Overview (5)

Mini Bio (3)

Harold Clayton Lloyd was born in Burchard, Nebraska on the 20th of April 1893. When Harold was 12 he joined the theatre usually just performing with his high school. Harold's father (nick-named 'Foxy') was not successful at business and Harold's mother regretted marrying him. Later, actor John Lane Connor asked Lloyd to go to Los Angeles with him. Lloyd, now divorced, won $3000 after an accident. They flipped a coin - it was either heads to California or tails to New York and it came up California according to Lloyd's daughter, Gloria, in "Harold Lloyd, The Third Genius" (1989) undoubtedly the most informative documentary on his life, which was produced by film historians David Gill & Kevin Brownlow.



While Harold and John Lane Connor were in San Diego, the Edison film company asked Connor to supply extras. This led to the first movie appearance of Lloyd in a 1913 film called The Old Monk's Tale (1913). That year Lloyd was cast as an extra in a movie called Rory 'o The Bogs where he came upon another extra, Hal Roach. They also appeared later on in Samson (1914) and in The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914). In 1915 Roach had developed a new film company and he invited Harold Lloyd for his own series. The studio now had a new name, Rolin. Harold was a slow developer at comedy. His first character was called Willie Work, later Lonesome Luke, which was an imitation of Charlie Chaplin's tramp character. Just Nuts (1915), the first Lonesome Luke, was a success and Roach wanted no change. Finally in 1917 Lloyd thought up a new character called simply "Glasses" character. Lloyd directed the first of these movies but later knew it's impossible to act and direct at the same time. Roach had later claimed he had invented the character but it was indeed Lloyd's idea. He was joined by a huge company including 'Snub' Pollard & Bebe Daniels.



In 1921 it was time for Lloyd to begin making feature-length comedies. The first of these was Matrose wider Willen (1921) which was a huge a success. It was followed by Großmutters Junge (1922). Lloyd wanted Grandma's Boy to be just a dramatic picture but when he previewed it in a theatre the audience was not laughing. So Roach got all the writers to work out gags for the picture. After the film was released Lloyd recognized it as one of the greatest accomplishments.



Next came an interesting picture called Dr. Jack (1922)followed by Lloyd's most spectacular film, Ausgerechnet Wolkenkratzer (1923)in 1923. The film showed Lloyd dangling from a clock on the side of a building. At the end of that year Lloyd left Roach and formed his own company called 'The Harold Lloyd corporation' where for the first 2 years he distributed his movies through Pathe and later for Paramount. His most popular film was Der Sportstudent (1925) in 1925. In 1928 Lloyd had already written his own autobiography "An American Comedy" the same year where he made his last silent film entitled Los - Harold - los (1928).



In 1929 Lloyd began making a film called Harold, der Drachentöter (1929)where he originally shot it as a silent film but later on he re-shot it as a talking film. His career was going down with the dawn of sound. He made one more thrill picture called Harold, halt dich fest! (1930)in the style of Safety Last. But with the depression hitting, he no longer achieved the same fame as he did in the roaring twenties. He returned two years later with an amazing film which was regarded as his best talkie. The movie was Filmverrückt (1932) where Lloyd considered he was at his funniest. Convinced it was a hit he went on a trip to Europe. He later returned to Hollywood and had learned that the film had been a flop, he reduced himself to one film every two years. He made another great talking film entitled Ausgerechnet Weltmeister (1936) in 1936, directed by Leo McCarey. After one of his last movies, Der gejagte Professor (1938), although he didn't exactly retire he just drifted away from the film industry. He produced two more films for RKO in the early 40s before retiring. After that he found many more interests including the study of color and such. Later on he took numerous photographs of Marilyn Monroe.



In 1947, director Preston Sturges, who had never forgotten 'The Freshman' wanted to make a tribute to Lloyds career. So Lloyd agreed to make a movie with Sturges, which in the end was titled Verrückter Mittwoch (1947), but it didn't reach the top. Three years later producer Howard Hughes re-issued and edited it down to 79 minutes and changed the title to Mad Wednesday. Lloyd was now nearly forgotten. Although the film was unsuccessful, in 1951 Lloyd was nominated for a golden globe for best Motion Picture Actor in a musical or comedy. But he did receive an honorary Oscar in 1953 for being a master comedian and good citizen.



