'tears shed for the leading man' is the wordplay.
'shed' is an anagram indicator (shed can mean to give out or emit).
'for' says to put letters next to each other.
'the leading' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'man' is 'm'.
'tears' with letters rearranged gives 'strea'.
'strea'+'m'='STREAM'
(Other definitions for stream that I've seen before include "flower" , "divide pupils into ability groups" , "schoolchildren grouped together" , "selected pupils" , "group of schoolchildren" .)