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Harold Lloyd
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===Radio, nude photography and retirement=== In October 1944, Lloyd emerged as the director and host of ''The Old Gold Comedy Theater'',<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Lloyd |first1=Annette D'Agostino |last2=D'Agostino |first2=Annette M. |title=The Harold Lloyd Encyclopedia |date=2004 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-1514-4 |page=143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=smlZAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> an NBC radio anthology series, after Preston Sturges, who had turned the job down, recommended him for it.<ref name=":1" /> The show presented half-hour radio adaptations of recently successful film comedies, beginning with ''[[Palm Beach Story]]'' with [[Claudette Colbert]] and [[Robert Young (actor)|Robert Young]].<ref name=":1" /> Some saw ''The Old Gold Comedy Theater'' as being a lighter version of ''[[Lux Radio Theater]]'', and it featured some of the best-known film and radio personalities of the day, including [[Fred Allen]], [[June Allyson]], [[Lucille Ball]], [[Ralph Bellamy]], [[Linda Darnell]], [[Susan Hayward]], [[Herbert Marshall]], [[Dick Powell]], [[Edward G. Robinson]], [[Jane Wyman]] and [[Alan Young]]. But the show's half-hour format—which meant the material might have been truncated too severely—and Lloyd's sounding somewhat ill at ease on the air for much of the season (though he spent weeks training himself to speak on radio prior to the show's premiere, and seemed more relaxed toward the end of the series run) may have worked against it.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}} ''The Old Gold Comedy Theater'' ended in June 1945 with an adaptation of ''[[Tom, Dick and Harry (1941 film)|Tom, Dick and Harry]]'', featuring [[June Allyson]] and [[Reginald Gardiner]], and was not renewed for the following season. Many years later, [[acetate disc]]s of 29 of the shows were discovered in Lloyd's home, and they now circulate among old-time radio collectors.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}} [[File:Harold Lloyd Shriner 1946.JPG|thumb|left|Lloyd in 1946, when he was appointed to the Shriners' publicity committee]] Lloyd remained involved in a number of other interests, including civic and charity work. Inspired by having overcome his own serious injuries and burns, he was very active as a Freemason and Shriner with the [[Shriners]] Hospital for Crippled Children. He was a Past Potentate of Al-Malaikah Shrine in Los Angeles, and was eventually selected as Imperial Potentate of the Shriners of North America for the year 1949–50.<ref>[http://haroldlloyd.com/news/bio.asp "Harold LLoyd"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122123330/http://haroldlloyd.com/news/bio.asp |date=January 22, 2009 }} "In 1949, Harold's face graced the cover of Time Magazine as the Imperial Potentate of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, their highest-ranking position. He devoted an entire year to visiting 130 temples across the country giving speeches for over 700,000 Shriners. The last twenty years of his life he worked tirelessly for the twenty-two Shriner Hospitals for Children and in the 1960s, he was named President and Chairman of the Board."</ref> At the installation ceremony for this position on July 25, 1949, 90,000 people were present at Soldier Field, including then sitting U.S. President [[Harry S Truman]], also a 33° Scottish Rite Mason.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lloyd |first=Harold |title=Phoenix Masonry Masonic Museum |work=Masonic Research |publisher=Phoenix Masonry |url=http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/harold_lloyd_masonic_bio.htm |access-date=July 29, 2012}}</ref> In recognition of his services to the nation and Freemasonry, Lloyd was invested with the Rank and Decoration of Knight Commander Court of Honour in 1955 and coroneted an Inspector General Honorary, 33°, in 1965.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}} He appeared as himself on several television shows during his retirement, first on [[Ed Sullivan]]'s variety show ''[[Toast of the Town]]'' June 5, 1949, and again on July 6, 1958. He appeared as the mystery guest on ''[[What's My Line?]]'' on April 26, 1953, and three times on ''[[This Is Your Life (American franchise)|This Is Your Life]]'': in 1954 for a tribute to Mack Sennett and another for Bebe Daniels, and in 1955, when he was surprised for his own tribute.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}} On November 6, 1956, ''The New York Times'' reported "Lloyd's Career Will Be Filmed".<ref name=":2">{{cite news |last1=Pryor |first1=Thomas M. |title=Lloyd's Career Will Be Filmed; Jerry Wald Movie for Fox to Concern Only Comedian's Professional Activity Vehicle for Dutch Actor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/11/06/archives/lloyds-career-will-be-filmed-jerry-wald-movie-for-fox-to-concern.html |access-date=January 12, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=November 6, 1956}}</ref> It said, as the first step, Lloyd would write the story of his life for Simon and Schuster. Then, the movie would be produced by [[Jerry Wald]] for [[20th Century-Fox]], limiting the screenplay to Lloyd's professional career. The tentative title for both was ''The Glass Character'', based on the glasses which were Lloyd's trademark. Neither project materialized.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} Lloyd studied colors and [[microscopy]], and he was very involved with photography, including [[3D photography]] and color film experiments. Some of the earliest two-color [[Technicolor]] tests were shot at his Beverly Hills home (these are included as extra material in the ''Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection'' DVD Box Set). He became known for his nude photographs of models, such as [[Bettie Page]] and stripper [[Dixie Evans]], for a number of men's magazines.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} He also took photos of [[Marilyn Monroe]] lounging at his pool in a bathing suit, which were published after her death.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} In 2004, his granddaughter Suzanne produced ''Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3D!'', a book of selections from his photographs.({{ISBN|1-57912-394-5}}). Lloyd also provided encouragement and support for a number of younger actors, such as [[Debbie Reynolds]], [[Robert Wagner]] and particularly [[Jack Lemmon]], whom Harold declared as his own choice to play him in a movie of his life and work.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}
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