 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Lloyd Nolan" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Lloyd Nolan | |
|---|---|
 Nolan asMartin Kane, c. 1951 | |
| Born | Lloyd Benedict Nolan (1902-08-11)August 11, 1902 San Francisco, California, US |
| Died | September 27, 1985(1985-09-27) (aged 83) Los Angeles, California, US |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1929–1985 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Lloyd Benedict Nolan (August 11, 1902 – September 27, 1985) was an American stage, film and television actor[1] who rose from a supporting player and B-movie lead early in his career to featured player status after creating the role of Captain Queeg inHerman Wouk's playThe Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in the mid-1950s. Nolan won a Best ActorEmmy Award reprising the part in1955 TV play based onWouk's tale of military justice.[2] Additionally, he starred in theMike Shayne detective films, and the groundbreaking sitcomJulia starringDiahann Carroll.
Nolan's obituary in theLos Angeles Times contained the evaluation, "Nolan was to both critics and audiences the veteran actor who works often and well regardless of his material."[3] Although Nolan's acting was often praised by critics, he was, for the most part, relegated toB pictures. Despite this, Nolan co-starred with a number of well-known actresses, among themMae West,Dorothy McGuire, and formerMetropolitan Operamezzo-sopranoGladys Swarthout. Under contract toParamount and20th Century Fox studios, he essayed starring roles in the late '30s and early-to-mid '40s and appeared as thetitle character in theMichael Shayne detective series.Raymond Chandler's novelThe High Window was adapted from aPhilip Marlowe adventure for the seventh film in the Michael Shayne series,Time to Kill (1942); the film was remade five years later asThe Brasher Doubloon, truer to Chandler's original story, withGeorge Montgomery as Marlowe.[4]
A number of Nolan's films were light entertainment with an emphasis on action. His most famous include:Atlantic Adventure; costarringNancy Carroll;Ebb Tide;Wells Fargo;Every Day's a Holiday, starringMae West; andBataan starringRobert Taylor.
Nolan also contributed solid and keycharacter parts in numerous other films. InJohnny Apollo (1940) he was a charismatic but finally self-serving and murderous gang boss. InA Tree Grows in Brooklyn, withDorothy McGuire andJames Dunn, he played a lonely beat policeman. In later years he gave a notable performance as a straight talking doctor who ultimately rails against small-town hypocrisy in the 1957 filmPeyton Place withLana Turner.[3] One of his films was a startling revelation to audiences in 1945.The House on 92nd Street was a conflation of several true incidents of attempted sabotage by theNazi regime (incidents which theFBI was able to thwart duringWorld War II). Many scenes were filmed on location in New York City, unusual at the time, and real employees of the FBI interacted with Nolan throughout the film. Nolan reprised his role as FBI Agent Briggs in the 1948 movie,The Street with No Name.[3]
One of the last of his many military roles was playing anadmiral at the start of what proved to beHoward Hughes' favorite film,Ice Station Zebra.[5]
Later in Nolan's career, he returned to the stage and appeared on television to great acclaim inThe Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, for which he received a 1955Emmy award for portrayingCaptain Queeg,[3] the role made famous byHumphrey Bogart. Nolan also made guest appearances on television shows, includingNBC'sThe Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford,The Bing Crosby Show, a sitcom onABC and theEmmy-winning NBCanthology seriesThe Barbara Stanwyck Show.
Nolan appeared on Wagon Train in the second season, episode 16, as the title character in "The Hunter Malloy Story", January 21, 1959.
Nolan appeared three times on NBC'sLaramieWestern series, as sheriff Tully Hatch in the episode "The Star Trail (1959), asoutlaw Matt Dyer in the episode "Deadly Is the Night" (1961) and then as formerUnion ArmyGeneral George Barton in the episode "War Hero" (1962). On December 8, 1960, Nolan was cast as Dr. Elisha Pittman, in "Knife of Hate" onDick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. In the story line, Dr. Pittman removed one of the legs of Jack Hoyt (Robert Harland) after Hoyt sustained a gunshot wound from which infection was developing. Hoyt wants to marry Susan Pittman (Susan Oliver), but her father is at first unyielding on the matter.
