Lloyd Bridges

Born

1913

Died

1998

From

San Leandro, California, USA·Los Angeles, California, USA

Also:
Director

133

Credits on file

Decades active

In short · Acted for nine decades — 133 credits.

Remembered for

Ranked by community engagement + sustained interest across this person's credits in our database.

Help complete this page

We’re missing one-line descriptor, birth date. Sign in to add what you know.

Biography

Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr., born on January 15, 1913 in San Leandro, California, was the son of Harriet Evelyn (Brown) and Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Sr., who owned a movie theater and worked in the hotel industry. He spent his childhood in various Northern California towns. Although his father hoped he would become a lawyer, Bridges developed an interest in acting while attending the University of California at Los Angeles. Dorothy Dean Bridges, his wife of more than 50 years, was one of his UCLA classmates and appeared with him in the romantic play "March Hares." After college, he worked on the Broadway stage, helped found an off-Broadway theater, and acted, produced, and directed at Green Mansions, a theater in the Catskills. Bridges made his first films in 1936 and signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1941. In the early 1950s, allegations of his involvement with the Communist Party threatened his career, but he resumed work after testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee as a cooperative witness, admitting past party membership and recanting. Transitioning to television, Bridges became a major star with his role in *Sea Hunt* (1958), the country's most successful syndicated series. Active until the end of his life, he gained new audiences with his comedic roles in the films *Airplane!* (1980) and *Hot Shots!* (1991), and their sequels. Lloyd Bridges died of natural causes on March 10, 1998, at the age of 85.