Norman Lloyd, Alfred Hitchcock Presents And St. Elsewhere Actor, Dies At 106

Emmy-nominated multi-hyphenate Norman Lloyd, who acted, produced, and directed across his nine decades in Hollywood, has passed away at the age of 106. Deadline brings word of Lloyd’s death, revealing he passed on Monday, May 10, “in his sleep at his Los Angeles home.” As the trade reports, Lloyd was the final surviving member of Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater and was originally set to appear in Citizen Kane before quitting the project, but would make his big screen debut in another famous film and with another notorious director, starring in Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur. From there his career would take him to many corners of Hollywood.

Lloyd would go on to star in another Hitchcock film, 1945’s Spellbound, but his collaborations with the iconic filmmaker didn’t end there. Beginning in 1957, Lloyd would direct, produce, and star in multiple episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and its follow-up series The Alfred Hitchcock Hour which began in 1962. Though he would notably collaborate with the Master of Suspense for many years, yet another noteworthy director that Lloyd would cross paths with in the era was silent film star Charlie Chaplin, starring in the 1952 movie Limelight which saw Chaplin in front of and behind the camera.

Lloyd would rise to household name status when he was cast as Dr. Daniel Auschlander on the hit series St. Elsewhere, a role he landed after almost thirty years of acting. The actor would go on to appear in nearly every episode of the series but would also show up in other shows of the era including The Twilight Zone revival, Murder, She Wrote, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Though he would slow-down in his later years, Lloyd still found time to act, appearing in an episode of Modern Family and finally the Judd Apatow-directed Trainwreck back in 2015, his final screen performance.

In an interview with The Telegraph about his appearance in the Amy Schumer/Bill Hader rom-com, Lloyd said: “You know I’ve never worked without a script before, but with Apatow it’s all improvisation. He calls out a premise and you have to adapt….I expressed lechery, and 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!’ ”

At 106 and having worked with the likes of Welles, Chaplin, and Hitchcock, Lloyd’s career will no doubt stand the test of time. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family during this time.

(Cover Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for TCM)