Person file · Acting

Harold Lloyd

Harold Lloyd (April 18, 1893 –March 8, 1971) was an American actor. He has been called the cinema’s “first man in space.” His comedy wasn’t imported from Vaudeville or the British Music Hall like his contemporaries, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Harold learned to use the camera the way other comics used a bowler hat or a funny walk. In 1917 he shed the comedic clown personas prevalent in comedy for hundreds of years and pioneered romantic comedy by the ordinary guy up on the screen –- a guy with faults, and fears, “the boy next door.” With his young man in horned-rimmed glasses, he created classic films.