Lloyd Bridges

Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Bridges in 1966
Born	Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. (1913-01-15)January 15, 1913 San Leandro, California, U.S.
Died	March 10, 1998(1998-03-10) (aged 85) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California at Los Angeles
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1936–1998
Spouse(s)	Dorothy Simpson (1938–1998; his death)
Children	4, including Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges

Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges.

Bridges was born in San Leandro, California, to Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Sr. (1887–1962), who was involved in the California hotel business and once owned a movie theater, and his wife Harriet Evelyn (Brown) Bridges (1893–1950). His parents were both natives of Kansas, and of English ancestry. Bridges graduated from Petaluma High School in 1930. He then studied political science at UCLA, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Bridges made his Broadway debut in 1939 in a production of Shakespeare's Othello. In 1941, he joined the stock company at Columbia Pictures, where he played small roles in features and short subjects. (In Here Comes Mr. Jordan Bridges is the pilot of the plane in the "heaven" scene.)

He left Columbia Pictures during World War II to enlist in the United States Coast Guard. Following his discharge, he returned to acting. In later years he was a member of U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, 11th District (California) and did several public service announcements for the Coast Guard. Because of his support, he was made an honorary commodore. Bridges' sons, actors Beau and Jeff, also served in the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Reserve.

Bridges was blacklisted briefly in the 1950s after he admitted to the House Un-American Activities Committee that he had once been a member of the Actors' Laboratory Theatre, a group found to have had links to the Communist party. He returned to acting after he was cleared by the FBI, achieving his greatest success in television.