82-456: These are the known films of Harold Lloyd (1893–1971), an American actor and filmmaker most famous for his hugely successful and influential silent film comedies. Most of these films are known to survive in Lloyd's personal archive collection and in various film archives around the world. Some are also available on DVD or Blu-ray. The negatives of many of Lloyd's early short films were lost in
164-501: A "master comedian and good citizen". The second citation was a snub to Chaplin, who at that point had fallen foul of McCarthyism and had his entry visa to the United States revoked. Regardless of the political overtones, Lloyd accepted the award in good spirit. Hal Roach Harold Eugene " Hal " Roach Sr. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter, who
246-604: A book of selections from his photographs.( ISBN 1-57912-394-5 ). Lloyd also provided encouragement and support for a number of younger actors, such as Debbie Reynolds , Robert Wagner and particularly Jack Lemmon , whom Harold declared as his own choice to play him in a movie of his life and work. Lloyd kept copyright control of most of his films and re-released them infrequently after his retirement. Lloyd did not grant cinematic re-releases because most theaters could not accommodate an organist to play music for his films, and Lloyd did not wish his work to be accompanied by
328-426: A child, and worked in repertory companies. He often experimented with makeup to disguise his youthful appearance. Lloyd worked with Thomas Edison 's motion picture company, and his first role was a small part as a Yaqui Indian in the production of The Old Monk's Tale . At the age of 20, Lloyd moved to Los Angeles, and took juvenile roles in several Keystone Film Company comedies. He tried to find work at
410-689: A comic character inspired by the success of Charlie Chaplin . Luke was a comic grotesque with loud clothes and a false moustache, similar to many early screen comics, but the young Lloyd gave the character great energy and enthusiasm. His antics won a popular following, and his one-reel, 10-minute comedies were soon expanded to two-reel, 20-minute comedies. Hal Roach hired Bebe Daniels to support Lloyd in 1914; Lloyd and Daniels became involved romantically and were known as "The Boy" and "The Girl". By late 1917, Lloyd had tired of Lonesome Luke and wanted to develop his screen presence beyond an imitation of his contemporaries. He envisioned an entirely new character, not
492-407: A compromise: He would continue to make Lonesome Luke two-reelers, but he would introduce his new "Glass" character in less expensive one-reel shorts. As the new character caught on, Lonesome Luke was phased out. The "Glass" character (often named "Harold" in the silent films) was a much more mature comedy character with greater potential for sympathy and emotional depth, and was easy for audiences of
574-514: A consultant on projects related to his past work. In 1983 the "Hal Roach Studios" name was reactivated as a video concern, pioneering the new field of colorizing movies. Roach lent his film library to the cause but was otherwise not involved in the new video productions. Extremely vigorous into an advanced age, Roach contemplated a comedy comeback at 96. In 1984, 92-year-old Roach was presented with an honorary Academy Award . Former Our Gang members Jackie Cooper and George "Spanky" McFarland made
656-665: A costumed clown but an everyday young man in street clothes who faced comic situations with resourcefulness. To make the look of the new character distinctive, he adopted a pair of lensless, horn-rimmed glasses. Lloyd thought that Pathé , Roach's distributor, would resist the new character because the Lonesome Luke films were proven moneymakers, and the company didn't want to lose that revenue. "Privately I believed that Pathé would conclude to hire another comedian and carry on with Lonesome Luke", wrote Lloyd. "Roach, however, argued my case better than I could have done." Lloyd agreed to
738-479: A developer in 1975. The grounds were subdivided but the main house and the estate's principal gardens remain and are frequently used for civic fundraising events and as a filming location, appearing in films like Westworld and The Loved One . It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Lloyd was a Republican who campaigned for Thomas E. Dewey and Dwight D. Eisenhower . He
820-485: A fire at his estate in 1943. The losses include five of the six Willie Work films, 53 of the 67 Lonesome Luke films, and 15 of the 81 one-reel Glasses character films. All of Lloyd's films from Bumping into Broadway (1919) onward exist in complete form in the archives. He carefully preserved his feature films, and they remain in excellent condition. All of the films are listed in order of release date. In most of Lloyd's early films, he appeared as an uncredited extra or in
