In M, both the police and the criminal underworld stalk a mysterious killer (David Wayne) who preys on small children. Norman Lloyd plays the criminal “Sutro” in the film.
Norman Lloyd in M
Joseph Losey directed this 1951 remake of the 1931 Fritz Lang classic. Michel Michelet’s score has not had a release. The film grossed an underwhelming $1.2 million.
In HE RAN ALL THE WAY, “Nick Robey” (John Garfield) and his partner “Al Molin” (Norman Lloyd) stage a payroll holdup. Al is shot and Nick kills a policeman. Nick hides out at a public pool, where he meets “Peg Dobbs” (Shelley Winters). They go back to her apartment, and he forces her family (Wallace Ford, Selena Royle, and Bobby Hyatt) to hide him from the police manhunt.
John Berry directed the 1951 crime drama. Franz Waxman’s score has not been released. The film grossed a below-average $2. 9 million.
John Garfield, who was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951 for refusing to name friends as communists, died in 1952. HE RAN ALL THE WAY was his last film. Long-term heart problems, allegedly aggravated by the stress of his blacklisting, led to his death at the age of 39. It was also the last feature-length film John Berry made before being identified as a communist and blacklisted by the HUAC. Although not listed in the credits, Dalton Trumbo co-wrote the film's screenplay with credited writer Hugo Butler. Trumbo was jailed in 1947 for refusing to testify before the HUAC, and his credit on the film was officially restored by the Writers Guild of America in 2000; credited writer Guy Endore acted as his front.
Fading comedian “Calvero” (Charles Chaplin) and suicidally despondent ballet dancer “Thereza 'Terry' Ambrose” (Claire Bloom) must look to each other to find purpose and hope in their lives, in Chaplin’s 1952 film LIMELIGHT. Norman Lloyd played stage director “Bodalink” in the film.
Chaplin wrote, produced, and directed the film, after which he left America to attend the film’s UK premiere. Because of controversies regarding back taxes, his alleged Communist ties, and his involvement in former paramour Joan Barry's abortion, Chaplin was banned from re-entering the U.S. In turn, Chaplin vowed never to return to America. Although LIMELIGHT opened in New York, the controversies prevented any Los Angeles showings. The film did not open in Los Angeles until 1972, when it finally became eligible for the Academy Awards. The film won the 1972 Oscar for Best Music Score for Chaplin, Ray Rasch and Larry Russell. The year prior, Chaplin broke his promise never to set foot on American soil again, by returning for a special lifetime achievement Academy Award. The LIMELIGHT score was finally released in 2019 as part of the Chant du Monde Records box set “Charlie Chaplin - The Complete Soundtracks.”
Speaking of Chaplin, Norman Lloyd said: “I did a picture with [Chaplin] called LIMELIGHT, and even before LIMELIGHT, I had become a friend of his, as did my wife. We went out on the boat with him socially and so forth. This was all rooted in tennis. Charlie was as passionate about tennis as I am, and I used to play with him about four times a week. Out of that grew a real friendship. And one day he asked me if I wanted to be in LIMELIGHT. I had the great experience of doing the last picture he made in this country. It was a very personal story - it was really about a man who could no longer make people laugh, and Charlie really felt that he had lost that ability. He was an extraordinary man - he was a genius. To work with him was fascinating.” LIMELIGHT would be Norman Lloyd’s last theatrical feature for 25 years.
In addition to theater work, Norman Lloyd spent the 1950s and 1960s in television, doing occasional acting guest spots, but mostly producing and directing. Alfred Hitchcock, in particular, gave Lloyd opportunities to do all three on Hitchcock’s various shows. During the 1970s, Lloyd specialized in producing and/or directing plays adapted for television. Among the nearly two dozen plays on which he worked were a number produced under the banner of the “Hollywood Television Theater.”
This was a series that aired on local PBS affiliates throughout the United States from 1970-1978. It was conceived by KCET in Los Angeles, and that channel capitalized on its location and accessibility to recognizable faces, casting many high-profile actors to appear in their productions.
