The Wizard Of Oh! The Life And Writings Of Christopher Lloyd

It occurred to me only the other day that we don't give our writers enough credit these days. If I have to hear my husband go on about how Bob Monkhouse should have been knighted, I may have well thrown up, yet he has a point. Sir Bob is not the only one who has popped off to the great Sunshine Club in the sky - we should have had Sir Peter Sellers, Sir Tony Hancock and even Sir Graham Chapman, so why is it that we just don't give our writers the attention we deserve? Notice there is a link between these great men, and not just the fact they are men - they are comedy writers and it's the word "comedy" that we have such a problem with...

I was trying to think of a similar comic genius from the States, with regard to writing capabilities and it hit me - as a avid fan of the long suffering Frasier, I had know from an early age that behind the cross between Seattle's elite and an English Country Estate who is Dr Frasier Crane, there is a Christopher Lloyd itching to jump out - no surprises there, but would we be surprised if we realised that it is the same man who was behind the silver haired dollies, we loved as The Golden Girls? Surely that takes some sort of genius - or at least be in touch with his feminine side - the same man, writing for men and then for women - can you find a similarity between Frasier and the Golden Girls? I'm buggered if I can....

Christopher Allen Lloyd was born in Stamford in Connecticut in 1938. He has starred in over 60 films between the years of 1975 to present date. He is a phenomenon – he appears to us like a friendly made scientist who has the childlike charm and inquisitiveness of a baby yet has all the wisdom of a wizard – all knowing and all giving. He makes you feel safe when flying around in a time machine and you believe him that everything is going to be okay and that Marty McFly will always get back to 1985, time and time again, no matter what happens. He is a showman, a craftsman who has given us magical and timeless characters on screen himself or as ones of equal importance he has created himself to be played by others. He is a tireless figure in Hollywood, constantly working and creating more magic than Jim Henson.

Tall, lanky and with arms almost as long as his legs, he has inspired all those over the age of fifty to keep working and most important of all – keep dreaming. His wide-eyed gasp of shock, bewilderment and sheer disbelief about everything known to man is how we are presented with Jim from the hit series, Taxi.

He has played them all – the very good and the very bad, but when you have trained effortlessly in theatre before being eclipsed in film, you know how to work an audience, steal the best shot and covert the best line – the lights upon you will light you only – you have to do the rest and that is what we get from Lloyd.

Following acting at the tender age of 14, he had decided then that to do another job for the rest of his life would be criminal. He was shy and painfully at that so that act would be merely a cover up. He is outrageous both in himself and in his characters; he also projects this into his writing which, in my mind has given us the very bets of him. He drudged around the local theatres working for a dime most nights, finely tuning his craft of improvisation and technique. Eventually moving to New York where all the greats felt drawn and to the Actors Studio in particular, he studied and eventually landed himself a place on Broadway in Red, White and Maddox, in 1969.

He ventured into Shakespeare, where he found his voice – he boomed to the back row with such vigour that this soon landed him roles were he would utilise his voice just as much as he would use is body. In 1973, his work paid off and he won an award for his character in Kaspar.

Perhaps his finest moment to date might have been his very first – working his way into the depths of film, he landed himself a supporting role in 1975’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest starring Jack Nicholson. Playing in front of the camera is hard enough for an amateur but when the part is of a mental patient, the weight is really on the shoulders. This, over the nest couples of years landed him the regular role of Jim, the driver you wouldn’t get in a cab with and ex druggie still hallucinating all these years later, in Taxi in 1978 and the rest was history, at least until 1983, and two Emmys later.

Two years later he was cast as Doc Brown in the BTTF trilogy along side a fairly unknown Michael J Fox. Since then he has remained as private and has shied away from interviews and will only work with companies who will not insist on him appearing in public. He is still the wizard of the movies and we still love him....




2008 mduffy