902-647: A fortune on. During the filming of a roulette sequence, Roach got himself promoted to the position of technical advisor by pointing out that the ball has to travel in the opposite direction of the wheel – knowledge he had gained in San Francisco's Barbary Coast ." On 23 July 1914, Roach incorporated Rolin Film Company with Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance. In 1914, the Lewis Leonard Bradbury (November 6, 1823 – July 15, 1892) mansion, on
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#1732800765304984-459: A lighter version of Lux Radio Theater , and it featured some of the best-known film and radio personalities of the day, including Fred Allen , June Allyson , Lucille Ball , Ralph Bellamy , Linda Darnell , Susan Hayward , Herbert Marshall , Dick Powell , Edward G. Robinson , Jane Wyman and Alan Young . But the show's half-hour format—which meant the material might have been truncated too severely—and Lloyd's sounding somewhat ill at ease on
1066-735: A long-standing distribution deal with Pathé Exchange . Unable to expand his studios in Downtown Los Angeles because of zoning , Roach leased several studio sites in the Los Angeles area until he purchased what became the Hal Roach Studios from Harry Culver in Culver City, California , at 8822 Washington Boulevard, and built by 1920. During the 1920s and 1930s, he employed Lloyd (his top money-maker until his departure in 1923), Will Rogers , Max Davidson ,
1148-578: A minor supporting role. Lorimer Johnston Charles Avery Syd Chaplin J. Farrell Macdonald Gilbert Pratt Harold Lloyd Frank Terry Frank Terry Vincent Bryan Vincent Bryan Vincent Bryan Frank Terry From this point onward, all of Lloyd's films exist in the archives. Alfred J. Goulding Fred Newmeyer Fred Newmeyer Lloyd starred in a total of 18 feature-length motion pictures, consisting of 11 silent and seven sound films. Lloyd also reedited his material into two compilation features. Harold Lloyd's company Hollywood Productions made
1230-540: A movie. Reportedly, the more Lloyd watched Davis, the more he liked her. Lloyd's first reaction in seeing her was that "she looked like a big French doll". Lloyd and Davis married in 1923. On August 24, 1919, while posing for some promotional still photographs in the Los Angeles Witzel Photography Studio, he picked up what he thought was a prop bomb and lit it with a cigarette. It exploded and mangled his right hand, causing him to lose
1312-415: A particularly receptive audience among college audiences: "Their whole response was tremendous because they didn't miss a gag; anything that was even a little subtle, they got it right away." Following his death, and after extensive negotiations, most of his feature films were leased to Time-Life Films in 1974. As Tom Dardis confirms: "Time-Life prepared horrendously edited musical-sound-track versions of
1394-554: A pianist: "I just don't like pictures played with pianos. We never intended them to be played with pianos." Similarly, his features never were shown on television as Lloyd's price was high: "I want $ 300,000 per picture for two showings. That's a high price, but if I don't get it, I'm not going to show it. They've come close to it, but they haven't come all the way up." As a consequence, his reputation and public recognition suffered in comparison with Chaplin and Keaton, whose work generally has been more widely distributed. Lloyd's film character
1476-455: A resident company of comedy stars and cast his films with familiar featured players ( William Tracy and Joe Sawyer , Johnny Downs , Jean Porter , Frank Faylen , William Bendix , George E. Stone , Bobby Watson , etc.). Recognizing the value of his film library, in 1943 Roach began licensing revivals of his older productions for theatrical distribution through Film Classics, Inc. and home-movie distribution. Hal Roach Sr., commissioned in
1558-461: A series of 12 films. Eight would be for Italian screening only while the remaining four would receive world distribution. The first film for Italy was to be a feature film of the opera Rigoletto . The Hollywood Anti-Nazi League for the Defense of American Democracy resented Mussolini's presence and placed notices in various trade magazines: "He asked for - and received - the privilege of being
1640-613: A series of feature films and short subjects called " The Harold Lloyd Classic Comedies " produced by Jeffrey Vance with executive producer Suzanne Lloyd and Harold Lloyd Entertainment. The new cable television and home video versions of Lloyd's great silent features and many shorts were remastered with new orchestral scores by Robert Israel . These versions are frequently shown on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) cable channel. A DVD collection of these restored or remastered versions of his feature films and important short subjects
1722-516: A series of short subject comedies starring Edward Everett Horton in 1927 and 1928. He also produced, but did not star in, two feature films. Harold Lloyd Harold Clayton Lloyd Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many silent comedy films. One of the most influential film comedians of the silent era, Lloyd made nearly 200 comedy films, both silent and talkies , from 1914 to 1947. His bespectacled "glasses character"