For THE SCARECROW, a dramatization of a 1908 play by Percy MacKaye, they lined up Gene Wilder, Blythe Danner, Norman Lloyd, and Pete Duel in his final film. Set just before the Salem witch trials, the story tells of an embittered old woman, “Goody Rickby” (Nina Foch), who has learned witchcraft from “Dickon” (Norman Lloyd), the Devil himself, and brings a scarecrow to life, as part of her revenge on the judge (Will Geer) who was once her lover.
Boris Sagal directed, and Mundell Lowe provided the unreleased score. The show aired on PBS on 10 January 1972.
STEAMBATH was a TV adaptation of Bruce Jay Friedman's Off-Broadway play. “Tandy” (Bill Bixby), “Merideth” (Valerie Perrine) and assorted others unexpectedly wake up in a steambath with no easy exit. After spending some time there, it becomes clear that the steambath is a sort of Afterlife, where indifferent souls come to tell their stories to God who happens to be the attendant picking up the towels.
Norman Lloyd produced, and Burt Brinckerhoff directed the film, which aired as part of Hollywood Television Theater on PBS on 4 May 1973. Lyn Murray provided the unreleased score.
In HE RAN ALL THE WAY [1951], “Nick Robey” (John Garfield) and his partner “Al Molin” (Norman Lloyd) stage a payroll holdup. Al is shot and Nick kills a policeman. Nick hides out at a public pool, where he meets “Peg Dobbs” (Shelley Winters). They go back to her apartment, and he forces her family (Wallace Ford, Selena Royle, and Bobby Hyatt) to hide him from the police manhunt.
Remarkably similar to the plot of THE DESPERATE HOURS. But that story was based on a 1952 event that was dramatized in a 1954 novel and 1955 play and film (remade in 1990).
In HE RAN ALL THE WAY [1951], “Nick Robey” (John Garfield) and his partner “Al Molin” (Norman Lloyd) stage a payroll holdup. Al is shot and Nick kills a policeman. Nick hides out at a public pool, where he meets “Peg Dobbs” (Shelley Winters). They go back to her apartment, and he forces her family (Wallace Ford, Selena Royle, and Bobby Hyatt) to hide him from the police manhunt.
Remarkably similar to the plot of THE DESPERATE HOURS. But that story was based on a 1952 event that was dramatized in a 1954 novel and 1955 play and film (remade in 1990).
Norman Lloyd returned to feature films in 1977. John Hillerman played prosecutor "Scott Velie," who attempts to convict "Elliot Hoover" (Anthony Hopkins) of the abduction of "Ivy Templeton" (Susan Swift), after Elliot takes the child under the belief that she is the reincarnation of his late five-year-old daughter AUDREY ROSE. To get to the truth, in the climactic trial, Lloyd appears as psychiatrist “Dr. Steven Lipscomb” who hypnotizes Ivy and takes her back through several birthday parties until they reach her babyhood. The film’s producers hired doctor Jean Holroyd, Ph.D., from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Psychiatry Department to supervise the crucial hypnosis scene.
Robert Wise directed this 1977 thriller, which also starred Marsha Mason and John Beck. Michael Small's score was released by Kritzerland in 2001. The $4 million production did mediocre business at the box office, with a $5.4 million gross.
When a liberal FM music station's owners decide to introduce army recruitment ads, despite the protests of its manager, the rebellious DJs, including “Jeff Dugan” (Michael Brandon) are determined to fight back, no matter the cost. Norman Lloyd co-starred as “Carl Billings,” head of the Billings Corporation, which owns the station.
Michael Brandon, Norman Lloyd, Eileen Brennan, Cassie Yates, and Martin Mull in FM
Cinematographer John A. Alonzo, known for his work on such films as CHINATOWN (1974) and BLACK SUNDAY (1977), made his theatrical film directorial debut with FM. Steely Dan composed and performed the FM title song, and the balance of the film’s music consisted of other pop songs. MCA Records released the film’s 2-LP song-track set, which they re-issued on CD in 2000. The $4 million production was a middling performer at the 1978 box office, with a $6.5 million U.S. gross.
Leonard B. Stern, the executive producer of the spy spoof television series “Get Smart,” had been thinking about a feature film version of the series as far back as 1966, after the series’ first season of production. But that idea never came to fruition.
