![]() ![]() But the series managed to survive for six years on a powerful drug called demographics: The show attracted a relatively small but highly desirable audience of young, affluent viewers, and that in turn attracted plenty of advertising dollars to NBC. Elsewhere"-a derisive nickname for the aging South Boston medical facility-was never healthy in the ratings. Saint elsewhere cast tv#We always said: ‘That’s a tough question-well, good night!’ ”ĭespite its high standing among TV critics, “St. ![]() “We never answered any of the questions we posed. “I saw it as a show about people struggling to answer life’s ridiculous questions-sometimes they would do it in a comic way, sometimes they would do it in a serious way,” said Tom Fontana, one of the show’s core group of writers and producers, who served as a creative consultant this season. Elsewhere,” which established a defiant tradition of baiting the NBC censors, blurring the line between the real and the surreal, tantalizing the alert viewers with inside jokes and subtle references to literature, television and pop music lyrics, going precariously far out on a limb and then deliberately chopping it off. He wanted everybody else to know their lines and hit their marks,” Fontana said.įontana often brought other friends along to his dinners with Lloyd, as a means of “sharing the joy of knowing Norman.” After Lloyd’s wife, actor Peggy Lloyd, died in 2011 at the age of 98, Fontana recalled a dinner in which Lloyd spent most of the time flirting shamelessly with an actress.And none of MTM’s shows better defined quality television than “St. “There was always a sense of when he came to the set he was there to work even though he was playful. When it was time to work, the actor whose career began in the 1920s was the consummate pro. Lloyd’s presence on set had a way of keeping everyone at the top of their game. He was in his mid-70s by that time, “but as you can imagine, he was ready to get in that harness” to achieve the flying effect, Fontana recalled. In one memorable scene in the final season, Lloyd’s character flies around the hospital in a Superman-esque costume dreaming of saving the place from a wrecking ball. He was totally game for the serious stuff and the crazy funny stuff.” He was the biggest cheerleader for the writers. Here’s a guy who had worked with Hitchcock and Welles and yet here he was with us doing this crazy show and breaking all the rules,” Fontana recalled. “He was completely open to any new adventure. Denzel Washington, Ed Begley, Jr., Howie Mandel, David Morse. Lloyd’s endorsement of their unconventional approach spoke volumes to the rest of the ensemble cast, which included William Daniels, Ed Flanders, Denzel Washington, Howie Mandel, Ed Begley Jr., Christina Pickles and David Morse. Elsewhere,” which followed the lives of staffers at a run-down hospital in Boston, was a major departure in dramatic storytelling for its day. Elsewhere's ensemble cast included David Morse, Alfre Woodard, Bruce Greenwood, Christina Pickles, Kyle Secor, Ed Begley Jr., Stephen Furst, Howie Mandel, Mark Harmon, Denzel Washington and Helen Hunt. Working with Lloyd was a gift for the show’s writers and producers. Along with established actors Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels, St. And whatever he did, he’d give it the old Norman twist that made what we’d written better for his performance.” When the director said ‘action’ he was ready to go. He remained with the series for its six-season run that ended in 1988. Originally, the character was to have died in episode six of Season 1, but Lloyd proved so good in the role and became such an integral part of the MTM Productions show that producers could not let him go. Donald Auschlander, who battled cancer from the 1982 pilot episode on. Elsewhere” in the role of the wise physician Dr. “He just had great stories about Chaplin and (Orson) Welles and Bertolt Brecht and Charles Laughton. “He was one of the great storytellers I’ve ever known,” Fontana told Variety. For years, whenever Fontana would visit Los Angeles, he made a point of having dinner with his former star. Lloyd, who died at his home in Los Angeles, was a raconteur who loved to regale listeners with amusing anecdotes about his decades in the industry. Elsewhere” showrunner Tom Fontana remembered his dear friend Norman Lloyd, the legendary actor who died Tuesday at the age of 106. Saint elsewhere cast full#He was a man who was full of stories and full of life. ![]()
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