Lloyd Bochner

Lloyd Wolfe Bochner (July 29, 1924 – October 29, 2005) was a Canadian actor.

Lloyd Bochner
Bochner as Chief Inspector Neil Campbell in Hong Kong (1961)
Born
Lloyd Wolfe Bochner

July 29, 1924
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DiedOctober 29, 2005(2005-10-29) (aged 81)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting placeWestwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California
NationalityCanadian
OccupationActor
Known forChief Inspector Neil Campbell,
Cecil Colby,
C.C. Capwell,
Mayor Hamilton Hill
Notable work
Hong Kong,
Dynasty,
Santa Barbara,
Batman: The Animated Series,
The New Batman Adventures
Spouse(s)Ruth Roher Bochner (m. 1948)
Children3, including Hart Bochner
AwardsACTRA Awards (2004)

Career

At the age of 11, Bochner began his acting career on Ontario radio programs.[1] He went on to garner two Liberty Awards, the highest acting honour in Canada, for his work in Canadian film and theatre. He made his debut in 1946 with The Mapleville Story[2] and in 1951 he moved to New York City where he appeared in early television series such as One Man's Family and Kraft Television Theatre.[3] In 1960, ABC called with a starring role in the series Hong Kong with co-star Rod Taylor. Faced against NBC's Wagon Train, then one of the most highly rated programs on the air, Hong Kong ended with the 26th episode. In 1961, he guest-starred in The Americans, an American Civil War drama about how the conflict divided families, starring Darryl Hickman.

A few years later, Bochner appeared in one of his most famous roles, that of a cryptographer attempting to decipher an alien text in the classic 1962 Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man",[4] a part he spoofed years later in the comedy The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear.[5] In 1962 and 1963, he appeared in two episodes of the CBS anthology series, GE True, hosted by Jack Webb; he portrayed the part of Stoughton in "Code Name: Christopher, Part I"[6] and Captain Ian Stuart in "Commando".

From 1963 to 1964, Bochner was a member of the repertory cast of NBC's The Richard Boone Show.[7] In 1964, he guest-starred in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea season-one episode "The Fear-Makers". Later that year, he appeared as murderer Eric Pollard in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Latent Lover".[6] In 1965, he guest-starred on ABC's Western series The Legend of Jesse James starring Christopher Jones in the title role. Two years later, he appeared on the ABC military-Western Custer starring Wayne Maunder in the title role. He appeared twice on the long-running television Western The Virginian in the 1960s.[8] Bochner is also memorably smooth and malicious as the gangster Carter against Lee Marvin in John Boorman's seminal 1960s film noir Point Blank.[4] In 1971 Bochner appeared as Abel Wilks in "The Men From Shiloh" (rebranded name for The Virginian) in the episode titled "The Town Killer."

Over the years, Bochner continued to portray a variety of roles in television and film, from a warlock on Bewitched to a homosexual doctor coming out at middle age in the 1977 television movie Terraces,[9] to Pia Zadora's abusive screenwriter husband in the camp classic film The Lonely Lady.[10] In 1960, he starred in an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's The Citadel along with Ann Blyth. His son Paul said he "almost always played a suave, handsome, wealthy villain."

Notable roles

Bochner played the scheming Cecil Colby on Dynasty, in part due to his notorious death scene. The character suffered a heart attack while having sex with Alexis Carrington (Joan Collins), and later died in his hospital bed seconds after marrying her.[11] A few years later, Bochner planned to star as C.C. Capwell on the daytime drama Santa Barbara, but a heart attack caused his departure from the series. Bochner continued to appear in television series for the next few decades, doing frequent voiceover work for the highly acclaimed animated TV shows Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures.[2] He joined the Stratford Festival of Canada in its first season in 1953 and spent six years there, playing Horatio in Hamlet, Orsino in Twelfth Night, and Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure opposite James Mason.[12]

Television roles

In 1962 Bochner played in The Twilight Zone episode, "To Serve Man."[1] In 1965 he guest starred on Combat! in the fourth season episode "Evasion" as Major Thorne. In 1966 on The Wild Wild West he played Zachariah Skull, an ingenious murderer, in "The Night of the Puppeteer." In 1966, Bochner played the author Robert Louis Stevenson in the episode "Jolly Roger and Wells Fargo" of the syndicated television series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Robert Taylor and directed by Denver Pyle.[13] That same year he appeared in 12 O'Clock High, playing the British officer, Major Mallory, episode "Fortress Weisbaden".[14] In 1967 he appeared as a Royal Air Force officer and his German double on an episode of Hogan's Heroes in the episode "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To London". In 1967 he played an 'U.N.C.L.E.' agent in the last season of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; a unique role in that while he was a 'good guy' in the final dialogue he was described as being "reassuringly unlikeable". In 1969, Bochner played a handsome warlock named Franklyn in a season-five episode of Bewitched, titled "Marriage Witches Style" In 1969 he played as the cat loving bad guy Clayton Hewitt in the episode "Catspaw on It Takes a Thief and the final episode of same, "Project X", as Dr. George Kingsford in 1970.[15] In 1970, Bochner played Walter Gregson, a strangler on Hawaii Five-O in the season-three episode called "Beautiful Screamer".[16] Later on Hawaii Five-O, he was the Navy captain in a 1975 episode called "Murder: Eyes Only".[17] He also appeared in Hawaii Five-O season 12 in an episode called "Clash of the Shadows" as a Jewish diplomat. He appeared in the episode "Prosecutor" of the ABC crime drama The Silent Force in 1970.[18] In 1973 he played a chess coach in Columbo: The Most Dangerous Match[19] and was in the episode "The Pisces" of the short-lived TV show The Starlost. In 1977 he was in an episode of the ABC crime drama The Feather and Father Gang[20] and an episode of the ABC situation comedy The San Pedro Beach Bums. Bochner also appeared in Barnaby Jones in an episode titled "The Loose Connection"(03/18/1973). He was Commandant Leiter in the Battlestar Galactica original-series episode "Greetings from Earth" (1978).[2] In the 1980s, Bochner was in two episodes of The Golden Girls, he played a suave television-turned-stage actor (and womanizer) Patrick Vaughn, in 1987 and Eduardo the Hairdresser in 1989.[21]

