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City Council Marks 'Norman Lloyd Day' In Honor Of Actor's 100th Birthday

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — City officials Wednesday honored legendary actor Norman Lloyd at City Hall to mark his 100th birthday.

KNX 1070's Ron Kilgore reports the City Council officially proclaimed this "Norman Lloyd Day" for Lloyd, whose career as an actor, writer, producer and director spans more than eight decades.

Perhaps best known as to fans as Dr. Daniel Auschlander from the 1980s TV medical drama "St. Elsewhere", Lloyd has worked with such Hollywood's icons as Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock.

Councilman Paul Koretz presented a proclamation to Lloyd at Wednesday's City Council meeting and showed a scene from Hitchcock's 1942 spy thriller "Saboteur," in which Lloyd — playing a Nazi spy in his feature film debut — desperately tries to hold onto a ledge atop the Statue of Liberty.

"It was an extraordinary experience working for Hitch," Lloyd recalled.

Koretz summed up Lloyd's diverse resume, which stretches all the way back to his Broadway debut in the 1927 melodrama "Crime," in which he met his future wife, Peggy Craven.

Actor Norman Lloyd
Actor Norman Lloyd in 2012 (Photo credit: Valerie Macon/Getty Images)

"He's been in everything from 'Murder She Wrote' to 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' and even 'Modern Family' in his 90s," said Koretz.

Born Nov. 8, 1914, in Jersey City, Lloyd was part of Welles' famed Mercury Theatre acting troupe, appearing in its 1937-38 Broadway production of Julius Caesar. He also performed on Welles' CBS radio series "The Mercury Theatre on the Air".

Lloyd's association with Hitchcock continued in the 1950s when he was an associate producer and director on the CBS suspense anthology "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

His work as a producer brought him two Emmy nominations for the 1968-71 NBC drama "The Name of the Game" and the 1973 Public Broadcasting Service production of "Steambath."

Lloyd has appeared in over 60 films and TV shows, including as the antagonist to the Robin Williams character in the 1989 film "Dead Poets Society" and in 1993's "The Age of Innocence" based on the novel by Edith Wharton.

He remained married to Craven for 75 years until her death in 2011 at the age of 98.

(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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