Norman Lloyd has died at 106 and it is a great loss to a once and glorious golden age of Hollywood. I was never a Norman Lloyd fan until I saw Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Saboteur!’. It soon became one of my top five favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies of all time behind Shadow of a Doubt, The Birds, Foreign Correspondent, and Rope. It’s a sad day when the last of our Golden Age celebrities has passed away. It’s a reminder how far Hollywood has strayed from what was once a place of fun and excitement for all of us.
Celebrities Used to Keep Politics to Themselves
Back in the Golden age of Hollywood, celebrities kept their politics to themselves and didn’t include it in their work. You’ll never see a movie from that era where you see or heard an actor, actress, or director espouse their political ideologies across the big screen. Sure there were celebrities on the left and the right but that was done in silent and not paraded around in the limelight like some badge of honor the way some celebrities do today. Social media, of course, wasn’t around back then for people to display their vitriol at a moments notice, on an emotional whim, like todays platforms can provide. There was a respect for the storytelling and the craft itself that was the focus rather than the appeasement or ideology that Hollywood feels it needs to get across to the audience.
Related: The Oscars Were on Last Night?
Norman Lloyd Had One of The Longest Professional Careers in Hollywood
Norman Lloyd started his professional career at the ripe old age of nine in theatre and remained working until 2015’s ‘Trainwreck’
Credit – Universal Pictures
when he was 100. You could say that Norman Lloyd probably had one of the longest careers in movie history. He worked with greats like Orson Welles, Elia Kazan, and Alfred Hitchcock. Lloyd’s screen debut was as the main antagonist in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Saboteur!’ and produced a long lasting relationship with Hitchcock for decades. Like a lot of his peers in Hollywood, back in the Golden Age, Norman Lloyd was quietly outspoken and never traded the art for a political statement. Did Lloyd make political statements? Of course he did…but he never let that be thrown in your face and forced to accept it. He said what he said and then moved on. The demise of his character in ‘Saboteur!’ was so innovatively creative and suspenseful it was worth the price of admission and was a template for future Hitchcock and other directors’ movie for years to come. I encourage everyone to read a wonderful article about Norman Lloyd by Todd McCarthy from Deadline. So, here’s to Norman Lloyd, the last of the great Golden Age actors that displayed and taught us a dignity and respect for an art form that has, in todays social media frenzy, lost its way. Thank you Norman Lloyd for all the wonderful memories as I cheer you on watching ‘Saboteur!’ for the umpteenth time!