Nolan starred inThe Outer Limits episode "Soldier" written byHarlan Ellison. He appeared in the NBCWesternBonanza as LaDuke, aNew Orleans detective. In 1967,Strother Martin and he guest-starred in the episode "A Mighty Hunter Before the Lord" of NBC'sThe Road West series, starringBarry Sullivan. Also in 1967, Nolan was a guest star in the popular Western TV seriesThe Virginian, in the episode "The Payment", and in the pilot episode ofMannix.[6]
Nolan co-starred from 1968 to 1971 in the pioneering NBC seriesJulia, withDiahann Carroll, who was the first African American woman to star in a non-servant role in her own television series.[3]
One of his last appearances was a guest spot as himself in the 1984 episode "Cast in Steele" on the TV detective seriesRemington Steele.
On February 8, 1960, Nolan received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame for his work in the television industry, at 1752Vine Street.[7][8]
In his later years, Nolan appeared in commercials forPolident.[9]
Nolan married Mell Efrid in 1933. They had a daughter Melinda who gave them two grandchildren, and a son Jay. The couple remained married for 48 years until Efrid's death in 1981. In 1983, Nolan married Virginia Dabney, with whom he remained until his death.
Nolan’s son Jay Nolan hadautism and was institutionalized at a private institution at age 13. He died at age 26 from choking while eating.[10] When Lloyd Nolan went public in 1972 about his son's autism, it was revealed that Jay was one of the first children in the United States to be diagnosed with the condition.
In 1973, Nolan testified to Congress urging that autism be recognized as a developmental disability. Nolan is credited with having convinced Ronald Reagan to sign California's bill mandating education be provided to children with autism.[11] Nolan founded the Jay Nolan Autistic Center (now known as Jay Nolan Community Services)[12] in honor of his son,[13] and was chairman of the annual Save Autistic Children Telethon.
In 1964, Nolan spoke at the "Project Prayer"rally attended by 2,500 at theShrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The gathering, which was hosted byAnthony Eisley, a star of ABC'sHawaiian Eye series, sought to flood theUnited States Congress with letters in support of mandatoryschool prayer, following two decisions in 1962 and 1963 of theUnited States Supreme Court which struck down mandatory school prayer as conflicting with theEstablishment Clause of theFirst Amendment to the United States Constitution.[14][15] Joining Nolan and Eisley at the rally wereWalter Brennan,Rhonda Fleming,Dale Evans,Pat Boone, andGloria Swanson. At the rally, Nolan asked, "Do we permit ourselves to be turned into agodless people, or do we preserve America as one nation under God?" Eisley and Fleming added thatJohn Wayne,Ronald Reagan,Roy Rogers,Mary Pickford,Jane Russell,Ginger Rogers, andPat Buttram would also have attended the rally had their schedules not been in conflict.[15] "Project Prayer" was ultimately unsuccessful in its campaign to keep public prayer in public schools.