In 1978, Stern had an idea for a two-hour telefilm to be broadcast in oversea markets, which would then be aired domestically to possibly resuscitate the series. Instead, Stern opted to turn the project into a feature film. Talks to do the film between Stern’s Talent Associates and Columbia Pictures ended when budget and scheduling could not be agreed upon. It was later reported that the film, under the working title “The Return of Maxwell Smart” with a $2.5 million budget, was set to begin principal photography in July 1978 with Stern directing in a deal through Universal Pictures. However, principal photography was delayed until January 1979, by which time Barbara Feldon (who played “Agent 99” in the series) had dropped out of the project.
By November 1978, the budget had increased to $6 million. By June 1979, the film’s budget had grown to $8 million, and it was hoped that if the initial film succeeded, it would launch a series with one film a year.
It was reported that the show’s original concept would be expanded to satirize the James Bond franchise, and the larger budget would accommodate the changes. The original “Chief” in the series, Ed Platt, had died in 1974. Eugene Roche, who was cast as “Chief,” was replaced by Dana Elcar due to illness.
In the film, now titled THE NUDE BOMB, “Maxwell Smart” (Don Adams) is recalled to duty to help fight “Norman Saint Sauvage” (Vittorio Gassman), a KAOS leader who threatens to detonate a weapon that destroys clothing. Replacing Barbara Feldon was Sylvia Kristel as “Agent 34.” Also on Max’s team is “Carruthers” (Norman Lloyd), the scientist in charge of technical weaponry. Assisting Sauvage is “Nino Salvatori Sebastiani” (also Vittorio Gassman), a one-armed, one-legged, eye-patched KAOS operative. Rhonda Fleming co-stars as Sebastiani’s former wife, a fashion designer named “Edith Von Secondberg.”
Norman Lloyd in THE NUDE BOMB
Clive Donner directed the 1980 film, which has an unreleased score by Lalo Schifrin. Although the film was disliked by the critics, it found favor with audiences, landing in the top 40 films of the year with a $19 million gross.
Norman Lloyd had his most successful recurring role in a television series as “Dr. Daniel Auschlander” in the series “St. Elsewhere”. The medical drama was created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, and starred Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd, and William Daniels as teaching doctors at an aging, rundown Boston hospital, St. Eligius. Because of its reputation as a backwater of medicine, the hospital was nicknamed “St. Elsewhere.”
Although "St. Elsewhere" earned critical acclaim, earning 13 Emmy Awards for its writing, acting, and directing, and was ranked No. 20 on TV Guide's list of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time", it never ranked higher than 47th place in the yearly Nielsen ratings over its six-season, 137-episode run. Nevertheless, it was highly influential in the way it portrayed doctors and the medical profession, and its effects were seen on such later shows as "ER" and "Chicago Hope." “St. Elsewhere” aired on NBC from October 26, 1982, to May 25, 1988.
The cast of "St. Elsewhere": Top row: David Morse, Terence Knox, Cynthia Sikes, Ed Begley, Jr., Kavi Raz Second row: Sagan Lewis, Howie Mandel, Nancy Stafford, Mark Harmon Third row: Norman Lloyd, Ed Flanders, William Daniels Bottom row: Vivian Pickles, Eric Laneuville, Kim Miyori
Dr. Auschlander was the Chief of Services at St. Eligius, and had ties to the hospital from its very beginning. Fair and kind, he was well thought of by nearly everyone at St. Eligius. He was the most approachable of the three administrators because he was not uptight and serious like “Dr. Westphall” (Ed Flanders) and not abrasive or intolerant like “Dr. Craig” (William Daniels). He had been diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer shortly before the series began, and his long-term survival was not expected. However, he underwent an intensive course of chemotherapy during season 2 and into season 3, which sent his cancer into remission.
