Remembering Norman Lloyd

The great Norman Lloyd has died at the age of 106 (and a half, to be precise!).

Lloyd was born in New Jersey on November 8, 1914, and passed away on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. He was preceded in death by Peggy, his wife of 75 years, who died in 2011 at the age of 98. They had two children.

There is much which can be said about Lloyd's long life and career -- his work with Hitchcock in films and television; his theatrical career, including Welles' Mercury Theater; his starring role on ST. ELSEWHERE (1982-88), and so much, much more...what a life! (And one of the first things I thought when I learned of his passing was is there anyone now living who can say they watched Babe Ruth play in a World Series? Lloyd did so at the age of 12, in 1926.) Scroll down for links to several obituaries describing Lloyd's career in detail.

Lloyd was a regular fixture at Southern California classic film screenings, so many of my own memories over the past day have been of the times I was lucky enough to hear him speak. One of those occasions was at the 2015 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival, where I was fortunate to snap the above photos at the Camelot Theatre in Palm Springs.

I was also lucky to hear this engaging raconteur discuss his life and the people he worked with with Alan K. Rode at the 2012 Noir City Hollywood Festival, where his films REIGN OF TERROR (1949) and SCENE OF THE CRIME (1949) were screened.

Here he was discussing Hitchcock at a screening of THE LADY VANISHES (1938) at the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival, seen here with Leonard Maltin...

...and here's another talk on Hitchcock at the Pacific Design Center for the premiere of a restored print of JAMAICA INN (1939) in 2017:

He's seen above with host Charles Cohen and Alfred Hitchcock's granddaughters, Katie Fiala and Tere Carrubba. Click on this or any photo to enlarge it for a closer look.

Here he is being interviewed on the red carpet at the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival, with Alec Baldwin in the background:

And he also turned up inside the festival's Club TCM, where he's seen here in 2013:

Lloyd never lost his love for movies and would sometimes show up in the audience at various screenings, including the TCM Festival showings of HE RAN ALL THE WAY (1951) in 2016 and PANIQUE (1946) in 2017. It was special knowing he was watching along with us, and sometimes, as in the case of HE RAN ALL THE WAY, watching his own work of many decades past.

It was wonderful having the man who "fell off the Statue of Liberty," a repository of so much history, walking among us. I'm very sad he's gone, but so grateful he was here and shared his time with so many of us.

Turner Classic Movies has announced a prime time tribute to Lloyd on Monday, June 14th. The tribute will consist of screenings of SABOTEUR (1942), seen below, plus LIMELIGHT (1952), HE RAN ALL THE WAY (1951), THE SOUTHERNER (1945), and LIVE FROM THE TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL: NORMAN LLOYD (2016).

Lloyd wrote a memoir. For more on his life, here are links to obituaries from The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, the Los Angeles Times, and Leonard Maltin.

Norman Lloyd films previously reviewed here: SABOTEUR (1942), THE UNSEEN (1945), SPELLBOUND (1945), A LETTER FOR EVIE (1946), THE BEGINNING OR THE END (1947) (also here), REIGN OF TERROR (1949), SCENE OF THE CRIME (1949), BUCCANEER'S GIRL (1950) (also here), M (1951), and HE RAN ALL THE WAY (1951).

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