Editing Harold Lloyd (section)

{{Short description|American actor and comedian (1893–1971)}}
{{for|other people with the same name}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Harold Lloyd
| image              = Harold Lloyd - A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen.jpg
| caption            = Lloyd in 1924
| birth_name         = Harold Clayton Lloyd
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1893|4|20|mf=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Burchard, Nebraska]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1971|3|8|1893|4|20|mf=y}}
| death_place        = [[Beverly Hills, California]], U.S.
| resting_place      = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Actor|comedian|producer|stunt performer}}
| years_active       = 1913–1963
| relatives          = {{plainlist|
* [[Gaylord Lloyd]] (brother)
}}
| party              = Republican
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[Mildred Davis]]|1923|1969|end=d.}}
| children           = 3, including [[Harold Lloyd Jr.]]
}}
'''Harold Clayton Lloyd Sr.''' (April 20, 1893&nbsp;– March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many [[Silent film|silent]] comedy films.<ref name="WVobit">Obituary ''Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55.</ref>

One of the most influential film comedians of the [[silent film|silent]] era, Lloyd made nearly 200 comedy films, both silent and [[Sound film|talkies]], from 1914 to 1947. His bespectacled "glasses character" was a resourceful, ambitious go-getter who reflected the [[zeitgeist]] of the 1920s-era United States.<ref>{{cite book|first=Saul|last=Austerlitz|date=2010|url=https://archive.org/details/anotherfinemessh00aust/page/28 |title=Another Fine Mess: A History of American Film Comedy|publisher=[[Chicago Review Press]]|location=Chicago, Illinois|page=28|isbn=978-1569767634}}</ref><ref name="D'Agostino">{{cite web |last=D'Agostino Lloyd |first=Annette |title=Why Harold Lloyd Is Important |website=haroldlloyd.com |url=http://www.haroldlloyd.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117:why-harold-lloyd-is-important&catid=44:articles&Itemid=174 |access-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-date=July 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701171016/http://www.haroldlloyd.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117:why-harold-lloyd-is-important&catid=44:articles&Itemid=174 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

His films frequently contained "thrill sequences" of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats. Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock high above the street (dangerous, but risk exaggerated by camera angles) in ''[[Safety Last!]]'' (1923) is considered one of the more enduring images in cinema.<ref>{{cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Slide |date=September 27, 2002 |title=Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |location=Lexington, Kentucky|page=[https://archive.org/details/biographicalauto00slid/page/221 221] |isbn=978-0813122496 |url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalauto00slid/page/221}}</ref> Lloyd performed lesser stunts himself despite having injured himself in August 1919 while doing publicity pictures for the Roach studio. An accident with a bomb mistaken as a prop resulted in the loss of the thumb and index finger of his right hand (the injury was disguised on future films with the use of a special [[prosthesis|prosthetic]] glove, and it was almost undetectable on the screen).<ref>''An American Comedy''; Lloyd and Stout; 1928; page 129</ref>