Background and career
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 four children, including the actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges. He started his career as a contract performer for Columbia Pictures, appearing in films such as Sahara (1943), A Walk in the Sun (1945), Little Big Horn (1951) and High Noon (1952). On television, he starred in Sea Hunt (1958–1961). By the end of his career, he had re-invented himself and demonstrated a comedic talent in such parody films as Airplane! (1980), Hot Shots! (1991), and Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998). Among other honors, Bridges was a two-time Emmy Award nominee. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 1, 1994.
Bridges was born on January 15, 1913, in San Leandro, California, a suburb of Oakland. His parents are Harriet Evelyn (née Brown) Bridges (1893–1950) and Lloyd Vernet Bridges Sr. (1887–1962), who was involved in the California hotel business and once owned a movie theater. His parents were both from Kansas; both were of almost entirely English ancestry. Bridges was a direct descendant of William Bridges, who arrived in New England in 1623 aboard the ship Little James. 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 had small uncredited roles in the films Freshman Love (1936) and Dancing Feet (1936).
Bridges made his Broadway debut in 1937 in a short-lived production of Shakespeare's Othello, starring Walter Huston and Brian Aherne; Bridges was in the Ensemble. He appeared on stage in Suzanna and the Elders (1940). In Hollywood he had an uncredited role in Northwest Passage (1940).
In 1940, Bridges joined the stock company at Columbia Pictures at $75 a week, where he played small roles in features and short subjects. He could be seen in The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance (1941), They Dare Not Love (1941), Doctor's Alibi (1941), Blue Clay (1941), Our Wife (1941), and I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island (1941). In Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) Bridges is the pilot of the plane in the "heaven" scene. Bridges later reflected,
I didn't have enough maturity for a leading man. I looked too broad in the shoulders ... too much like a kid. I never could get into (Columbia studio boss) Harry Cohn's office. All the best roles went to Glenn Ford and William Holden. They just put me in these awful B-pictures, like Two Latins from Manhattan. I even did a Three Stooges short. Sometimes I'd be in two or three movies a week. It was tough sledding. 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 the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, did several public service announcements for the organization, and was made an honorary commodore. Bridges's Sea Hunt character Mike Nelson was also portrayed as a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and sometimes appeared in uniform. Bridges's sons, actors Beau and Jeff, also served in the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Reserve.
