Lloyd Harold Clayton is known to the world as an American comedian and silent film director. He starred in an incredible number of films and impressed the audience with his masterful acting.
Harold Lloyd: biography, photos from different periods of life
Clayton was born in 1893, April 20 - the birthday of the Great dictator, the founder of fascism, Adolf Hitler. The birthplace of the actor is the city of Burcharde, which is located in the US state of Nebraska. His ancestors once emigrated from Wales to the States. The boy's family barely made ends meet, his father, James Lloyd, was a photographer. The boy was left to himself, and when he was 10 years old, he met a troupe of itinerant musicians and began performing with them on the stage. However, he could not hold out for a long time and from the age of 11 he began selling sweets and programs in the theater.
First steps in theater
It was during the part-time period that Harold Lloyd Clayton became very interested in theatrical art and a year later, thanks to his exceptional artistic abilities, he made his stage debut as a supporting role. It was a "one-reel" comedy lasting 10-12 minutes. After he moved to California (San Diego) at the age of nineteen, he established relations with the Thomas Edison film company and began acting in small roles. There he met director Hal Roach, who, after organizing his own film studio, took Lloyd to him. Well, when Lloyd received an inheritance, they founded the Roach-Lloyd film studio together. While acting in Hal's films, Harold Lloyd made great progress and soon became one of the most successful of the comedic actors of the second decade of the twentieth century. Harry received his acting education at the Denver School of Dramatic Arts, as well as acting classes in San Diego.
Films and personal life
His co-star in movies was Bebe Daniels. She starred in minor roles, and a romance broke out between them. To the public, this couple in love was known as "Boy" and "Girl". In 1919 Beebe parted ways with Lloyd because she wanted to try her hand at dramatic films. Without thinking twice, Harold Lloyd found her replacement in the person of Mildred Davis. When he first saw her, he thought that she looked like a real French doll, only very large.
Roles
Early in his career, the young artist had to shorten his full name to Harold Lloyd. Films with his participation were very popular and, thus, the abbreviated name (without Clayton) was easier to keep on hearing. His first movie character was "Lonely Luke". Lloyd himself admitted that this is an imitation of Chaplin, justin contrast, his clothes were also out of season, but in this case they were not too big, but, on the contrary, small and narrow, which also looked very funny. He soon developed another character himself, the "glasses character". His name, as well as the performer of the role, was Harold. This hero was also very fond of the audience, because he evoked both smiles and sympathy from all viewers. In a word, the tandem of Roach and Harold managed to prove that they can work independently and arouse the interest of the audience.
Lloyd Harold Clayton: films and interesting stories from the set
From 1921, Lloyd and Roach stopped making short films, and Lloyd had to adjust to feature length. The first among them was "A Born Sailor", which was released at the end of 1921. The next film was "Grandmother's granddaughter." This picture combined complex character development and comedy. Surely, many connoisseurs of silent films remember a scene from the film, filmed in 1923, "Safe at Last!". Harold Lloyd hangs from the hands of the tower clock here, and far below him is the street. This shot is one of the most famous in the history of cinema. Thanks to this picture, the artist became known as a real stuntman, and he was invited to appear in films with dangerous stunts. It happened that he broke down and received multiple bruises and injuries. Back in 1920, while filming Haunted Spooks, while filming a bomb accident, he lost his right thumb and forefinger. In the future, to hide this injury, hewore a special prosthetic glove.
Masonry
In 1925, Harold Lloyd joined the Hollywood Masonic Lodge, which bore the name of Alexander Hamilton. He advanced very rapidly in Freemasonry and attained the degree of Honorary Inspector General. Over time, his career as an actor began to wane. He has been involved in many charitable projects. This activity fascinated him entirely, and he had less and less time left for cinema. In addition, he became picky about roles. After all, his position in the Masonic lodge was truly very and very high. His last film was Crazy Wednesday.
Filmography
Harold Lloyd began acting in 1914. The oldest film with his participation dates from this year. It was a picture of Give and Take (“Give and take”). Some of the films can be found on DVD today, others have been preserved in their original form and are of great value. They say that he kept most of the tapes with his participation in his house. However, in 1943 a fire broke out in the house, and much of the archival material burned down. These were mostly short films, but feature films remain in excellent condition to this day, and generations can appreciate his work and understand what a peak Harold Lloyd was in cinema.
His filmography includes more than 200 comedy films, including both silent and sound ones. The last pictures were taken in 1947. Despite the fact that his fame as a film actor could not overshadowthe great Chaplin, Lloyd, however, starred in many more films, which brought him more than $ 15 million. Of course, all the films cannot be listed, but here are some of them: Just Nuts (1915), Luke, Crystal Gazer (1916), Over the Fence (1917), Back to the Woods (1918), Pay Your Dues (1919), His Royal Slyness (1920), Now or Never (1921), Safety Last! (2013), The Freshman (1925), Welcome Danger (1927), The Cat's-Paw (1934), The Milky Way (1938), The Sin of Harold (1947), etc.
Every year since 1917, he has appeared in more than 10 films. And every year their number increased. The most "prolific" years were 1918 and 1919, when the number of paintings with his participation reached 44. This was an absolute record for his time, each time he appeared before the audience in a completely new look, nevertheless, all his roles were incredibly funny and kind.
Harold Lloyd's footprint in filmmaking
Some of today's comedians considered themselves followers of Lloyd's. Some wanted to repeat his bold tricks at all costs. So, for example, his namesake Christopher Lloyd repeated the same famous trick with the clock hands in the movie “Back to the Future”. But in the famous comedy "Dumb and Dumber" the "sweet couple" are called Lloyd and Harry. Apparently, the screenwriter was inspired by the roles of Harold Clayton when creating the plot. The same thing probably happened to the screenwriter of the animated series Futurama. There you will meet the hero Harold Zzoyd. In 1962 and 1963The Paramount film company created montage films dedicated to the art of Harold Lloyd - "The World of Comedies" and "The Funny Side of Life". These films, which tell about the formation of a great comedian, were accepted by film fans with a bang.
Prizes and awards
For almost 35 years of activity in the world of cinema, Harol Lloyd was awarded many awards, among which the most significant is the honorary award "Oscar" (1952), which was called "Good Citizen and Master of Comedy". Comedian Harol Lloyd was perhaps one of the most famous comedy actors of his time. In popularity, he was second only to Charlie Chaplin. However, he appeared on the screens more often than that, and always in new images. After all, there were much more films with his participation than Chaplin's.
Epitaph
Harold Lloyd died in the spring of 1971. The diagnosis is prostate cancer. He was 77 years old. The great comedian was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, located in the city of Glendale (California). His tombstone bears the inscription “Safe at Last” as the title of one of his films.