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#17328007653041804-657: A showing of the film with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to great acclaim in 1993. The Brownlow and Gill documentary was shown as part of the PBS series American Masters , and created a renewed interest in Lloyd's work in the United States, but the films were largely unavailable. In 2002, the Harold Lloyd Trust re-launched him with the publication of the book Harold Lloyd: Master Comedian by Jeffrey Vance and Suzanne Lloyd, and
1886-682: A stroke three months after his father. In 1925, at the height of his movie career, Lloyd became a Freemason at the Alexander Hamilton Lodge No. 535 of Hollywood, advancing quickly through both the York Rite and Scottish Rite , and then joined Al Malaikah Shrine in Los Angeles. He took the degrees of the Royal Arch with his father. In 1926, he became a 32° Scottish Rite Mason in the Valley of Los Angeles, California. He
1968-549: A thumb and forefinger. The blast was severe enough that the cameraman and prop director nearby were also seriously injured. Lloyd was in the act of lighting a cigarette from the fuse of the bomb when it exploded, also badly burning his face and chest and injuring his eye. Despite the proximity of the blast to his face, he retained his sight. As he recalled in 1930: "I thought I would surely be so disabled that I would never be able to work again. I didn't suppose that I would have one five-hundredth of what I have now. Still I thought, 'Life
2050-608: A year in the 1920s, slowed to about one every two years. As his absences from the screen increased, his popularity declined, as did the fortunes of his production company. His final film of the decade, Professor Beware (1938), was made by the Paramount staff, with Lloyd functioning only as actor and partial financier. In 1931 he co-founded the 400-seat Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals . Gladys Lloyd Cassell (wife of Edward G. Robinson ), Sam Hardy , and Lloyd's mother raised funds for it. On March 23, 1937, Lloyd sold
2132-413: Is worth while. Just to be alive . ' I still think so." Beginning in 1921, Roach and Lloyd moved from shorts to feature-length comedies. These included the acclaimed Grandma's Boy , which (along with Chaplin's The Kid ) pioneered the combination of complex character development and film comedy, the highly popular Safety Last! (1923), which cemented Lloyd's stardom (and is the oldest film on
2214-699: The 42nd Berlin International Film Festival . On March 30, 1992, Roach appeared at the 64th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Billy Crystal . When Roach rose from the audience to a standing ovation, he decided to give a speech without a microphone, causing Crystal to quip "I think that's appropriate because Mr. Roach started in silent films." In 1916, Roach's mother and father moved into Roach's studio in Culver City, living there until their death. In September 1916, Roach married actress Marguerite Nichols , who worked as an actress in
2296-869: The American Film Institute 's List of 100 Most Thrilling Movies), and Why Worry? (1923). Although Lloyd performed many athletic stunts in his films, Harvey Parry was his stunt double for the more dangerous sequences. Lloyd and Roach parted ways in 1924, and Lloyd formed his own independent production company, the Harold Lloyd Film Corporation, He now made feature films exclusively, releasing them first through Pathé, then Paramount . These included his accomplished comedies Girl Shy , The Freshman (his highest-grossing silent feature), The Kid Brother and Speedy , his final silent film. All of these films were enormously successful and profitable, and Lloyd eventually became
2378-585: The Our Gang children, Charley Chase , Harry Langdon , Thelma Todd , ZaSu Pitts , Patsy Kelly and, most famously, Laurel and Hardy . During the 1920s, Roach's biggest rival was producer Mack Sennett . In 1925, Roach hired away Sennett's supervising director, F. Richard Jones . Roach released his films through Pathé Exchange until 1927, when he struck a distribution deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . He converted his silent-movie studio to sound in late 1928 and began releasing talking shorts in early 1929. In
2460-480: The Our Gang comedies he produced from 1929 to 1938. In 1955, Roach sold his interests in the production company to his son, Hal Roach Jr., and retired from active production. The younger Roach lacked much of his father's business acumen and was forced to sell the studio in 1958 to The Scranton Corporation, a division of the automobile-parts conglomerate F. L. Jacobs Co. The Roach studio finally shut down in 1961. For two more decades, Roach Sr. occasionally worked as
