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Norman Lloyd – Net Worth
With a net worth of $50 million and a legacy that he has created across 4 generations, Norman Lloyd at the age of 104, is the oldest working actor in Hollywood.
What makes Norman Lloyd, a legend?
He is an American director, producer, and actor and has been in the entertainment industry for nearly 8 decades. Lloyd has worked in almost all key facets of the entertainment sector, including theatre, radio, movies, and television.
Early Life and Education
Norman was born as Norman Perlmutter on 8th Nov, 1914, into a Jewish family in Jersey City, NJ. Sadie Horowitz Perlmutter, his mother was a homemaker and a bookkeeper, while Max Perlmutter, his father, was an accountant who went on to become a furniture store proprietor and a salesman. Norman grew up in Brooklyn, New York with his 2 younger sisters.
Lloyd’s mother was blessed with good looks and was interested in theater. She took Norman to dancing and singing lessons. He appeared as a child performance at women’s clubs and vaudeville events, and turned professional at age 9 years.
At age 15 years, he finished high school and enrolled at the NYU (New York University). He however dropped out of NYU after his sophomore year due to the effect of the Great Depression on his family and friends. His father passed away aged 55 in 1945.
Norman Lloyd – Young Pictures
Career
When he was 17 years old, Norman became an apprentice at NYC’s Eva Le Gallienne’s Civic Repertory Theatre under May Sarton’s direction. He later joined Apprentice Theatre of Sarton located in New Hampshire, where he continued studying acting with May and Eleanor Flexner, her associate.
The group performed a few plays in Boston at The New School for Social Research. Norman’s stage performance was seen by Harvard Dramatic Club members and they offered him the lead role in a play. After Sarton had to let go her theatre company, Norman audition for Broadway play ‘Noah’ produced by Andre Obey. He got selected and it was his first show on Broadway.
In the 30s, Lloyd did a lot of social theatre. He also worked for the Federal Theatre Project. He later a charter member in the Mercury Theatre, a repertory independent theatre company founded by John Houseman and Orson Welles from the Federal Theatre Project. He subsequently acted in critically acclaimed and popular role in the Mercury Theatre’s 1937 play ‘Caesar.’ Another play ‘The Shoemaker’s Holiday’ was also a big hit, which garnered Lloyd widespread recognition.
In 1939, Norman joined different members of the Mercury Theatre to work in the movie ‘Heart of Darkness,’ produced by RKO pictures. The project did not take off due to budget issues and Norman returned to New York. Welles and other actors stayed back for another movie project, which turned out to be Citizen Kane. Norman has time and again stated that he has always regretted coming back to NY and not waiting for that other movie like the others.
Norman came back to Hollywood in 1942 and played the role of a Nazi spy in the film Saboteur directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This movie began a long and fruitful professional association and friendship between the two. In 1948, he became an assistant director with the movie Arch of Triumph.
Norman was almost going to be blacklisted by Hollywood after the war, but his film career was saved by Hitchcock who hired him as a director and associate producer of his TV series. Through the 60s and 70s, Lloyd continued producing and directing different episodes for shows on TV.
In the 1980s, he got the part of Dr. Daniel Auschlander in ‘St. Elsewhere,’ a popular TV drama that ran for 6 seasons. The series featured a lot of actors, who were then not very well known, like Howie Mandel and Denzel Washington. In 1989, he returned to acting in movies after nearly 10 years with the cult movie ‘Dead Poets Society’ where he played the role of the headmaster of the school. In the later years, he had several guest-star TV appearances in shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation; Murder, She Wrote; The Practice; The Twilight Zone; and Wings, etc.
Norman’s most recent film acting job was at age 99 in the 2015 movie ‘Trainwreck’. He is currently acting in TV series ‘Fly’ that began airing from Jan 2018.
Personal life and Trivia
- Norman married actress Peggy Craven in 1936. The two remain married for 75 years until her death at age 98 on 30th August, 2011.
- The couple had 2 children, one of whom is actress Josie Lloyd.
- Norman is fond of playing tennis and has been doing so since he was 8 years old. He stopped playing in only 2015, after he had a fall.
Norman Lloyd – Success Story Secrets (Quotes)
The celebrated actor believes in having an open mind and finding positivity in everything he does. Here are his quotes –
“The secret to being fit in the old age is an attitude. An attitude to find something positive in everything and everyone. Find something amusing in people.”
“Even at this age, I ride my bike for half an hour, a day.”
“We should be always learning. We should be always curious.”
