Ken
I just read that, today, actress (and inventor) Hedy Lamarr would have been 100 years old today. There won\’t be much of a celebration, however, because she died almost 15 years ago.
Ms. Lamarr had a truly storied life: she was a fabled movie star who, did a nude scene in 1933 – and, later on, the co-inventor of the technology, first used by our military, that is the basis for today\’s bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Oh, and somewhere in there she managed to find time for 6 marriages. A dull ride it definitely was not.
But you could say the same, and maybe even more, for the fine character actor Norman Lloyd.
On Saturday, Mr. Lloyd celebrated his 100th birthday….and, in his case actually did celebrate it because he not only is alive and kicking, but, if you believe the Wikipedia entry, still plays tennis a couple of times a week.
You may remember Normal Lloyd for his terrific portrayal as Mr. Nolan, the imperious, patrician Headmaster in The Dead Poet\’s Society (no easy task for a Jewish kid out of Jersey City). But in his youth, he was a vaudeville performer, and then one of the regulars with Orson Welles and John Houseman\’s Mercury Theater Of The Air.
Unlike Ms. Lamarr, he was married just once: for 75 years, until his beloved Peggy\’s death in 2011.
And in case you think he is now comfortably ensconced in a rocking chair, forget it. Mr. Lloyd will be in the upcoming movie Trainwreck, scheduled for release next year – and in which NBA superstar Lebron James has a small role as well.
How many people can say they did radio with Orson Welles and a movie with Lebron James?
Happy hundredth Mr. Lloyd. You, sir, are one of a kind.