Personal life and death

Bochner was born in Toronto, Ontario, to a middle-class Jewish family.[11] He was the son of Frieda (Kenen) and Charles Abraham Bochner, and the nephew of Isaiah L. Kenen, founder of the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs.[22]

In 1998, he co-founded the Committee to End Violence, a panel designed to study the impact violent images had on culture.[4] He was also active in the Association of Canadian Radio and Television Artists and was a licensed amateur radio operator.

Bochner was married to Ruth Roher Bochner, a concert pianist,[23][24] until his death from cancer on October 29, 2005, at the age of 81 at home in Santa Monica, California.. Bochner and his wife had three children — Hart Bochner (actor, who also provided voices for Batman), Paul (director and animator), and Johanna.[25]

Filmography

Awards

Bochner received an ACTRA Award in 2004.[26]

References
  1. Harris M. Lentz III. Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2005: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland & Company. pp. 97–98. ISBN 0-7864-2489-3. ISSN 1087-9617. OCLC 1071147483.
  2. Rubin, Steven (2018). Twilight Zone Encyclopedia. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-61373-888-7.
  3. Hamrick, Craig (2004) [2003]. Big Lou: The Life and Career of Actor Louis Edmonds. iUniverse Star. iUniverse. p. 21. ISBN 0-595-29716-1.
  4. "Lloyd Bochner, 81; Actor Noted for Sophisticated Film and TV Roles". Los Angeles Times. November 3, 2005. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  5. Wolfe, Peter (1997). In the Zone: The Twilight World of Rod Serling. Bowling Green State University Popular Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-87972-729-2.
  6. Ward, Jack (1993). Television Guest Stars: An Illustrated Career Chronicle for 678 Performers of the Sixties and Seventies. McFarland & Company. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-8995-0807-8.
  7. Brooks, Tim; March, Earle F. (2007) [1979]. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (9th ed.). Ballantine Books. p. 1153. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
  8. Green, Paul (November 19, 2009). A History of Television's The Virginian, 1962-1971. McFarland & Company. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-7864-4680-3.
  9. "Television". New York Magazine. September 2, 1985. p. 94.
  10. Matthew Rettenmund (1996). Totally Awesome 80s: A Lexicon of the Music, Videos, Movies, TV Shows, Stars and Trends of That Decadent Decade. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 3.
  11. Reed, Christopher (November 5, 2005). "Obituary: Lloyd Bochner". The Guardian. Manchester: Guardian Media Group. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  12. Nicoll, Allardyce (1956). Shakespeare Survey. 9. Cambridge University Press. p. 111. ISBN 052152394X.
  13. Harris M. Lentz III (1997). Television Westerns Episode Guide: All United States Series, 1949-1996. McFarland & Company. p. 128. ISBN 078647386X.
  14. "Twelve O'Clock High: Fortress Weisbaden". TV.com. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  15. Meyers, Gina (2004). The Magic of Bewitched Trivia and More. iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-31557-7.
  16. Rhodes, Karen. Booking Hawaii Five-O: An Episode Guide and Critical History of the 1968-1980 Television Detective Series. McFarland & Company. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-7864-3108-3.
  17. Martindale, David (1991). Television Detective Shows of the 1970s: Credits, Storylines and Episode Guides for 109 Series (Illustrated ed.). McFarland & Company. ISBN 0899505570.
  18. "Cue". Cue. Vol. 39 no. 27–39. North American Publishing Company. 1970. p. 43.
  19. Rowan, Terry. Character-Based Film Series Part. Lulu.com. p. 51. ISBN 1365021289.
  20. Perry, Jeb H. (1991). Screen Gems: A History of Columbia Pictures Television from Cohn to Coke, 1948-1983. Scarecrow Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8108-2487-4.
  21. Huryk, Harry (July 2007). The Golden Girls - The Ultimate Viewing Guide. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4116-8528-4.
  22. Isaiah L. Kenen (1985). "All my causes: an 80-year life span in many lands and for many causes". Near East Research: 129. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  23. "Births". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. October 5, 1956. p. 26. at Women's College Hospital
  24. "On The Air". Drummondville Spokesman. March 24, 1950. p. 4. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  25. Potts, Monica (November 2, 2005). "Lloyd Bochner, 81, Actor of Stage, Screen and TV, Dies". The New York Times.
  26. "ACTRA Awards". ACTRA. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
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