2542-605: The U.S. Army Signal Reserve Corps in 1927, was called back to active military duty in the Signal Corps in June 1942, at age 50. The studio output he oversaw in uniform was converted from entertainment featurettes to military training films . The studios were leased to the U.S. Army Air Forces , and the First Motion Picture Unit made 400 training, morale and propaganda films at "Fort Roach." Members of
Harold Lloyd filmography - Misplaced Pages Continue
2624-664: The Universal studio, but "the gatekeeper was a crabby old soul who let me understand that it would be a great pleasure to keep me out", as Lloyd recalled in his 1928 memoir. He solved his problem with the ingenuity of his later screen character: "The next morning I brought a makeup box. At noon I dodged behind a billboard, made up, mingled with the [extras] and returned with them through the gate without challenge." Lloyd soon became friendly with aspiring filmmaker Hal Roach . Lloyd began collaborating with Roach, who had formed his own studio in 1913. Roach and Lloyd created "Lonesome Luke",
2706-503: The 1930s and 1940s, and died in March 1941. They had two children, Hal Roach Jr. , who followed his father as a producer and director, and Margaret Roach . Roach married a second time, on September 1, 1942, to Lucille Prin, a Los Angeles secretary. They were married at the on-base home of Colonel Franklin C. Wolfe and his wife at Wright-Patterson Airfield in Dayton, Ohio , where Roach
2788-487: The 2018 Laurel and Hardy biopic Stan & Ollie , Roach was portrayed by Danny Huston . In 2020, Rose McGowan alleged that, in 1937, Roach was responsible for a case of large-scale sexual abuse of actresses. The closest link to such accusations against him is that an infamous sex party was held by MGM at the Hal Roach Ranch, which was used by the company as a studio . This is also in relation to one of
2870-659: The California Corporation, and RKO for damages to his reputation "as an outstanding motion picture star and personality", eventually accepting a $ 30,000 settlement. In October 1944, Lloyd emerged as the director and host of The Old Gold Comedy Theater , an NBC radio anthology series, after Preston Sturges, who had turned the job down, recommended him for it. The show presented half-hour radio adaptations of recently successful film comedies, beginning with Palm Beach Story with Claudette Colbert and Robert Young . Some saw The Old Gold Comedy Theater as being
2952-579: The Laurel & Hardy film Pardon Us , Roach began producing occasional full-length features alongside the short subjects. Two-reel comedies were less profitable than features, and Roach phased most of them out by 1936. When the Our Gang feature film General Spanky did not do as well as expected, Roach intended to disband Our Gang entirely. MGM still wanted the Our Gang short subjects, so Roach agreed to supply them in single-reel (10-minute) form. Roach
3034-771: The Roach studio. An accident with a bomb mistaken as a prop resulted in the loss of the thumb and index finger of his right hand (the injury was disguised on future films with the use of a special prosthetic glove, and was almost undetectable on the screen). Lloyd was born on April 20, 1893, in Burchard, Nebraska , the son of James Darsie Lloyd and Sarah Elisabeth Fraser. His paternal great-grandparents were Welsh. In 1910, after his father had several business venture failures, Lloyd's parents divorced. Harold and his father relocated to San Diego, California , where he attended San Diego High School . Lloyd became interested in theater as
3116-483: The Town June 5, 1949, and again on July 6, 1958. He appeared as the mystery guest on What's My Line? on April 26, 1953, and three times on This Is Your Life : in 1954 for a tribute to Mack Sennett and another for Bebe Daniels, and in 1955, when he was surprised for his own tribute. On November 6, 1956, The New York Times reported "Lloyd's Career Will Be Filmed". It said, as the first step, Lloyd would write
3198-526: The age of 100. He had married twice, and had six children, eight grandchildren, and a number of great-grandchildren. Roach outlived three of his children by more than 20 years: Hal Jr. (died in 1972), Margaret (died in 1964), and Elizabeth (died in 1946). He also outlived many of the children who starred in his films. Roach is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, New York , where he grew up. In
3280-519: The age of 20, he had reached the tail end of a four-year trek across America, which took him from his hometown of Elmira, New York to Alaska, and down the Pacific Coast. Along the way, he picked up the know-how necessary to land work as an extra in a J. Warren Kerrigan western, which was being filmed on location in the desert. It was here that he first met fellow player Harold Lloyd , the first of many talents whom Hal Roach would nurture and build
