Norman Lloyd, R.I.P.

 

Actor-director-producer Norman Lloyd, whose career began nearly 100 years ago and was a contemporary of Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, passed away yesterday at the age of 106. 

It was only last week when I saw a 1960 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents which featured Lloyd when he was a mere lad of 46 as a man claiming to be the devil. I made a point of taking a picture and I'm glad I did.

If you came of age in the 1980's then you likely remember him from the cast of NBC's St. Elsewhere which featured a young Denzel Washington as one of his co-stars. Or you might remember him from Dead Poet's Society with Robin Williams along with a young Ethan Hawke.

But that only scratched the surface. Lloyd was part of the Mercury Theater with Orson Welles, appeared in Charlie Chaplin's Limelight and began a decades long collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock when he played a Nazi spy in his 1942 film Saboteur. Lloyd served as Hitchcock's associate producer of Alfred Hitchcock Presents directing 19 episodes and acting in a handful including "The Little Man Who Was There" (where he is pictured above). He would be elevated to executive producer of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Lloyd also produced shows such as The Name of the Game and Tales of the Unexpected. His directing credits include episodes of Chevron Theatre and the 1971 Columbo episode "Lady in Waiting" featuring Susan Clark. Some of his TV acting credits include Night Gallery, O'Hara, U.S. Treasury, Kojak, Quincy, M.E., Wiseguy, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Murder, She Wrote and The Practice. 

Mind you this doesn't begin to mention all of his stage work and work in radio. His final credit took place with a small role in Amy Schumer's 2015 film Trainwreck.

Lloyd was an avid tennis player until he was 100. To give one a sense of his longevity, Lloyd attended Game 2 of the 2017 World Series between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. The last World Series game he had attended was 91 years earlier when he attended Game 1 of the 1926 World Series between the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals. Norman Lloyd was probably the last man on earth who saw Babe Ruth play in a World Series game. 

For further appreciation, I would suggest reading Alex Ross' 2015 piece on Lloyd in The New Yorker or Judd Apatow's 2016 profile of him in Vanity Fair. 

Norman Lloyd lived a long rich, interesting life irrespective of fame and money. We might not have the privilege of walking among Chaplin, Welles and Hitchcock but we can look to Norman Lloyd for inspiration. R.I.P.