A lifelongRepublican,[16] Nolan appeared alongsideRonald Reagan during the 1976New Hampshire presidential primary in which he nearly scored an upset against PresidentGerald Ford.[11]
Death
A long-time cigar andpipe smoker, Nolan died of lung cancer on September 27, 1985, at his home inBrentwood, California;[17] he was 83.[3] He is interred at theWestwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery inWestwood, Los Angeles, California.[18]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | G Men | Hugh Farrell | |
| 1935 | Stolen Harmony | Chesty Burrage | |
| 1935 | Atlantic Adventure | Dan Miller | |
| 1935 | She Couldn't Take It | Tex | |
| 1935 | One Way Ticket | Jerry | |
| 1936 | You May Be Next | Neil Bennett | |
| 1936 | Lady of Secrets | Michael | |
| 1936 | Big Brown Eyes | Russ Cortig | |
| 1936 | Devil's Squadron | Dana Kirk | |
| 1936 | Counterfeit | Capper Stevens | |
| 1936 | The Texas Rangers | Sam 'Polka Dot' McGee | |
| 1936 | 15 Maiden Lane | Det. Sgt. Walsh | |
| 1937 | Internes Can't Take Money | Hanlon | |
| 1937 | King of Gamblers | Jim Adams | |
| 1937 | Exclusive | Charles Gillette | |
| 1937 | Ebb Tide | Attwater | |
| 1937 | Every Day's a Holiday | John Quade | |
| 1937 | Wells Fargo | Dal Slade | |
| 1938 | Dangerous to Know | Inspector Brandon | |
| 1938 | Tip-Off Girls | Bob Anders | |
| 1938 | Hunted Men | Joe Albany | |
| 1938 | Prison Farm | Larry Harrison | |
| 1938 | King of Alcatraz | Raymond Grayson | |
| 1939 | Ambush | Tony Andrews | |
| 1939 | St. Louis Blues | Dave Geurney | |
| 1939 | Undercover Doctor | Robert Anders | |
| 1939 | The Magnificent Fraud | Sam Barr | |
| 1940 | The Man Who Wouldn't Talk | Joe Monday | |
| 1940 | The House Across the Bay | Slant Kolma | |
| 1940 | Johnny Apollo | Mickey Dwyer | |
| 1940 | Gangs of Chicago | Matthew J. 'Matty' Burns | |
| 1940 | The Man I Married | Kenneth Delane | |
| 1940 | The Golden Fleecing | Gus Fender | |
| 1940 | Pier 13 | Danny Dolan | |
| 1940 | Charter Pilot | King Morgan | |
| 1940 | Michael Shayne, Private Detective | Michael Shayne | |
| 1940 | Behind the News | Stuart Woodrow | |
| 1941 | Mr. Dynamite | Tommy N. Thornton ('Mr. Dynamite') | |
| 1941 | Sleepers West | Michael Shayne | |
| 1941 | Dressed to Kill | Michael Shayne | |
| 1941 | Buy Me That Town | Rickey Deane | |
| 1941 | Blues in the Night | Del Davis | |
| 1941 | Steel Against the Sky | Rocky Evans | |
| 1942 | Saboteur | Frank Fry | |
| 1942 | Blue, White and Perfect | Michael Shayne | |
| 1942 | The Man Who Wouldn't Die | Michael Shayne | |
| 1942 | It Happened in Flatbush | Frank 'Butterfingers' Maguire | |
| 1942 | Just Off Broadway | Michael Shayne | |
| 1942 | Apache Trail | Trigger Bill Folliard | |
| 1942 | Manila Calling | Lucky Matthews | |
| 1942 | Time to Kill | Michael Shayne | |
| 1943 | Bataan | Corp. Barney Todd | |
| 1943 | Don't Be a Sucker | Commentator | Short film |
| 1943 | Guadalcanal Diary | Sgt. Hook Malone | |
| 1944 | Attack! The Battle of New Britain | Narrator (voice) | Documentary |
| 1944 | Resisting Enemy Interrogation | USAF Debriefing Officer / Narrator | Uncredited |
| 1945 | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | Officer McShane | |
| 1945 | Circumstantial Evidence | Sam Lord | |
| 1945 | War Comes to America | Narrator (voice) | Documentary |
| 1945 | Captain Eddie | Lt. Jim Whittaker | |
| 1945 | The House on 92nd Street | Inspector George A. Briggs | |
| 1946 | Somewhere in the Night | Police Lt. Donald Kendall | |
| 1946 | Two Smart People | Bob Simms | |
| 1947 | Lady in the Lake | Lt. DeGarmot | |
| 1947 | Wild Harvest | Kink | |