3362-441: The air for much of the season (though he spent weeks training himself to speak on radio prior to the show's premiere, and seemed more relaxed toward the end of the series run) may have worked against it. The Old Gold Comedy Theater ended in June 1945 with an adaptation of Tom, Dick and Harry , featuring June Allyson and Reginald Gardiner and was not renewed for the following season. Many years later, acetate discs of 29 of
Harold Lloyd filmography - Misplaced Pages Continue
3444-612: The bit with Harold shimmy shaking off the building's ledge after a mouse crawls up his trousers. Lloyd married leading lady Mildred Davis on February 10, 1923, in Los Angeles. They had two children together: Gloria Lloyd (1924–2012) and Harold Clayton Lloyd Jr. (1931–1971). They also adopted Gloria Freeman (1924–1986) in September 1930, whom they renamed Marjorie Elizabeth Lloyd but was known as Peggy for most of her life. Lloyd discouraged Davis from continuing her acting career. He later relented, but by that time her career momentum
3526-480: The clock sequence) and Feet First (presented silent, but with Walter Scharf 's score from Lloyd's own 1960s re-release). Time-Life released several of the feature films more or less intact, also using some of Scharf's scores which had been commissioned by Lloyd. The Time-Life clips series included a narrator rather than intertitles . Various narrators were used internationally: the English-language series
3608-596: The corner of Court Street and Hill Street, Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California , was Roach's film studio. Upon coming into an inheritance, in 1915 he began producing short film comedies with his friend Harold Lloyd , who portrayed a character known as Willie Work, as in Willie Runs the Park and Lonesome Luke, as in Lonesome Luke, Social Gangster . In 1915, his first success, Just Nuts (1915), landed
3690-462: The days before dubbing , foreign-language versions of the Roach comedies were created by reshooting each film in Spanish, French, and occasionally Italian and German. Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chase, and the Our Gang kids (some of whom had barely begun school) were required to recite the foreign dialogue phonetically , often working from blackboards hidden off-camera. In 1931, with the release of
3772-612: The earliest two-color Technicolor tests were shot at his Beverly Hills home (these are included as extra material in the Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection DVD Box Set). He became known for his nude photographs of models, such as Bettie Page and stripper Dixie Evans , for a number of men's magazines. He also took photos of Marilyn Monroe lounging at his pool in a bathing suit, which were published after her death. In 2004, his granddaughter Suzanne produced Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3D! ,
3854-410: The facilities for such programs as Amos 'n' Andy , The Life of Riley and The Abbott and Costello Show . By 1951, the studio was producing 1,500 hours of television programs a year, nearly three times Hollywood's annual output of feature movies. Roach's old theatrical films were also early arrivals on television. His Laurel and Hardy comedies were successful in television syndication , as were
3936-420: The first aviator to bomb helpless Ethiopians . . . his presence here is not an occasion for celebration or social fetes. Those who welcome him are opening their arms to a friend of Hitler and an enemy of democracy." " Loews chairman Nicholas Schenck was so upset he canceled Roach's MGM deal." This proposed business alliance with Mussolini alarmed MGM, which intervened and forced Roach to buy his way out of
4018-399: The highest-paid film performer of the 1920s. In 1929, Lloyd had completed the silent feature Welcome Danger , but talking pictures had become a sensation. He decided to remake the entire film with sound, using a new, stage-trained supporting cast for the dialogue exchanges. The silent version was made available to theaters that had not yet converted to sound, but the talking version became
4100-479: The increased production costs did not result in increased revenue. In 1948, with his studio deeply in debt, Roach re-established his studio for television production, with Hal Roach Jr., producing series such as The Stu Erwin Show , Steve Donovan, Western Marshal , Racket Squad , The Public Defender , The Gale Storm Show , Rocky Jones, Space Ranger and My Little Margie , and independent producers leasing
4182-491: The inspired idea of following Harold's Jazz Age , optimistic character from The Freshman into the Great Depression years. Diddlebock opened with footage from The Freshman (for which Lloyd was paid a royalty of $ 50,000, matching his actor's fee) and Lloyd was sufficiently youthful-looking to match the older scenes quite well. Lloyd and Sturges had different conceptions of the material and fought frequently during
