Born: 22 April, 1923, in Chester.
Died: 14 July, 2008, in Sussex, aged 85. WITH his jowly face Hugh Lloyd MBE played an array of woebegone and put-upon characters in numerous television sitcoms. He enjoyed long partnerships w
ith both Tony Hancock and Terry Scott and matured as an actor of note to work with Sir Ian McKellan and Patricia Routledge. His ability to deliver important lines to such comedians earned him a much respected place in comedy and he was astute enough not to hog the limelight. For example, in the famous "Blood Donor" episode with Hancock ("a pint of blood? That's almost an armful!"), Lloyd is in the next door bed to Hancock and memorably discusses wine gums with a committed sincerity.
Hugh Lewis Lloyd was born into a Methodist family and attended King's School, Chester. But he was keen to have a career on stage and got a job on the local paper as their theatre critic. He was declared unfit for military service during the war and instead joined ENSA, touring army camps. His first post-war job was at the Windmill Theatre in London. The audience was there to see the girls and the comedians often had a rough ride. But Lloyd met Hancock there and they went on to tour military bases together, building a close partnership. Lloyd hugely admired Hancock as an artist – though a few years later the star's drinking caused some rifts.
Hancock offered slots in his Hancock's Half Hour which had moved to television in 1954. They worked together in over 30 sketches including "The Reunion", "The Lift" and "The Librarian". Working with Hancock was never easy. He was a perfectionist, but had difficulty learning his lines. "Tony would get more and more nervous," Lloyd has written. "He'd forget more and more of his part until the day of filming. We'd have his lines pinned up all over the set."
The two made the disappointing 1963 film, Punch and Judy, but thereafter they seldom worked together. "He was morose and rather too fond of the bottle," Lloyd concluded.
In 1962, the BBC gave Lloyd his own series with Terry Scott. Hugh and I proved very popular and lasted for six series. Scott's character was always dreaming up outrageous schemes to get rich and made Lloyd do all the dirty work. In the final episode, they won the Premium Bonds and went on a world cruise. The two remained staunch friends and built up a worthy reputation as pantomime dames in various Christmas shows.
Lloyd was now well known and received offers to star in the straight theatre. These included, in 1986, becoming a member of Sir Ian McKellan's company at the National Theatre (which toured to Aberdeen) in a series of classic plays in which Lloyd was particularly praised for his portrayal of Firs in The Cherry Orchard. He was also in an important West End revival of JB Priestley's When We Are Married, with Peggy Mount. Other tours to Scotland included Boeing, Boeing, Birds Of Paradise, Dandy Dick and Rattle Of A Simple Man.
On BBC2, he made a strong impression in 1978 opposite Patricia Routledge in Alan Bennett's A Visit From Miss Protheroe. Lloyd captured the pathos of the dying former clerk who is visited by his secretary. She then cheerfully informs him, to his dismay, the system he had spent a lifetime installing had been replaced by new technology.
Then, also by Bennett, Lloyd was in Say Something Happened which was substantially written from the author's own experience of visiting his dying mother. Lloyd, in a play of much empathy and sadness, gave an incisive portrayal of the father, Thora Hird of the wife and Julie Walters the carer.
Lloyd played cameo roles in numerous dramas – Foyle's War, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Cider With Rosie, Dr Who, Boon, Great Expectations etc. Poignantly, the night his death was announced, Lloyd appeared on ITV in an episode of Doc Martin, playing a bemused and disorientated old man much concerned at the death of his budgerigar.
Apart from the film with Hancock, Lloyd did not make many movies until he was in Franc Roddam's cult film, Quadrophenia in 1979 which memorably featured the music of The Who. His last film was in 1998, when he was in The Clandestine Marriage, with Nigel Hawthorne and Joan Collins.
In 1994, at the special request of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Lloyd appeared in August (based on Chekhov's Uncle Vanya). It was the first movie Sir Anthony directed and the two became firm friends. When Lloyd published his autobiography, Thank God for a Funny Face, in 2002, Sir Anthony wrote the foreword.
Lloyd was appointed an MBE in 2006 and is survived by his fourth wife, Shan, whom he married in 1983.
The full article contains 809 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
