Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. (January 15, 1913 - March 10, 1998) was an American actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges.

Early life

Bridges was born in San Leandro, California, to Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Sr. (1887-1962), who was involved in the California hotel business and once owned a movie theater, and his wife Harriet Evelyn (Brown) Bridges (1893-1950). His parents were both natives of Kansas, and of English ancestry. Bridges graduated from Petaluma High School in 1930. He then studied political science at UCLA, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Career

Bridges made his Broadway debut in 1939 in a production of Shakespeare's Othello. In 1941, he joined the stock company at Columbia Pictures, where he played small roles in features and short subjects. (In Here Comes Mr. Jordan Bridges is the pilot of the plane in the "heaven" scene.)

He left Columbia Pictures during World War II to enlist in the United States Coast Guard. Following his discharge, he returned to acting. In later years he was a member of U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, 11th District (California) and did several public service announcements for the Coast Guard. Because of his support, he was made an honorary commodore. Bridges' sons, actors Beau and Jeff, also served in the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Reserve.

Bridges was blacklisted briefly in the 1950s after he admitted to the House Un-American Activities Committee that he had once been a member of the Actors' Laboratory Theatre, a group found to have had links to the Communist party. He returned to acting after he was cleared by the FBI, achieving his greatest success in television.

Bridges gained attention in 1956 for his emotional performance on live anthology program The Alcoa Hour, in an episode titled "Tragedy in a Temporary Town", directed by Sidney Lumet. During the performance, Bridges inadvertently used profanity while ad-libbing. Although the slip of the tongue generated hundreds of complaints, the episode won a Robert E. Sherwood Television Award, with Bridges' slip being defended even by some members of the clergy. Bridges received an Emmy Award nomination for the role.

Bridges gained wide recognition as Mike Nelson, the main character in the television series Sea Hunt, created by Ivan Tors, which ran in syndication from 1958-1961. He also wrote a book with a co-author about skin-diving entitled "Mask and Flippers." Following that success, he starred in the eponymous CBS anthology series The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962-1963, produced by Aaron Spelling), which included appearances by his sons Beau and Jeff. Producer Gene Roddenberry, who worked with Bridges on "Sea Hunt", reportedly offered Bridges the role of Captain Kirk on Star Trek before the part went to William Shatner. In addition, he was a regular cast member in the Rod Serling western series The Loner (which lasted one season from 1965 to 1966; Bridges pulled out in disagreement over the violent content of the show), and in the two NBC failures San Francisco International Airport (1970/71) and a Police Story spin-off Joe Forrester (1975-76). Later, he appeared in Paper Dolls (1984) and Capital News (1990), both for ABC, and again with Harts of the West (1993-1994), this time for CBS, a comedy/western set on a dude ranch in Nevada. Son Beau Bridges co-starred, along with Harley Jane Kozak as Beau's wife, Alison Hart, and Sean Murray as the oldest Hart son, Zane Grey Hart.

Bridges played significant roles in several mini-series, including Roots, How the West Was Won and The Blue and the Gray.

For more than forty-five years, Bridges was a frequent guest star on television series. He received a second Emmy Award nomination four decades after the first when he was nominated in 1998 for his role as Izzy Mandelbaum on Seinfeld.

He portrayed Commander Cain in the original Battlestar Galactica television series, in the two-part episode The Living Legend. His fate was left unanswered, spurring fans to call for his return. This popularity led to a radically re-imagined Cain character in the 2004 series.

He started as a contract performer for Columbia Pictures, appearing in classics such as A Walk In The Sun, High Noon, Little Big Horn, and Sahara. By the end of his career, he had re-invented himself and demonstrated a gifted comedic talent in such parody films as Airplane!, Hot Shots!, and Jane Austen's Mafia!. He acted in the role of "The President" in the movie Hot Shots! Part Deux.

Personal life

Bridges met his wife, Dorothy Bridges (née Simpson) in his fraternity; they married in 1938 in New York City. They had four children: the actors Beau Bridges (born in 1941) and Jeff Bridges (born in 1949); a daughter, Lucinda Louise Bridges (born in October 1953); and another son, Garrett Myles Bridges, who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome on August 3, 1948. The actor Jordan Bridges is Beau's son and Lloyd's grandson. Dorothy and Lloyd exchanged vows again for their 50th wedding anniversary.

