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Harold Lloyd


Photo: Albert Witzel (1879-1929)

1891 - 1971

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The actor Harold Lloyd belongs to the most popular comedian stars of the silent movie era.
It all began in 1912 when Harold Lloyd got first engagements as an extra for the Edison Company. Only one year later he was already in Hollywood where he met another extra with the name Hal Roach. When Hal Roach made an inheritance of 3'000 dollars the same year, Roach became a producer and signed Harold Lloyd on as his star comedian.

After some less successful movies where they both looked for an independent character, they shot movies like "The Old Monk's Tale" (13), "Hide and Seek" (13), "Algy on the Force" (13) and "Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers" (15).
Finally the figure of Lonesome Luke came into being who Harold Lloyd impersonated in countless movies between 1915 and 1917. That this figure was an imitation of Chaplin wasn't to overlook but still the movies had a great success. To these movies belong "Lonesome Luke" (15), "Lonesome Luke, Social Gangster" (15), "Luke and the Rural Roughnecks" (16), "Lonesome Luke, Circus King" (16), "Luke, the Gladiator" (16), "Luke's Double" (16), "Luke Laughs Last" (16), "Luke Joins the Navy" (16), "Luke's Lost Liberty" (17), "Luke's Busy Day" (17), "Stop! Luke! Listen!" (17) and "Lonesome Luke Loses Patients" (17).

Harold Lloyd found his real character only in 1917. He left the makeup out and instead of it he fitted himself out with a circular, prominent horn-rimmed spectacles - his straw hat followed later. With this figure he created the shy young man next door who intended to do his best but time and again was his own impediment.
In the following three years came many other movies into being, among them "The Lamb" (18), "A Gasoline Wedding" (18), "Kicked Out" (18), "The City Slicker" (18), "Take a Chance" (18), "She Loves Me Not" (18), "On the Fire" (19), "Si, Senor" (19), "The Marathon" (19), "Heap Big Chief" (19), "His Only Father" (19) and "Captain Kidd's Kids" (19).

The 20's began very unlucky for Harold Lloyd. When he posed for publicity photos and hold a bomb dummy for a shot, the bomb dummy turned out to be real. Harold Lloyd lost his thumb and his forefinger of the right hand when the bomb exploded, moreover he was blind for a time. 
When his eyesight came back he returned to the big schreen. He concealed his disabled hand with a flesh-coloured glove so that the audience didn't get his injury.

Harold Lloyd inspired the audience with hair-raising stunts and with gags aiming at the risible muscle.. To his great successes for Hal Roach belong among others "Haunted Spooks" (20), "High and Dizzy" (20), "Number, Please?" (20), "I Do" (21), after that followed first feature films like "A Sailor-Made Man" (21), "Grandma's Boy" (22), "Doctor Jack" (22), "Safety Last" (23) with his most famous scene where he hung at a come loose dial on a tower block and "Why Worry?" (23).

Harold Lloyd got married with the actress Mildred Davis in 1923 and left Hal Roach to become his own producer. He realised the well-constructed movies "Girl Shy" (24), "The Freshman" (25), "For Heaven's Sake" (26) and "The Kid Brother" (27), which marked the height of his career.

Although his first talkies were much promising - "Welcome Danger" (29) and "Feet First" (31) - he went through a bitter setback with "Movie Crazy" (32). He began to experiment with different kind of comedies and shot "The Cat's Paw" (34) and appeared under Leo McCarey's direction in "The Milky Way" (36). But new comedians controlles the film business now, Harold Lloyd was push awas continuous.

He took part in "Professor Beware" (38), after that it lasted nine years till he appeared in his last movie "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock" (47).

Harold Lloyd's lifework was crowned with the Honorary Award in 1953.
 

