A Walk in the Sun -- May 26, 2025

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Happy Memorial Day, everyone. I thought this was a good day to write about Lewis Milestone's 1945 film A Walk in the Sun. It is set during Operation Avalanche, the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War Two. It follows a platoon of infantry who land on the beach near Salerno and have to fight their way to a farmhouse on a hill. They don't know what is in the farmhouse. Men die, are wounded and suffer from shell shock along the way. Robert Ryan is a sergeant who has to assume command when the officer leading the platoon is seriously wounded on the beach. Ryan is surrounded by a team of excellent actors, including Norman Lloyd, Richard Conte, Lloyd Bridges and Sterling Holloway. Even Huntz Hall of the Bowery Boys has a small part. Eventually they make it.

Norman Lloyd, RIP -- May 12, 2021

Norman Lloyd has died at the age of 106. I remember when Saint Elsewhere began its run on television and I realized that the kindly old doctor had also been in Saboteur and Limelight.  I imagine there is only a limited set of people who worked with both Alfred Hitchcock and Charlie Chaplin.

Lloyd was put on the Hollywood blacklist, but Hitchcock had enough influence to get him off of it. Lloyd was associate producer of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and he directed many episodes.

His character in Saboteur was named Frank Fry. What a great name for an arsonist. And what a wonderful exit.

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Norman Lloyd 100 -- November 19, 2014

I keep forgetting to mention that Norman Lloyd was born 100 years ago, on 08-November-1914, and he is still with us.  I remember when Saint Elsewhere began its run on television and I realized that the kindly old doctor had also been in Saboteur and Limelight.  I imagine there is only a limited set of people who worked with both Alfred Hitchcock and Charley Chaplin and a much smaller set of those people who are still alive. 

Lloyd was put on the Hollywood blacklist, but Hitchcock had enough influence to get him off of it.   Lloyd was associate producer of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and he directed many episodes. 

His character in Saboteur was named Frank Fry.  What a great name for an arsonist.  And what a wonderful exit.