A world federalist, Bridges once said, "The devastation caused by war and the pollution of our environment knows no boundaries. Only an effective world government could provide sufficient law and have the power to control these destructive forces." He was also involved in several organizations, including the American Oceans Campaign and Heal the Bay, a Los Angeles-based group.

Death

On March 10, 1998, Bridges died of natural causes at the age of 85. He was married to Dorothy Bridges (née Simpson; 1915-2009), from 1938 until his death.

Tributes

An episode ("The Burning") in the final Seinfeld season (1998) was dedicated to the memory of Lloyd Bridges. He had played the character of Izzy Mandelbaum in the episodes "The English Patient" in 1997 and "The Blood" later the same year.

Bridges' last film, Jane Austen's Mafia!, was dedicated to him.

In 2011 Bridges was posthumously named as one of six recipients - two of whom are his sons Beau and Jeff - of the Lone Sailor Award, which honors former Coast Guard servicemen who have gone on to forge successful careers as civilians.

Filmography

Features

• Freshman Love (1936)
• Dancing Feet (1936)
• Lost Horizon (1937)
• The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance (1941)
• They Dare Not Love (1941)
• The Medico of Painted Springs (1941)
• The Son of Davy Crockett (1941)
• Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
• Our Wife (1941)
• Harmon of Michigan (1941)
• Two Latins from Manhattan (1941)
• You Belong to Me (1941)
• Three Girls About Town (1941)
• The Royal Mounted Patrol (1941)
• Sing for Your Supper (1941)
• Honolulu Lu (1941)
• Harvard, Here I Come! (1941)
• Counter-Espionage (1942) (uncredited)
• West of Tombstone (1942)
• Blondie Goes to College (1942)
• Cadets on Parade (1942)
• Shut My Big Mouth (1942)
• Canal Zone (1942)
• Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942)
• North of the Rockies (1942)
• Alias Boston Blackie (1942)
• The Wife Takes a Flyer (1942)
• Sweetheart of the Fleet (1942)
• Riders of the Northland (1942)
• Flight Lieutenant (1942)
• Atlantic Convoy (1942)
• The Talk of the Town (1942)
• A Man's World (1942)
• The Spirit of Stanford (1942)
• The Daring Young Man (1942)
• Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942)
• Pardon My Gun (1942)
• Underground Agent (1942)
• Counter-Espionage (1942) (uncredited) (waiter)
• Commandos Strike at Dawn (1943)
• City Without Men (1943)
• One Dangerous Night (1943)
• Destroyer (1943)
• Passport to Suez (1943)
• Hail to the Rangers (1943)
• Sahara (1943)
• The Heat's On (1943)
• There's Something About a Soldier (1943)
• Crime Doctor's Strangest Case (1943)
• Once Upon a Time (1944)
• She's a Soldier Too (1944)
• Louisiana Hayride (1944)
• The Master Race (1944)
• Saddle Leather Law (1944)
• Secret Agent X-9 (1945)
• Strange Confession (1945)
• A Walk in the Sun (1945)
• Abilene Town (1946)
• Miss Susie Slagle's (1946)
• Canyon Passage (1946)
• Ramrod (1947)
• The Trouble with Women (1947)
• Thunderbolt! (1947)
• Unconquered (1947)
• Secret Service Investigator (1948)
• 16 Fathoms Deep (1948)
• Moonrise (1948)
• Hideout (1949)
• Red Canyon (1949)
• Home of the Brave (1949)
• Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949)
• Trapped (1949)
• Colt .45 (1950)
• Rocketship X-M (1950)
• The White Tower (1950)
• The Sound of Fury (1950)
• Little Big Horn (1951)
• Three Steps North (1951)
• The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951)
• High Noon (1952)
• Plymouth Adventure (1952)
• Last of the Comanches (1953)
• The Tall Texan (1953)
• The Kid from Left Field (1953)
• City of Bad Men (1953)
• The Limping Man (1953)
• Pride of the Blue Grass (1954)
• Third Party Risk (1954)
• Wichita (1955)
• Apache Woman (1955)
• Wetbacks (1956)
• The Rainmaker (1956)
• Ride Out for Revenge (1957)
• The Goddess (1958)
• A Pair of Boots (1962)
• Around the World Under the Sea (1966)
• Daring Game (1968)
• Attack on the Iron Coast (1968)
• The Happy Ending (1969)
• Lost Flight (1969)
• The Love War (1970) (TV)
• Scuba (1972) (documentary) (narrator)
• To Find a Man (1972)
• Haunts of the Very Rich (1972)
• Death Race (1973)
• Running Wild (1973)
• The Fifth Musketeer (1979)
• Bear Island (1979)
• Airplane! (1980)
• Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
• Weekend Warriors (1986)
• The Thanksgiving Promise (1986)
• The Wild Pair (1987) with son Beau Bridges
• Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
• Winter People (1989)
• Cousins (1989)
• Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)
• Hot Shots! (1991)
• Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992)
• Earth and the American Dream (1992) (documentary) (narrator)
• Mr. Bluesman (1993)
• Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
• Blown Away (1994) with son Jeff Bridges
• Peter and the Wolf (1995)
• Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998)
• Meeting Daddy (2000)
• From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff (1999)

