Actor Norman Lloyd, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock and later appeared in medical drama St Elsewhere, has died at 106.
Born Norman Perlmutter in New Jersey in 1914, Lloyd began his career on stage and was a member of Orson Welles’ famed Mercury Theatre company in the 1930s.
One of his earliest films was Alfred Hitchcock’s 1942 thriller Saboteur, in which his titular German spy falls to his death from the top of New York’s Statue of Liberty.
Hitchcock cast him again in his 1945 film Spellbound and subsequently hired him to direct and produce episodes of his Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series.
He was cast in Chaplin’s 1952 film Limelight after developing a friendship with the Hollywood legend based on their mutual love of tennis.
His role as stern headmaster Mr Nolan in 1989’s Dead Poets Society saw him work alongside Robin Williams and a young Ethan Hawke.
Tributes have been pouring in since he passed. Judd Apatow, who directed him in 2015’s Trainwreck, said Lloyd had “loved to tell stories and make people laugh”.
“What a career,” said Ben Stiller of an actor whose films included Dead Poets Society, Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight and Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence.
Writing on Instagram, Apatow said Hawke had learned “a giant lesson” from Lloyd telling him to “pay attention” and appreciate how special that film was.
“Got to meet Norman Lloyd once about 20 years ago, when he was a mere pup of 86,” wrote This Is Spinal Tap star Michael McKean, who said Lloyd had been “the real deal”.
“Look up mensch in the dictionary [and] there’s a picture of Norman Lloyd,” tweeted Brent Spiner, who appeared with him in a 1993 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
“Oh Norman Lloyd you were so kind to me when I was a kid starting out,” wrote actress Rosanna Arquette. “May you Rest In Peace dear man.”
British choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne also paid tribute, suggesting Lloyd had been “possibly the longest lived notable actor of all time”.
Lloyd made his final screen appearance alongside Amy Schumer in Apatow’s Trainwreck, in which he played a feisty resident of an old people’s home.
“Little Amy Schumer – what a mouth on her,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2016. “I was raised in Shakespearean decorum, and she’s saying ‘F*** you’ every time I turn around.”Lloyd’s other TV roles included appearances in Modern Family, The Practice and Murder.