Auschlander often served as a confidant and mentor to Westphall as well as, occasionally, to Craig. In a flashback episode, it was revealed that during his early years at the hospital, he had faced serious prejudice for being Jewish. He had also first met his wife, “Katherine” (Devon Ericson), while working at the hospital. Their marriage was portrayed as a very strong one throughout the series. During season 5, it was revealed that, before meeting Katherine, Dr. Auschlander had a child with a former flame, “Margaret” (Geraldine Fitzgerald), who gave it up for adoption and never told him. In season 6, Auschlander finally met his son (Lawrence Pressman) who decided it would be best not to stay in contact.
Norman Lloyd in “St. Elsewhere’
Norman Lloyd got the role as Dr. Auschlander because he was lifelong friends with executive producer Bruce Paltrow's family. In a 2012 interview for the Archives of American Television, Lloyd said that originally his character was only supposed to appear in four episodes before he died of cancer. However, the character proved unexpectedly popular, so the showrunners decided to keep him on--leading to what Lloyd called "the longest [cancer] remission on record."
Commenting on the show, Lloyd said: “The style was interesting in that the [film] equipment that finally arrived at that point - like Panavision hand-held - you could do wonderful things. We used to say that the strength of the show was in the corridors of the hospital. As soon as it went away from the hospital it got, in my view, a little shaky. But as long as it was in the hospital, it was dynamite, because they dealt with subjects that had never been dealt with before. And in the corridors, particularly, with these hand-held cameras, the moving shots, and then going into these rooms and out of the rooms gave the [show] a very alive style.”
Because of the large ensemble cast, and a very difficult production, it was impossible for Lloyd to appear onscreen in each and every episode of the series. Even so, he appeared in all but 17 episodes of the show.
In DEAD POETS SOCIETY, maverick English teacher “John Keating” (Robin Williams) uses poetry to embolden his boarding school students to new heights of self-expression. Norman Lloyd plays “Headmaster Nolan” in the film.
Norman Lloyd in DEAD POETS SOCIETY
Norman Lloyd was most surprised to discover that he was expected to audition for the film. Initially, he refused. He said that he had just finished six years of “St. Elsewhere” and that they should use that. He was told that director Peter Weir was on location and had never seen Lloyd's TV series. Lloyd made his decision on the matter while playing a tennis match, because he said it heightened his receptivity. When he won the match, he agreed to the audition.
Lloyd later recalled that Robin Williams was in a somber mood during filming, as he was going through a divorce at the time, and there was no joking around between takes.
Maurice Jarre provided the original score for the 1989 production, which also included several classical music cues. Seventeen minutes of Jarre’s music was released on a Jarre compilation disc by Varese Sarabande in the U.S., and by Milan in Europe. The film was a big hit, coming in at #11 at the U.S. box office and rolling up a worldwide gross of $236 million.
JOURNEY OF HONOR (1991) was a Japanese epic that cost $10 million and went by many other names (SHOGUN MAYEDA, SHOGUN WARRIOR, KABUTO). In the seventeenth century, Japan is divided between two forces—the Eastern Army, led by the Warlord “Tokugawa Ieyasu” (Toshirô Mifune), and the Western Army, which fights for Toyotomi's clan. Despite winning a recent battle, things look grim for the Eastern Army. Toyotomi's Army has a supply of modern firearms, a weapon which might turn the tide of war.
Tokugawa Ieyasu sends his trusted samurai “Mayeda” (Shô Kosugi), and his son “Yorimune” (Kane Kosugi), to Spain. There, they are to purchase five thousand muskets. But it's a dangerous journey, and there are many who plot against them, and when they finally arrive in Spain, nothing goes the way they expected. Christopher Lee plays the Spanish “King Philip,” and Norman Lloyd is “Father Vasco,” a duplicitous Franciscan friar.
Christopher Lee worked again with director Gordon Hessler, for whom he had made THE OBLONG BOX and SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN. It was Hessler’s final film. John Scott’s score was released by Intrada under the title MAYEDA. Outside of Japan, the film got little distribution, and went straight to video in the U.S.
Martin Scorsese's THE AGE OF INNOCENCE was a tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer, “Newland Archer” (Daniel Day-Lewis), falls in love with “Ellen Olenska” (Michelle Pfeiffer), a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin (Winona Ryder). Norman Lloyd plays “Mr. Letterblair,” the senior partner of Archer's law firm.