Short subjects

• The Great Glover (1942)
• They Stooge to Conga (1943)
• A Rookie's Cookie (1943)
• His Wedding Scare (1943)
• Mr. Whitney Had a Notion (1949)
• My Daddy Can Lick Your Daddy (1962)
• The World of Inner Space (1966)
• Wonderful World of Wheels (1967)
• I Am Joe's Heart (1987) (voice)

Television work

• Suspense co-star with Arlene Francis in "Her Last Adventure" (August 19, 1952)
• Jukebox Jury (1953)
• Crossroads in "Broadway Trust" with James Dean (November 11, 1955)
• Sea Hunt (1958-1961)
• The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford (January 8, 1959)
• The DuPont Show with June Allyson as Captain Anderson in "Death on the Temple Bay", BSD series finale (1961)
• The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962-1963)
• The Eleventh Hour with son Beau, "Cannibal Plants, They Eat You Alive" as Leonard McCarty (1964)
• Kraft Suspense Theatre (1963)
• The Loner (1965-1966)
• Mission: Impossible (1966) (Fakeout:Anastas Poltroni)
• A Case of Libel (1968)
• Lost Flight (1969)
• Silent Night, Lonely Night (1969)
• The Silent Gun (1969)
• The Love War (1970)
• San Francisco International Airport (1970-1971)
• Do You Take This Stranger? (1971)
• A Tattered Web (1971)
• Deadly Dream (1971)
• Water World (1972-1975) (narrator)
• Haunts of the Very Rich (1972)
• Trouble Comes to Town (1973)
• Crime Club (1973)
• Death Race (1973)
• Benjamin Franklin (1974) (miniseries)
• The Whirlwind (1974)
• Police Story (1974)
• Stowaway to the Moon (1975)
• Cop on the Beat (1975)
• Joe Forrester (1975-1976)
• Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (1977 TV series) episode "The Force of Evil" (Dr. Carrington)
• Roots (1977) (miniseries)
• Telethon (1977)
• How the West Was Won (1978) (miniseries)
• The Great Wallendas (1978)
• Shimmering Light (1978)
• GI Diary (1978)
• Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series) (Commander Cain)
• Disaster on the Coastliner (1979) (Al Mitchell)
• East of Eden(1981 miniseries) (Samuel Hamilton)
• The Blue and the Gray (1982 miniseries) (Ben Geyser)
• Grace Kelly (1983)
• Paper Dolls (1984) (Grant Harper)
• George Washington (1984) (miniseries)
• Alice in Wonderland (1985 miniseries) (White Knight)
• North and South (1986) (miniseries) (Confederate President Jefferson Davis)
• Shining Time Station: 'Tis a Gift (PBS TV Special) (Mr. Nicholas)
• Capital News (1990) ( Jo Jo Turner)
• Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean (1990) (Harry Helmsley)
• In The Nick Of Time (1991 Christmas Movie) (Santa Claus)
• The Outer Limits - "The Sandkings" (March 26, 1995)
• The Other Woman (Jacob)
• Dress Gray (1986) (miniseries)
• Seinfeld (1997) Season 8 episode The English Patient (Izzy Mandelbaum)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]