Harold Lloyd

Harold Clayton Lloyd (April 20, 1893–March 8, 1971) was an American actor.

Related Topics:
April 20 - 1893 - March 8 - 1971 - American

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Harold Lloyd ranks alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as one of the most popular and influential film comedians of the silent film era. Lloyd made nearly 200 comedy films, both silent and sound, between 1914 and 1947. He is best known for his "Glasses Character", a resourceful, success-seeking go-getter who was perfectly in tune with 1920's era America. His films frequently contained "thrill sequences" of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats, for which he is best remembered today. The image of Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock high above the street in Safety Last (1923) is one of the enduring images in all of cinema. Lloyd did many of these dangerous stunts himself, despite having severely injured his right hand in a 1919 accident with a prop bomb.

Related Topics:
Charlie Chaplin - Buster Keaton - Silent film - 1914 - 1947 - Safety Last - 1923 - 1919

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Lloyd began his film career in the 1910s with pioneer comic filmmaker Hal Roach, portraying the Chaplin-inspired "Lonesome Luke" character in numerous short comedies. By 1918, Lloyd and Roach had developed the "Glasses Character" (always named "Harold" in the films), a much more mature comedy character with greater potential for sympathy and emotional depth. Beginning in 1921, they moved to feature length comedies, including Grandma's Boy (1922), Safety Last (1923), and Why Worry? (1923). Lloyd and Roach parted ways in 1924, and Lloyd became the independent producer of his own films. These included his great works Girl Shy (1924), The Freshman (1925)(his most successful silent film), The Kid Brother (1927), and Speedy (1928), his final silent film. These films were enormously successful and profitable, and influenced many filmmakers. Like the other great comics, Lloyd was the driving creative force in his films, particularly the feature length films, and he became one of the wealthiest and most influential figures in early Hollywood.

Related Topics:
1910s - Hal Roach - Hollywood

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Lloyd made the transition to sound in 1929 with Welcome Danger, and made a handful of sound films until 1937 (including the excellent ensemble film Milky Way in 1936). Unfortunately, his character was out of tune with movie audiences of the Great Depression, who failed to respond as before. Lloyd retired from the screen, but he returned for an additional starring appearance in The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1948), an homage to Lloyd's career directed by Preston Sturges and financed by Howard Hughes.

Related Topics:
1929 - Great Depression - Preston Sturges - Howard Hughes

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