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#17328007653044264-769: The land of his studio, Harold Lloyd Motion Picture Company, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . The location is now the site of the Los Angeles California Temple . Lloyd produced a few comedies for RKO Radio Pictures in the early 1940s, including Lucille Ball 's A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob in 1941, but otherwise retired from the screen until 1947. He returned for an additional starring appearance in The Sin of Harold Diddlebock , an ill-fated homage to Lloyd's career, directed by Preston Sturges and financed by Howard Hughes . This film had
4346-441: The main attraction was a longer-length epic. Exhibitors agreed with him and used Roach's mini-features to balance top-heavy double bills. He had intended to introduce the new format with a series of four Laurel and Hardy featurettes, but was overruled by United Artists, which insisted on two Laurel & Hardy feature films instead. United Artists continued to release Roach's streamliners through 1943. By this time, Roach no longer had
4428-585: The presentation to a flattered Roach, with McFarland thanking the producer for hiring him 53 years prior. An additional Our Gang member, Ernie Morrison , was in the crowd and started the standing ovation for Roach. Years earlier Cooper had been the youngest Academy Award nominee ever for his performance in Skippy when he had been under contract with Roach. Although Paramount had paid Roach $ 25,000 for Cooper's services in that film, Roach paid Cooper only his standard salary of $ 50 per week. On January 21, 1992, Roach
4510-428: The shoot; Lloyd was particularly concerned that, while Sturges had spent three to four months on the script of the first third of the film, "the last two-thirds of it he wrote in a week or less." The finished film was released briefly in 1947, then shelved by producer Hughes. Hughes issued a recut version of the film in 1951 through RKO under the title Mad Wednesday . Such was Lloyd's disdain that he sued Howard Hughes,
4592-486: The shows were discovered in Lloyd's home, and they now circulate among old-time radio collectors. Lloyd remained involved in a number of other interests, including civic and charity work. Inspired by having overcome his own serious injuries and burns, he was very active as a Freemason and Shriner with the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children. He was a Past Potentate of Al-Malaikah Shrine in Los Angeles, and
4674-418: The silent films, which are intended to be shown on TV at sound speed [24 frames per second], and which represent everything that Harold feared would happen to his best films". Time-Life released the films as half-hour television shows, with two clips per show. These were often near-complete versions of the early two-reelers, but also included extended sequences from features such as Safety Last! (terminating at
4756-400: The standard edition of the film. Welcome Danger was a huge financial success, with audiences eager to hear Lloyd's voice on film. Lloyd survived the transition to sound and made several talking comedies, including Feet First , with a similar scenario to Safety Last , which found him clinging to a skyscraper at the climax; Movie Crazy with Constance Cummings ; The Cat's-Paw , which
4838-460: The story of his life for Simon and Schuster. Then, the movie would be produced by Jerry Wald for 20th Century-Fox , limiting the screenplay to Lloyd's professional career. The tentative title for both was The Glass Character , based on the glasses which were Lloyd's trademark. Neither project materialized. Lloyd studied colors and microscopy , and he was very involved with photography, including 3D photography and color film experiments. Some of
4920-502: The then deputy chief of the Italian police, conceived a joint business venture of Roach partnering with Vittorio Mussolini , son of fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini , to form a production company called "R.A.M." (Roach and Mussolini). On 11 September 1937, Roach and Vittorio Mussolini formed R.A.M. Productions. Roach claimed the scheme involved Italian bankers providing US$ 6 million that would enable Roach's studio to produce
5002-464: The time to identify with. "When I adopted the glasses", Lloyd recalled in a 1962 interview with Harry Reasoner , "it more or less put me in a different category because I became a human being. He was a kid that you would meet next door, across the street, but at the same time I could still do all the crazy things that we did before, but you believed them. They were natural and the romance could be believable." Unlike most silent comedy personae, "Harold"
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#17328007653045084-470: The unit included Ronald Reagan and Alan Ladd . After the war the government returned the studio to Roach, with millions of dollars of improvements. In 1946, Hal Roach resumed motion picture production, with former Harold Lloyd co-star Bebe Daniels as an associate producer. Roach was the first Hollywood producer to adopt an all-color production schedule, making four streamliners in Cinecolor , although
