Harold Lloyd

He was born Harold Clayton Lloyd on April 20, 1893 in Nebraska. His earlier years found him in many schools and different cities as his dad changed jobs, seemingly every few months.

Shortly after his family moved to San Diego in 1912, he began work as an actor in one-reel film comedies at Thomas Edison's motion picture company. He befriended a young man by the name of Hal Roach, who was also struggling with the film industry, and formed a partnership with him.

In 1913, Roach started his own studio, and Lloyd went with him and became very successful during the years 1915-1919. That year of 1919 saw him in 24 films that gained him instant acclaim on the silver screen. In 1921, he began to inject his humor and acting skills into full length features that included "Grandma's Boy" in 1922. Then, in 1923, he projected his finest work in "Safety Last," in which he was best remembered for the stunt of hanging from a huge clock on the side of a building. Also that same year, he did "Why Worry," which cemented his stardom in the film industry.

It was in 1924 that Lloyd and Roach parted ways, and Harold Lloyd began to produce his own films at his own studio. All of his films were enormously successful and profitable. They were distributed thru Pathe and, later, Paramount and Twentieth Century-Fox.

They were also highly influential and still find many fans among modern audiences, a testament to the originality and film-making skill of Lloyd and his talented collaborators.

Another of his accomplishments is that he was a founding member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. That group not only applauded actors and actresses but also set standards for others that followed.

Lloyd married his leading lady, Mildred Davis. Together, they had two children: Gloria (born 1923), and Harold Lloyd, Jr., (1931-1971). They also adopted Peggy (1924-1986) in 1930.

Lloyd's Beverly Hills home, "Greenacres," was built in 1926-1929, with 44 rooms, 26 bathrooms, 12 fountains, 12 gardens and a nine-hole golf course. Harold retired from the motion picture screen in the late 30's and just relaxed and enjoyed life with his family.

In October 1944, he emerged as the director and host of The Old Gold Comedy Theater, an NBC radio anthology series, when Preston Sturges turned the job down but recommended him for it. The show presented half-hour radio adaptations of recently successful film comedies, launching with a version of Palm Beach Story with Claudette Colbert and Robert Young.

Some saw The Old Gold Comedy Theater as being a lighter version of Lux Radio Theater, and it featured some of the best-known film and radio personalities of the day, including Fred Allen, June Allyson, Lucille Ball, Ralph Bellamy, Linda Darnell, Susan Hayward, Herbert Marshall, Dick Powell, Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman and Alan Young, among others. But the show's half-hour format - which meant the material might have been truncated too severely - and Lloyd's sounding somewhat ill at ease on the air for much of the season may have worked against it.

The Old Gold Comedy Theater ended in June 1945 with an adaptation of Tom, Dick, and Harry, featuring June Allyson and Reginald Gardiner, and wasn't renewed for the following season. Many years later, acetate discs of 29 of the shows were discovered in Lloyd's home, and they now circulate among old-time radio collectors.

Lloyd remained involved in a number of other interests, including civic and charity work. Inspired by having overcome his own serious injuries and burns, he was very active with the Shriner's Hospital for Crippled Children and eventually rose to that organization's highest office, Imperial Potentate.

Many of Hollywood's best were very active in the Masons and the Shrine, including John Wayne and Roy Rogers, just to name a couple.

He appeared as himself on several television shows during his retirement, first on Ed Sullivan's variety show Toast of the Town. He appeared as the Mystery Guest on What's My Line? and twice on This Is Your Life: on March 10, 1954 for Mack Sennett, and again on December 14, 1955 on his own episode.

Lloyd studied colors and microscopy and was very involved with photography, including 3D photography and color film experiments. Some of the earliest two-color Technicolor tests were shot at his Beverly Hills home. He became known for his nude photographs of models, such as Bettie Page and stripper Dixie Evans, for a number of men's magazines. He also took photos of Marilyn Monroe lounging at his pool in a bathing suit, which were published after their deaths. In 2004, his granddaughter Suzanne produced a book of selections from his photographs, Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3D!

Lloyd also provided encouragement and support for a number of younger actors, including Jack Lemmon, Debbie Reynolds and Robert Wagner.

Lloyd kept copyright control of most of his films and re-released them infrequently after his retirement. They have been re-mastered and are available on DVD and are very well accepted in today's market. So rich was his honor and heredity in the film industry that the 2001 Futurama episode "That's Lobstertainment!" was a tribute to Harold Lloyd, featuring an alien version of him, named Harold Zoid.

In the opening scene of Back to the Future, amongst the plethora of clocks in "Doc" Brown's house, one featuring the tiny figure of Lloyd hanging from the hands can be seen.

In the film Dumb and Dumber, the two main characters are named Harry (commonly short for Harold) and Lloyd.

In 1952, Lloyd received a special Academy Award for being a "master comedian and good citizen."

Harold Lloyd has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His was only the fourth ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre preserving his handprints, footprints, autograph, and outline of his famed glasses, entirely in cement . In 1994, he was honored with his image on a United States postage stamp.

Harold Lloyd died from prostate cancer at age 77 on March 8, 1971, in Beverly Hills, California. He was interred in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

I am proud to say that, at the old Regent Theatre in Flint, Michigan, I watched the master, Harold Lloyd, many times on the big silver screen. I was totally in awe of this man for his talents and his ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand.

Thank you, Mr. Lloyd, for setting a schedule for others to compare to and for giving to so many so they might continue your legacy.

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers

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