| 1948 | Green Grass of Wyoming | Rob McLaughlin | |
| 1948 | The Street with No Name | Inspector George A. Briggs | |
| 1949 | The Sun Comes Up | Thomas I. Chandler | |
| 1949 | Bad Boy | Marshall Brown | |
| 1949 | Easy Living | Lenahan | |
| 1951 | The Lemon Drop Kid | Oxford Charlie | |
| 1953 | Island in the Sky | Captain Stutz | |
| 1953 | Crazylegs | Win Brockmeyer | |
| 1956 | The Last Hunt | Woodfoot | |
| 1956 | Santiago | Clay Pike | Alternative title:The Gun Runner |
| 1956 | Toward the Unknown | Brig. Gen. Bill Banner | Alternative title:Brink of Hell |
| 1957 | Seven Waves Away | Frank Kelly | Alternative titles:Abandon Ship Seven Days From Now |
| 1957 | A Hatful of Rain | John Pope Sr. | |
| 1957 | Peyton Place | Dr. Swain | |
| 1960 | Portrait in Black | Matthew S. Cabot | |
| 1960 | Girl of the Night | Dr. Mitchell | |
| 1961 | Susan Slade | Roger Slade | |
| 1962 | We Joined the Navy | Vice Admiral Ryan | |
| 1963 | The Girl Hunters | Federal Agent Arthur Rickerby | |
| 1964 | Circus World | Cap Carson | Alternative title:The Magnificent Showman |
| 1965 | Never Too Late | Mayor Crane | |
| 1966 | An American Dream | Barney Kelly | Alternative title:See You in Hell, Darling |
| 1967 | The Double Man | Edwards | |
| 1968 | Sergeant Ryker | Gen. Amos Bailey | |
| 1968 | Ice Station Zebra | Admiral Garvey | |
| 1970 | Airport | Harry Standish | |
| 1974 | Earthquake | Dr. James Vance | |
| 1975 | The Sky's the Limit | Cornwall | |
| 1977 | The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover | Attorney General Harlan Stone | |
| 1978 | My Boys Are Good Boys | Security Officer Dan Mountgomery | |
| 1980 | Galyon | Willard Morgan | |
| 1985 | Prince Jack | Joe Kennedy | |
| 1986 | Hannah and Her Sisters | Evan |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | The Ford Theatre Hour | Nifty Miller | Episode: "The Barker" |
| 1951–1952 | Martin Kane, Private Eye | Martin Kane | 7 episodes |
| 1952 | Ford Television Theatre | Episode: "Protect Her Honor" | |
| 1955 | Climax! | Jack London | Episode: "Sailor on Horseback" |
| 1955 | Ford Star Jubilee | Lt. Cmdr. Philip Francis Queeg | Episode: "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role |
| 1957 | Playhouse 90 | Capt. Kuyper | Episode: "Galvanized Yankee" |
| 1958–1960 | Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre | Dr. Elisha Pittman / Adam Larkin | 2 episodes |
| 1959 | Special Agent 7 | Special Agent Philip Conroy | 25 episodes |
| 1959 | Wagon Train | Hunter Malloy | Episode: "The Hunter Malloy Story" |
| 1959 | Ah, Wilderness! | Nat Miller | Television film |
| 1959 | Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse | Sheriff Orville Darrow | Episode: "Six Guns for Donegan" |
| 1959 | Father Knows Best | Coach Harper | Episode: "Bud Plays It Safe" |
| 1959 | The Untouchables | George 'Bugs' Moran | Episode: "The George 'Bugs' Moran Story" |
| 1959–1962 | Laramie | General George Barton / Matt Dyer / Sheriff Tully Hatch | 3 episodes |
| 1960 | Startime | Narrator | Episode: "Crime, Inc." |
| 1960 | Bonanza | Inspector Charles Leduque | Episode: "The Stranger" |
| 1960 | The Barbara Stanwyck Show | George McShane | Episode: "The Seventh Miracle" |
| 1961 | Bus Stop | Stroud | Episode: "The Glass Jungle" |
| 1961 | General Electric Theater | Robert Hale / Michael Bowen | 2 episodes |
| 1962 | Outlaws | Buck Breeson | Episode: "Buck Breeson Rides Again" |
| 1962 | The Dick Powell Show | Vernon Clay | Episode: "Special Assignment" |
| 1963 | The DuPont Show of the Week | James Feveral | Episode: "Two Faces of Treason" |
| 1963 | The Great Adventure | Col. Fraser | 2 episodes |