Norman Lloyd in THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
In October 1991, Fox decided to drop the picture due to its escalating budget, then over $30 million. Despite Scorsese’s exclusive deal with Universal Pictures, the studio also decided to pass, also citing high production costs. As a result, the film became one of two films Scorsese would be allowed to make outside Universal. By December 1991, the project had moved to Columbia Pictures as the first property acquired by newly-installed chairman Mark Canton, who had an established relationship with Scorsese from their previous collaborations at Warner Bros. The film also reunited Scorsese with his frequent collaborators, director of photography Michael Ballhaus and editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
The final budget for the film was between $30-$35 million. Competing studios listed the figure at more than $40 million, but producer Barbara De Fina denied those rumors, stating that Day-Lewis and Pfeiffer both accepted reduced salaries to help minimize costs. In the U.S., the film was a money-loser, grossing just $32 million.
Speaking of Daniel Day-Lewis, Norman Lloyd recalled: “He's terrific. I'll tell you a funny thing about him. Years ago, I produced an hour show for Hitchcock with Robert Redford and an actress named Zohra Lampert. It was from a story by Nicholas Blake. Nicholas Blake was the nom de plume of a poet named Cecil Day-Lewis, who was the father of Daniel Day-Lewis. On THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, Daniel was very closed when I first came in - not snobbish, but he was very concentrated. Then one morning in makeup, I said, 'You know I once produced a Nicholas Blake show, which your father wrote - the book, he didn't do the screenplay.' And we got into the whole Cecil Day-Lewis thing, and Daniel opened up and was very friendly. So, when I saw him at [the] Telluride [film festival] in 2007, he was the soul of warmth and joy and was wonderful. We had a marvelous time together. He's a marvelous guy. And what an actor. Terrific.”
Elmer Bernstein's score for the 1993 film was released by Epic Records.
“Seven Days” was a television series that followed a secret branch of the U.S. National Security Agency, which has developed a time-travelling device based upon alien technology found at Roswell. As the opening of the show recounts, the Chronosphere, or Backstep Sphere, is capable of sending “one human being back in time seven days” to avert disasters. The show's title refers to the chief limitation of the technology, namely that a traveler can only backstep seven days due to limitations imposed by the device's fuel source and its reactor.
The show starred Jonathan LaPaglia as “U.S. Navy Commander Francis ‘Frank’ Bartholomew Parker,” a former Navy SEAL and ex-CIA operative recruited by the program to be the project's "chrononaut". Alan Scarfe played “Dr. Bradley Talmadge,” director of the Backstep Project operations and a long-time member of the NSA intelligence community. Norman Lloyd played “Dr. Isaac Mentnor,” a scientist with a shadowy past who is tied into the Roswell cover-up. Dr. Mentnor was the man who initially conceived the Backstep project.
Alan Scarfe and Norman Lloyd in “Seven Days”
In the U.S., “Seven Days” aired on the UPN network. Three seasons totaling 66 episodes were produced from 1998 – 2001. Norman Lloyd appeared on-screen in 32 episodes.
Cold War tensions climb to a fever pitch when a U.S. bomber is accidentally ordered to drop a nuclear warhead on Moscow in FAIL_SAFE, a live television adaptation of the 1962 novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. Walter Cronkite hosted the live event, which aired on CBS on 9 April 2000.
Richard Dreyfuss played the President in this version, a role portrayed by Henry Fonda in the 1964 feature film version. Brian Dennehy played Air Force “General Bogan,” who attempts to stop the attack, but his executive officer, “Colonel Cascio” (John Diehl), wants it to continue. Bogan was played by Frank Overton in the 1964 film. Norman Lloyd played “Defense Secretary Swenson,” a part played by William Hansen in the original.
Norman Lloyd in FAIL_SAFE
The production was performed on live television in black and white, and was the first feature-length fictional show broadcast live on CBS in 39 years. It required two soundstages on the Warner Bros. studio lot, which necessitated two directors: Stephen Frears and Martin Pasetta.
During the live broadcast, a tape of the last dress rehearsal was available for broadcast, just in case some technical problem interrupted the live performance, so that there would be no interruption of the broadcast. The production had no musical score.
