Norman Lloyd, whose career spanned nearly a century, was found dead on Tuesday in his Los Angeles home, according to NBC News. He had worked with such immortals as Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock & Jean Renoir. Lloyd was best known for his role as Dr. Daniel Auschlander on St. Elsewhere.
Norman Lloyd’s Early Life
Norman Lloyd was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, but grew up with his Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Max Perlmutter, was an accountant who would later become a furniture salesman; and his mother, Sadie Horowitz Perlmutter, was a bookkeeper. Lloyd would later go on to attend New York University after graduating high school at age 15; with high hopes of becoming a layer, but he soon saw that all the lawyers were just becoming taxi drivers due to the Depression, so he dropped out. A couple of years later he would become the youngest apprentice to May Sarton at Eva Le Gallienne’s Civic Repertory Theatre in New York City. During the early 1930s, he would be a part of stage play after stage play, honing his craft.
In 1937 Lloyd would be asked to be a charter member of a little theatre company by the name of the Mercury Theatre, being asked to join by none other than Orson Welles himself & John Houseman. Lloyd was a part of Orson Welles’ epic stage rendition of Caesar in 1937.
Early Career
Later in 1939, Orson Welles was trying to shave $50,000 from the budget of Heart of Darkness. But instead of doing that, Welles decided to put another project together. He asked all those who were a part of the production for Heart of Darkness to stay so that they can work on another project. Lloyd decided to go back to New York. Unfortunately for him, that other project was Citizen Kane.
During the 40’s Lloyd got the chance to work with Alfred Hitchcock and Jean Renoir and through most of the ’60s and ’70s, Lloyd did a lot of behind-the-scenes work as a producer and director for television shows.
Later Years
St. Elsewhere was a popular NBC medical drama that ran for 6 seasons from 1982-1988, what started as 4 simples appearances for Lloyd turned into a regular role for the entirety of the show’s run. Other notables in St. Elsewhere include Denzel Washington and Howie Mandel. Lloyd would also appear in other television shows such as The Twilight Zone, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wings, and a recent cameo on Modern Family. His last film appearance was in Trainwreck, which was directed by Judd Apatow and written by Amy Schumer.
Our condolences go out to Lloyd’s family at this time.