| 1963 | 77 Sunset Strip | Col. David Watkins | 3 episodes |
| 1963 | Kraft Suspense Theatre | Gen. Amos Bailey | 2 episodes |
| 1963–1967 | The Virginian | Tom Foster / Abe Clayton / Wade Anders | 3 episodes |
| 1964 | The Outer Limits | Tom Kagan | Episode: "Soldier" |
| 1964 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Dan Sinclair | Episode: "Mr. Biddle's Crime Wave" |
| 1965 | Daniel Boone | Ben Hanks | Episode: "The Price of Friendship" |
| 1965 | The Bing Crosby Show | Harvey | Episode: "What's a Buddy For?" |
| 1965 | Slattery's People | Admiral Wallace Blackburtn | Episode: "Rally Round Your Own Flag, Mister" |
| 1967 | The Road West | Jed Daniell | Episode: "A Mighty Hunter Before the Lord" |
| 1967 | Wings of Fire | Max Clarity | Television film |
| 1967 | Mannix | Sam Dubrio | Episode: "The Name Is Mannix" |
| 1968 | The Danny Thomas Hour | Dr. Richmond | Episode: "The Cage" |
| 1968 | Judd, for the Defense | D.A. Patrick Bantry | Episode: "The Devil's Surrogate" |
| 1968 | I Spy | Manion | Episode: "The Name of the Game" |
| 1968–1971 | Julia | Dr. Morton Chegley / Dr. Norton Chegley | 86 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series(1969) |
| 1972 | Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law | Episode: "A Question of Degree" | |
| 1972 | The Bold Ones: The New Doctors | Dr. Karl Richardson | Episode: "A Nation of Human Pincushions" |
| 1973 | Isn't It Shocking? | Jesse Chapin | Television film |
| 1973 | McCloud | Elroy Jenkins | Episode: "Butch Cassidy Rides Again" |
| 1973 | The F.B.I. | Judge Harper | Episode: "The Killing Truth" |
| 1974 | The Magician | Charles Keegan | 2 episodes |
| 1975 | The Wonderful World of Disney | Cornwall | 2 episodes |
| 1975 | The Abduction of Saint Anne | Carl Gentry | Television film |
| 1975 | Lincoln | William H. Seward | Episode: "The Unwilling Warrior" |
| 1976 | Ellery Queen | Doctor Sanford | Episode: "The Adventure of the Sunday Punch" |
| 1976 | City of Angels | General Butler | Episode: "The November Plan: Part 1" |
| 1977 | McMillan & Wife | Horace Sherwin | Episode: "Affair of the Heart" |
| 1977 | Flight to Holocaust | Wilton Bender | Television film |
| 1977 | Fire! | Doc Bennett | Television film |
| 1977 | The November Plan | Gen. Smedley Butler | Television film |
| 1977 | Police Woman | Q. Waldo Mims | Episode: "Merry Christmas Waldo" |
| 1977 | The Mask of Alexander Cross | Strickland | Television film |
| 1977 | Gibbsville | Episode: "The Price of Everything" | |
| 1978 | The Waltons | Cyrus Guthrie | Episode: "The Return" |
| 1978 | Quincy, M.E. | Dr. Herbert Schumann | Episode: "A Test for Living" |
| 1978 | The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries | Professor Anton Hendricks | Episode: "Search for Atlantis" |
| 1979 | $weepstake$ | Dr. Warnecke | "Dewey and Harold and Sarah and Maggie" |
| 1979 | Valentine | Brother Joe | Television film |
| 1981 | Archie Bunker's Place | Judge Sean McGuire | 2 episodes |
| 1982 | Adams House | Frank Gallagher | Television film |
| 1984 | Remington Steele | Himself | Episode: "Cast in Steele" |
| 1984 | It Came Upon the Midnight Clear | Monsignor Donoghue | Television film |
| 1985 | Murder, She Wrote | Julian Tenley | Episode: "Murder in the Afternoon" |
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1945 | Suspense | "Murder for Myra"[19] |
| 1945 | Suspense | "Nineteen Deacon Street"[20] |
| 1946 | Suspense | "Hunting Trip"[21] |
| 1947 | Suspense | "Green-Eyed Monster"[22] |
| 1947 | Suspense | "Double Ugly"[23] |
| 1952 | Suspense | The Man with Two Faces[24] |
| 1953 | Suspense | Vial of Death[25] |
