Frank Lloyd Biography

An actor in British theater while still a teenager, Scottish-born Frank Lloyd came to the U.S. in 1913, and after acting in films he turned to writing and directing. By the late teens he was helming a series of notable films starring William Farnum, ranging from historic adaptations (a seven-reel version of A Tale Of Two Cities [1917] and a ten-reel Les Miserables [1918]) to Zane Grey westerns (Riders of the Purple Sage [1918], The Rainbow Trail [1918]). Lloyd's notable films of the '20s include Oliver Twist (1922) with Lon Chaney as Fagin, the Milton Sills swashbuckler The Sea Hawk (1924), and his Academy Award-winning historical drama The Divine Lady (1929). A prolific and reliable craftsman, Lloyd's enduring popularity resides on his 1930s films: Cavalcade (1933), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and the Preston Sturges-scripted If I Were King (1938). His '40s films -- an episode of Forever and a Day (1943), the James Cagney actioner Blood on the Sun (1945) -- are also admired. Lloyd also produced several films in the early '40s, most notably Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur (1942). ~ Rovi