5166-800: The venture. This embarrassment, coupled with the underperformance of much of Roach's latest feature-film output (except Laurel & Hardy titles and the 1937 hit Topper ), led to the end of Roach's distribution contract with MGM. In May 1938, Roach sold MGM the production rights and actors contracts to the Our Gang shorts. Roach signed a distribution deal with United Artists at this time. From 1937 to 1940, Roach concentrated on producing glossy features, abandoning low comedy almost completely. Most of his new films were either sophisticated farces (like Topper and The Housekeeper's Daughter , 1939) or rugged action fare (like Captain Fury , 1939, and One Million B.C. , 1940). Roach's one venture into heavy drama
5248-403: Was a dark political comedy and a big departure for Lloyd; and The Milky Way , which was Lloyd's only attempt at the fashionable genre of the screwball comedy film . To this point, the films had been produced by Lloyd's company. However, his go-getting screen character was out of touch with Great Depression movie audiences of the 1930s. Lloyd's rate of film releases, which had been one or two
5330-488: Was a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson , guest-hosted by Jay Leno , one week after his 100th birthday. During the interview, Roach recounted experiences with such stars as Stan Laurel and Jean Harlow ; he even did a brief, energetic demonstration of the "humble hula" dance. In February 1992, Roach traveled to Berlin to receive the honorary award of the Berlinale Kamera for Lifetime Achievement at
5412-637: Was a resourceful, ambitious go-getter who reflected the zeitgeist of the 1920s-era United States. His films frequently contained "thrill sequences" of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats. Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock high above the street (dangerous, but risk exaggerated by camera angles) in Safety Last! (1923) is considered one of the more enduring images in cinema. Lloyd performed lesser stunts himself despite having injured himself in August 1919 while doing publicity pictures for
5494-723: Was also a founding member of the Hollywood Committee for Senator Joseph R. McCarthy . Lloyd died of prostate cancer on March 8, 1971, at the age of 77 in his Greenacres home in Beverly Hills, California. He was interred in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. His former co-star Bebe Daniels died eight days after him, and his son Harold Lloyd Jr. died three months after him. In 1927, his
5576-608: Was also a good friend to Walt Disney , who was a fan of Laurel and Hardy at the time. A monkey dressed in a Mickey Mouse costume as well as actors in Three Little Pigs costumes appeared in the 1934 Laurel and Hardy film March of the Wooden Soldiers . Mickey Mouse also appeared in Hollywood Party , also from 1934 and featuring Laurel and Hardy. In 1937, Renato Senise, nephew of Carmine Senise ,
5658-731: Was born in Wicklow , County Wicklow , Ireland, and Mabel Gertrude Bally, her father John Bally being from Switzerland. A presentation by the American humorist Mark Twain impressed Roach as a young grade school student. "Hal's first job was as a newspaper deliverer. One of his customers lived at Quarry Farm - Samuel Clemens, more widely known as Mark Twain ." After an adventurous youth that took him to Alaska , Roach arrived in Hollywood in 1912 and began working as an extra in silent films. "When Hal Roach came to Southern California at
5740-414: Was destroyed in August 1943 when his film vault caught fire. Seven firemen were overcome while inhaling chlorine gas from the blaze. Lloyd was saved by his wife, who dragged him to safety outdoors after he collapsed at the door of the film vault. The fire spared the main house and out-buildings. After attempting to maintain the home as a museum of film history, as Lloyd had wished, the Lloyd family sold it to
5822-746: Was eventually selected as Imperial Potentate of the Shriners of North America for the year 1949–50. At the installation ceremony for this position on July 25, 1949, 90,000 people were present at Soldier Field, including then sitting U.S. President Harry S Truman , also a 33° Scottish Rite Mason. In recognition of his services to the nation and Freemasonry, Lloyd was invested with the Rank and Decoration of Knight Commander Court of Honour in 1955 and coroneted an Inspector General Honorary, 33°, in 1965. He appeared as himself on several television shows during his retirement, first on Ed Sullivan 's variety show Toast of
5904-598: Was fêted as a major rediscovery. In 1965 he was interviewed by the Social Security Administration . The film was well received by most critics and audiences as a reminder of Lloyd's creative output as the third (with Chaplin and Keaton) of the "Big Three" great silent comedy filmmakers. The renewed interest in Lloyd helped restore his status among film historians. Throughout his later years, he screened his films for audiences at special charity and educational events, to great acclaim, and found