In 1962 he compiled some of his silent comedies into two documentaries, which were called Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy & another one in 1963 entitled Harold Lloyd's Funny Side of Life. Lloyd re-released some of his films and his fame was coming back but not as it once was. He died in 1971 at the age of 78. He was also known for his generous charity work. His stars on the walk of fame are at 6840 Hollywood Blvd & at 1501 Vine Street, California.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Daniel Dopierala bgdaniel27@hotmail.com

Harold was born in America's mid west and lived what he referred to as a'Tom Sawyer' existence due in large part to the continued failure of his father's business enterprises from photographer to short order cook. Harold himself had a variety of odd jobs mainly in the theatre of John Lane Conner's travelling stock company where he first worked at the age of 12. He made his screen debut in 1913 made up as an indian, which although an inauspicious begining it gave an idea of the determination and skill which Harold would bring to later roles. His success in altering his appearance with makeup landed him many of his early acting jobs but it was his subtle transformation provided by a pair of horn - rimned glasses in 1917 which created the character that was to become so successful that for years he was the highest paid actor in Hollywood.. His final film was the Howard Hughes produced 'Mad Wednesday in 1947 but by then he had made some 200 films.He was presented with a special lifetime achievement 'Oscar' in 1952 and remained active until his death In 1971 aged 77

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5

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Excelled at thrill comedy which had his characters in jepoardy with dangerous stunts (i.e. the clock hanging scene in Ausgerechnet Wolkenkratzer (1923).)

In the prime of his career, Lloyd's most famous role was the "Glasses" character, a young eager all-American man who was out to succeed in life and absolutely no physical obstacle would stand in his way as he risked life and limb to achieve his goals.



Frequently played characters named Harold



Trivia (48)

His home, "Greenacres" has 44 rooms, 26 bathrooms, 12 fountains, 12 gardens and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.



One of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).



A 1919 accident with a prop bomb, which turned out to be a live bomb, cost him the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. In subsequent films, he wore a glove and prosthetic device to hide it. Remarkably, he was able to do many of his gags (he employed a stunt man for serious stunts) convincingly afterward.





He was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of the superhero Superman/Clark Kent (created in 1938). Lloyd was 45 years old at the time, and he was modeled for Clark Kent's identity (Superman's identity was modeled after Douglas Fairbanks ). Lloyd's "Glasses character" was the inspiration because like that character, Lloyd found that he could hide his identity simply by taking off the glasses.

Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Great Mausoleum, Begonia Corridor.





According to the book, "The History Of Pulitzer Prize Winning Plays", Lloyd was originally slated to play the lead role of Elwood P. Dowd in Mary Chase 's Broadway stage play "Harvey". Lloyd turned the part down, and it then went to Frank Fay



Was immortalized in Futurama (1999) episode S03E08: That's Lobstertainment. In this episode we find out that Dr. Zoidberg has an uncle who was a silent actor, Harold Zoid.



Aside from two talking films, Ausgerechnet Weltmeister (1936) & Verrückter Mittwoch (1947) (AKA "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock"), all films from 1922 through Großmutters Junge (1922), were owned by Lloyd. Many of the pre-1920 shorts were lost in a nitrate explosion in his film vault in 1943 and are now considered lost. A limited number of films rights were sold to Time-Life in 1998, and released on VHS format. The estate rejected offers to release them to DVD up until 2005, when they accepted an offer from New Line (some have also been restored and shown periodically on TCM). His films are set to be released on DVD somewhere in the next two years (2006-2007) (The two talking films are in the public domain, and all films before 1922 are owned by KINO having passed from Pathe and Roach)



He adopted daughter Peggy Lloyd in 1929, when she was five years old.