Other movies with Harold Lloyd: 
Cupid in the Dental Parlor (13) The Twelfth Juror (13) Hulda of Holland (13) His Chum the Baron (13) Curses! They Remarked (14) Just Nuts (15) Their Social Splash (15) From Italy's Shore (15) The Hungry Actors (15) Once Every Ten Minutes (15) Spit-Ball Sadie (15) Soaking the Clothes (15) Pressing His Suit (15) Terribly Stuck Up (15) A Mixup for Mazie (15) Some Baby (15) Fresh from the Farm (15) Giving Them Fits (15) Bughouse Bellhops (15) Tinkering with Trouble (15) Great While It Lasted (15) Ragtime Snap Shots (15) A Foozle at the Tee Party (15) Ruses, Rhymes and Roughnecks (15) Peculiar Patients' Pranks (15) A One Night Stand (15) Hogan's Romance Upset (15) Lonesome Luke Leans to the Literary (16) Luke Lugs Luggage (16) Lonesome Luke Lolls in Luxury (16) Luke, the Candy Cut-Up (16) Luke Foils the Villain (16) Luke Pipes the Pippins (16) Them Was the Happy Days! (16) Luke and the Bomb Throwers (16) Luke's Late Lunchers (16) Luke's Fatal Flivver (16) Luke's Society Mixup (16) Luke's Washful Waiting (16) Luke Rides Roughshod (16) Luke, Crystal Gazer (16) Luke's Lost Lamb (16) Luke Does the Midway (16) Luke and the Mermaids (16) Luke's Speedy Club Life (16) Luke and the Bang-Tails (16) Luke, the Chauffeur (16) Luke's Preparedness Preparations (16) Luke, Patient Provider (16) Luke's Newsie Knockout (16) Luke's Movie Muddle (16) Luke, Rank Impersonator (16) Luke's Fireworkds Fizzle (16) Luke Locates the Loot (16) Luke's Shattered Sleep (16) Drama's Dreadful Deal (17) Luke's Trolley Troubles (17) Lonesome Luke, Lawyer (17) Luke Wins Ye Ladye Faire (17) Lonesome Luke's Lively Life (17) Lonesome Luke on Tin Can Alley (17) Lonesome Luke's Honeymoon (17) Lonesome Luke, Plumber (17) Lonesome Luke, Messenger (17) Lonesome Luke, Mechanic (17) Lonesome Luke's Wild Women (17) Over the Fence (17) Pinched (17) By the Sad Sea Waves (17) Birds of a Feather (17) Bliss (17) Lonesome Luke From London to Laramie (17) Rainbow Island (17) Love, Laughs and Lather (17) The Flirt (17) Clubs Are Trump (17) All Aboard (17) We Never Sleep (17) Move On (17) Bashful (17) Step Lively (17) Lonesome Luke's Lovely Rifle (17) The Tip (18) The Big Idea (18) Hit Him Again (18) Beat It (18) Look Pleasant, Please (18) Here Come the Girls (18) Let's Go (18) Follow the Crowd (18) Pipe the Whiskers (18) It's a Wild Life (18) Hey Thee! (18) The Non-Stop Kid (18) Two-Gun Gussie (18) Fireman Save My Child (18) Sic 'Em, Towser (18) Somewhere in Turkey (18) Are Crooks Dishonest? (18) An Ozark Romance (18) Kicking the Germ Out of Germany (18) That's Him (18) Bride and Gloom (18) Two Scrambled (18) Swing Your Partners (18) Why Pick on Me? (18) Nothing But Trouble (18) Hear 'Em Rave (18) Bees in His Bonnet (18) Back to the Woods (18) Wanted - $5'000 (19) Going! Going! Gone! (19) Ask Father (19) I'm on My Way (19) Look Out Below (19) The Dutiful Dub (19) Next Aisle Over (19) A Sammy In Siberia (19) Just Dropped In (19) Young Mr. Jazz (19) Crack Your Heels (19) Ring Up the Curtain (19) Before Breakfast (19) Pistols for Breakfast (19) Swat the Crook (19) Off the Trolley (19) Spring Fever (19) Billy Blazes, Esq. (19) Just Neighbors (19) At the Old Stage Door (19) Never Touched Me (19) A Jazzed Honeymoon (19) Count Your Change (19) Chop Suey & Co. (19) Be My Wife (19) Don't Shove (19) The Rajah (19) He Leads, Others Follow (19) Soft Money (19) Count the Votes (19) Pay Your Dues (19) Bumping Into Broadway (19) From Hand to Mouth (19) His Royal Slyness (20) An Eastern Westerner (20) Get Out and Get Under (20) Now or Never (21) Among Those Present (21) Never Weaken (21) Hot Water (24) Speedy (28) Stout Hearts and Willing Hands (32)

Producer:
Girl Shy (24) The Freshman (25) For Heaven's Sake (26) The Kid Brother (27) Speedy (28) Feet First (30) Movie Crazy (32) The Cat's Paw 34) Professor Beware (38) A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob (41) My Favorite Spy (42) World of Comedy (62) The Funny Side of Life (62) 


 
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