In the 2000 misfire THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE, June Foray voiced the animated "Rocky," the animated "Natasha Fatale," and her ubiquitous "old woman" voice from the old series as the voice of the narrator's mother. Rene Russo was the live-action Natasha, and Jason Alexander was “Boris Badenov.” Norman Lloyd played the “President of Wossamotta U.”
Des McAnuff directed the film. Mark Mothersbaugh's score has been released only as a promo disc.
IN HER SHOES is a 2005 comedy-drama that finds strait-laced “Rose” (Toni Collette) breaking off relations with her party girl sister, “Maggie” (Cameron Diaz), over an indiscretion involving Rose's boyfriend. The chilly atmosphere is broken with the arrival of “Ella” (Shirley MacLaine), the grandmother neither sister knew existed. Norman Lloyd plays “The Professor,” who is an elderly patient in the local hospital.
Producer-director Curtis Hanson approached Toni Collette before filming and asked the actress to gain weight for the part. Collette complied and proceeded to gain twenty-five pounds, which she subsequently lost during the film's shooting, which reflects the changes that her character undergoes.
Mark Isham’s score for the film has not had a release. IN HER SHOES grossed $33 million at the U.S. box office.
In TRAINWRECK, Amy Schumer plays “Amy,” a writer for a men’s magazine called S’Nuff which specializes in stories like “Are you gay or is she just bored?” and takes a fairly cynical look at modern man-dom. When her dad “Gordon” (Colin Quinn), a serial philanderer, divorced her mom, he drove home the point that monogamy is unrealistic. Young Amy took that to heart and has kept relationships to a minimum. She’s kinda seeing “Steven” (John Cena), a cross-fit guy, but when she’s not going to the movies with him, she’s getting drunk and having sex with a parade of guys whom she wants nothing else from, and there certainly are plenty of those sorts of guys in Manhattan for her to choose from. Norman Lloyd plays “Norman,” a friend of Amy’s dad at the assisted living facility.
Norman Lloyd, Amy Schumer, and Colin Quinn in TRAINWRECK
Lloyd was 100 years old when he filmed his part. He claimed that most of his lines were improvised, and that it was the first time in his career that he improvised during a performance. Lloyd met producer-director Judd Apatow over lunch to discuss his part in the film. Lloyd claimed that Apatow was surprised that Lloyd, then 99, had driven himself to the appointment and offered to walk with him two blocks back to his car. Lloyd surmised that the walk back to his car was part of the job interview, confirming to Apatow that he was ambulatory. Apatow later expressed his amazement at Lloyd's independence, observing that he flew to New York and arrived on set alone, never asked for special services, and never needed to take breaks during filming.
In an August 2015 interview with the (London) Telegraph, Lloyd said that he had never before appeared in anything containing the level of raunchy humor in TRAINWRECK, and it was surprising to his family: "my daughter, who's 76, walked out of the picture. She wrote me a letter--'It's not the kind of picture I thought I'd see you in, Dad!'" The film was Lloyd’s final on-screen appearance.
Jon Brion’s score for the 2015 comedy has not had a release. The $35 million production had a worldwide gross of $141 million.
Filmmaker Matthew Sussman produced an hour-long documentary on Lloyd in 2007 called WHO IS NORMAN LLOYD?
Norman Lloyd's 75-year marriage to Peggy Lloyd was one of the longest - if not the longest - in show business history. The two met in 1927 while both were appearing on Broadway in “Crime.” She died exactly two months after their 75th wedding anniversary in 2011, just 16 days after her 98th birthday.
Although he spent much of his life in legitimate theater, Norman Lloyd once spoke about the advantages of film over theater: “For one thing, it's the record of a performance. The theater is ephemeral, it's gossamer. And films can reach many, many more people than a theater performance can reach by distribution. In a major sense, films are a record that the theater cannot keep.”
And so, while Lloyd’s many theater performances have passed into the ether, we can return to his film performances for a remembrance of what must have been. Farewell, Norman.
in THE GREEN YEARS (1946)
with Rebecca Schull and Crystal Bernard in “Wings”