After Lloyd's career as an actor deserted him in 1938, he immersed - some would say drowned - himself into one hobby after another. While he bred Great Danes and collected cars earlier in life, he would later indulge himself in marathon movie nights several times each week, and become rabidly interested in photography (which allowed himself intimate contact with innumerable models) and later, in hi-fidelity sound systems. He placed standing orders for the entire catalogs of several record companies, amassing an enormous record collection.





His actual autographs prior to 1936 are quite rare. His father, J. Darcie 'Foxy' Lloyd , was given the job as the official fan mail correspondent within the Harold Lloyd Corporation. Foxy's signature is easy to recognize - it's right out of the 19th century and quite florid. HL's signature is much plainer and common. His father retired to Palm Springs in 1936. HL found it impossible to dodge autograph seekers when he began whirlwind movie/bowling nights around Los Angeles as his acting career wound down about the same time. Real pre-1936 autographs exist mainly on contracts and extremely personal correspondence to Bebe Daniels

Head of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1960.





Parts of Westworld (1973) were shot at his estate, Greenacres. He had expressed a desire to see his home preserved in some capacity related to his career, but his will strangely neglected any funding for the enormous estate. His heirs briefly opened it as a tourist attraction (and filming location) but this failed to generate adequate income and it was later sold.



Sam Taylor was the most important director for him.

Was once one of the 10 richest entertainers in the world.



Lloyd was extremely superstitious. His daily routines were dictated by his superstitions: he maintained that certain streets were unlucky and his chauffeurs were instructed to avoid them. He would habitually enter and exit rooms from the same doors and dress and undress in precise reverse order.





While never credited as a writer through his entire career, Lloyd was in fact the driving force behind all of his movies, from Großmutters Junge (1922) throughout the silent era. He came up with most of the stories and gags and structured them together with his team.



He and his wife Mildred Davis are mentioned twice in the Drake Bell song "End it Good" off of his 2006 album "It's Only Time".



A famous story about Lloyd concerns he and composer Gaylord Carter regarding the scoring of Lloyd's film Ausgerechnet Wolkenkratzer (1923)) for a re-release. Lloyd was present during the recording session; during the sequence from the film in which he is scaling the side of a building, he loses his grip and catches hold of the hands of an enormous clock. During this moment, Carter at the organ swung into the song "Time on My Hands", which prompted Lloyd to give Carter a mock stern glance and declare, "Gaylord, I'LL do the jokes!".

Before moving into his famous home Greenacres in 1928, Lloyd and his wife lived at 502 South Irving Boulevard in Los Angeles, just south of Hollywood. The house still exists. Before that, up until shortly after his marriage in 1923, Lloyd lived in a large two-story house on Hoover Street.



He was a staunch Republican and conservative.



Merian Cooper rented several of Lloyd's purebred Great Danes for the hunt sequence of "The Most Dangerous Game" when he realized the leopards called for in the script weren't practical (even for him). He dyed the dogs' hair black to make them look more ferocious.





His home was used as the exterior of Jack Woltz's ( John Marley ) home in Der Pate (1972).

Unlike many other stars of the silent era Lloyd was known for his financial acumen. Despite his many expensive hobbies and the essential death of his film career after the advent of 'talkies' in the late 1920s he would still leave an estate of $12 million dollars upon his death in 1971.



Following his death the Harold Lloyd Estate (also known as Greenacres) in Los Angeles became a popular filming location for Hollywood, appearing in features such as The Godfather (1972), Westworld (1973), Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Commando (1985). One of Lloyd's many superstitions was that it was extremely unlucky to travel around the ornamental fountain at the front of the house (and he only ever did so once, in his hearse on the way to his funeral). In all four films characters travel around the same fountain only to suffer a violent death afterwards.



On August 7, 2018, he was honored with a day of his film work during the TCM Summer Under The Stars.





He has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Ausgerechnet Wolkenkratzer (1923), Der Sportstudent (1925) and Ben Hur (1925).