5986-518: Was lost. On August 18, 1969, Davis died in St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, from a heart attack two years before Lloyd's death. Though her real age was a guarded secret, a family spokesperson at the time indicated she was 66 years old. Other sources claim she was 68 years old at the time of her death. Their son, Harold Clayton Lloyd Jr., who was also an actor, died from complications of
6068-571: Was narrated by Henry Corden . The Time-Life series was frequently repeated by the BBC in the United Kingdom during the 1980s, and in 1990 the documentary Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius was produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, following two similar series based on Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Composer Carl Davis wrote a new score for Safety Last! which he performed live during
6150-636: Was never typecast to a social class, but he was always striving for success and recognition. Within the first few years of the character's debut, he had portrayed social ranks ranging from a starving vagrant in From Hand to Mouth to a wealthy socialite in Captain Kidd's Kids . In 1919, Bebe Daniels declined to renew her contract with Hal Roach, leaving the Lloyd series to pursue her dramatic aspirations. Later that year, Lloyd replaced Daniels with Mildred Davis after being told by Roach to watch Davis in
6232-595: Was released by New Line Cinema in partnership with the Harold Lloyd Trust in 2005, along with theatrical screenings in the United States, Canada and Europe. Criterion Collection has acquired the home video rights to the Lloyd library and has released Safety Last! , The Freshman and Speedy . In the June 2006, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Silent Film Gala program book for Safety Last! , film historian Jeffrey Vance stated that Robert A. Golden, Lloyd's assistant director, routinely doubled for Harold Lloyd between 1921 and 1927. According to Vance, Golden doubled Lloyd in
6314-436: Was so intimately associated with the 1920s era that attempts at revivals in 1940s and 1950s were poorly received when audiences viewed the 1920s (and silent film in particular) as old-fashioned. In the early 1960s, Lloyd produced two compilation films, Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy and The Funny Side of Life , featuring scenes from his old comedies. The first film premiered at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival , where Lloyd
6396-561: Was stationed at the time while serving as a major in the United States Army Air Corps . Roach and Lucille had four children, Elizabeth Carson Roach (December 26, 1945 – September 5, 1946), Maria May Roach (born April 14, 1947), Jeanne Alice Roach (born October 7, 1949), and Kathleen Bridget Roach (born January 29, 1951). Hal Roach died in his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles , from pneumonia , on November 2, 1992, at
6478-500: Was the acclaimed Of Mice and Men (1939), in which actors Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney Jr. played the leading roles. The Laurel and Hardy comedies, once the Roach studio's biggest drawing cards, were now the studio's least important product and were phased out altogether in 1940. In 1940, Roach experimented with medium-length featurettes , running 40 to 50 minutes each. He contended that these " streamliners ", as he called them, would be useful in double-feature situations where
6560-535: Was the founder of the namesake Hal Roach Studios . Roach was active in the industry from the 1910s to the 1990s. He is known for producing a number of early Media franchise successes, including the Laurel and Hardy franchise, Harold Lloyd 's early films, the films of entertainer Charley Chase , and the Our Gang short film comedy series. Roach was born in Elmira, New York , to Charles Henry Roach, whose father
6642-574: Was the fourth concrete ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre , preserving his handprints, footprints and autograph, along with the outline of his famed glasses (which were actually a pair of sunglasses with the lenses removed). The ceremony took place directly in front of the Hollywood Masonic Temple , which was the meeting place of the Masonic lodge to which he belonged. In 1953, Lloyd received an Academy Honorary Award for being
6724-484: Was vested with the Rank and Decoration of Knight Commander Court of Honor (KCCH) and eventually with the Inspector General Honorary, 33rd degree. Lloyd's Beverly Hills home, Greenacres , was built in 1926–1929, with 44 rooms, 26 bathrooms, 12 fountains, 12 gardens and a nine-hole golf course. A portion of Lloyd's personal inventory of his silent films (then estimated to be worth $ 2 million)
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