At home, Harold Lloyd exercised a Victorian kind of strictness with all of his children. He could be expected to grow angry if any infraction was committed.



Harold Lloyd was in danger of becoming a name from the past, in the years following his death. Then, beginning with a new biography about him, his legacy began to blossom until he has now become almost as recognized as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.



After his attempts at succeeding in talkie movies failed, Lloyd reacted to this in a somewhat philosophical manner. He felt he had achieved everything he could in comedy and had no regrets that it was all over.



Lloyd and future film producer Hal Roach began making a living as actors in 2 reel movies at "Universal" studios during the early teens.



It has never been fully explained as to why Harold Lloyd didn't make the transition to talkie films. The most likely reason was due to the actor not having the right kind of voice for sound.



Before developing as a film comedian, Harold Lloyd did act in many dramatic roles during the early part of his career. Unfortunately, little footage exists in the archive.



On the rare occasions he allowed his work to be shown publicly, Harold Lloyd enjoyed the company and opinions of younger people as they discussed his films in his presence.



Photography enthusiast Roddy McDowall was invited by Harold Lloyd to his home, so that McDowall could take some photographs of the grounds.



As with a lot of comedians, Harold Lloyd regarded creating comedy as an immensely frustrating experience. There were several occasions where he and his gag writers would spend many hours at a time - without much success - in trying to come up with some inspiration.



A movie industry Trade Paper item in August 1930 announced that after "Feet First" Harold Lloyd's next talking picture comedy feature for Paramount will be a football comedy. This eventually was never made - his next feature was "Movie Crazy" in 1932.



His granddaughter donated 85 scrapbooks and 3,000 still negatives documenting his career over 34 years to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills.



He received an Honoray Oscar in 1952.





He was Bebe Daniels 's first date.

Personal Quotes (13)

Comedy comes from inside. It comes from your face. It comes from your body.



I do not believe the public will want spoken comedy. Motion pictures and the spoken arts are two distinct arts.





[when asked why he abandoned his Lonesome Luke character and that type of character] Charlie [ Charles Chaplin ] had the market cornered on that. He had it down to a science.

[when asked whether the transition from silents to sound made any problems because of his voice, as with so many other stars from the era] I had to work a little on my voice because I hadn't used it for years. I went to a voice coach for about five days, and then he said, "Good-bye, you just weren't using it right".





In a feature picture I like quite well, the one in which I'm hanging on a clock, Ausgerechnet Wolkenkratzer (1923), and which is probably one of our most popular, we did the final scenes of that climb first. We didn't know what we were going to have for the beginning of it. We hadn't made up the opening and after we found that we had, in our opinion, a very, very good thrill sequence, something that was going to be popular and bring in a few shekels, we went back and figured out what we would do for a beginning, and then worked on up to what we already had.

[in 1970] My humor was never cruel or cynical. I just took life and poked fun at it. We made it so it could be understood the world over, without language barriers. We seem to have conquered the time barrier, too.



[on his horn-rimmed glasses] At a cost of 75 cents they provide a trademark recognized instantly wherever pictures are shown.





[on Bebe Daniels ] She's a wonderful individual and I can understand why she's tremendously revered in Great Britain. She's very warm-hearted and she has a habit of giving -- never lost it!

[In comedy] one situation leads to another - one 'gag' builds up its successor.We seek always to build up every situation to the 'topping-off' point. The top-off gag of any situation must always must have a greater force than any other in the sequence.



The man who tries to be funny is lost. To lose one's naturalness is always to lose the sympathy of your audience.



The spectacle of a fat man slipping on an icy sidewalk never fails to get a laugh. The same is true of a man attempting to drive a nail and mashing his finger in the process, or a man with his arms full of bundles attempting to keep his hat from blowing off. These things are funny because they have happened to all of us and probably will happen again. They are trying experiences for the individuals involved and we sympathize with them. But we laugh, nevertheless because they are human touches.



The more trouble you get a man into, the more comedy you get out of him.



[To Buster Keaton on his move to MGM in 1928] They're not your crowd; you'll lose.



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