Sunday, November 8, 2015

Happy birthday, Norman Lloyd!

The St. Elsewhere Experience wishes Hollywood legend and St. Elsewhere star Norman Lloyd a happy birthday.

The St. Elsewhere Experience is pleased to extend the warmest of birthday greetings to the man who gave life to Dr. Daniel Auschlander--the great Norman Lloyd. We've been blessed to have Norman with us for the past 101 years.

Also, check out Norman Lloyd on upstaging Orson Welles and playing tennis with Chaplin.

Image from Variety.com.
Image from HillCountryNews.com.




Wednesday, August 12, 2015

St. Elsewhere star Norman Lloyd featured in Trainwreck

St. Elsewhere star and Hollywood legend Norman Lloyd shows off his considerable comedic talents in his latest film role in Trainwreck.

Trainwreck's Judd Apatow, Norman Lloyd, and Amy Schumer
(image borrowed from thedailybeast.com)
Should've had this post up almost a month ago, but it's never too late to celebrate the great Norman Lloyd, who, at the age of 99, experienced his first taste of improvisational comedy film-making in Judd Apatow's Trainwreck, starring Amy Schumer.

St. Elsewhere fans know how funny Norman Lloyd can be from his role as Dr. Daniel Auschlander, the liver specialist and Chief of Services who was originally slated to die of cancer after four episodes, but experienced "the longest remission in television history" and survived six seasons until he succumbed from a stroke in the series finale.

Now, at age 100, the press is celebrating that a) this centenarian is still working, and b) there's someone making movies in Hollywood who worked with Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, and Charlie Chaplin, and who still turns in a great interview. Lloyd has a well-deserved reputation as one of Hollywood's greatest storytellers, and as evidenced by this clip from an interview with DP/30, he's as sharp as ever. And he still plays tennis twice a week.


Accordingly, the story of Lloyd has made its way around the Internet. Check out this selection of features about the St. Elsewhere star and his role in Trainwreck:

Norman Lloyd on 'Trainwreck,' Hitchcock, Welles and 100 years - NJ.com

TV and Film Legend Norman Lloyd On His Latest Film “Trainwreck” - KTLA.com

“Trainwreck”: Brilliant Comedy Features Veteran Actor Norman Lloyd, Age 100 - Showbiz 411

Trainwreck’s 100-Year-Old Co-Star - AdWeek FishbowlNY

Meet Hollywood’s Oldest Working Actor - The Daily Beast

‘Trainwreck’ Review: Amy Schumer Shoots And Scores In Winning Romantic Comedy - Deadline

Norman Lloyd on 'Trainwreck', Hitchcock, Welles and 100 Years - Hitchcock's Vertigo


Friday, June 26, 2015

Ray Charles on St. Elsewhere

Music legend Ray Charles made a guest appearance as a blind homeless man on a fifth-season episode of St. Elsewhere.

Ever wondered what Ray Charles looked like without
his shades on?
The sixteenth episode of season five of St. Elsewhere, "Jose, Can You See?", is the "eye" episode. Dr. Jacqueline Wade (Sagan Lewis) suffers abrasions on her corneas from her new contact lenses; Dr. Elliott Axelrod (Stephen Furst), Dr. Daniel Auschlander (Norman Lloyd), and Dr. Donald Westphall (Ed Flanders) try on each other's glasses during an elevator ride; Daniel Auschlander's long lost love Margaret Ryan (Geraldine Fitzgerald) is admitted to St. Eligius with a eye-related ailment; and Dr. Carol Novino (Cindy Pickett) and Dr. Philip Chandler (Denzel Washington) clash over blind, homeless patient Arthur Tibbetts, played by music legend Ray Charles.

Arthur Tibbetts is "minding his own P's and Q's" in an alley when a pair of thugs begin harassing him. After stealing his hat, they assault him, stabbing him in the abdomen and breaking a bottle over his head. He enters St. Eligius's ER, where he is treated by Drs. Novino and Chandler.

X-rays reveal that Tibbetts is sufficiently well to be released. Novino is moved by his plight, and wants to admit Tibbetts to get him off the street for the night. Chandler, a stickler for policy, and mindful of the hospital's budget crisis, insists that the patient be released. Novino then takes it upon herself to play "musical beds" until Chandler goes over her head to Westphall.

Before he is released, Tibbetts has a nice moment in the hospital lounge with fellow patient Margaret Ryan, reminiscing about the past. Naturally, you can't have Ray Charles on your show without having him play the piano, so he performs a rendition of the Carole King classic, "You've Got a Friend".

Check out Ray Charles on St. Elsewhere:


Guest appearances by famous musicians seemed to be all the rage at the time. Three weeks after this episode aired, Frank Sinatra guest-starred as a retired cop on Magnum, P.I.. A year earlier, Frank Zappa appeared on an episode of Miami Vice as a drug lord.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

More Nudity on St. Elsewhere

In the episode "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", St. Elsewhere producers slipped a scantily-clad extra passed the network censors.

St. Elsewhere pushed the envelope on September 30, 1987 when Dr. Donald Westphall tendered his resignation by mooning his boss, Dr. John Gideon (Ronny Cox), and actor Ed Flanders bared his backside for the most flagrant display of nudity on network television to that date. But it turns out that this was not their first foray into exposed buttocks.

Thank you to a sharp-eyed anonymous commenter who spotted this cheeky detail thrown into the third season's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", originally aired November 28, 1984. At about eight and a half minutes in, Dr. Mark Craig (William Daniels) is engaged in another conflict with Assistant to the Chief of Services Joan Halloran (Nancy Stafford) when a female extra emerges from a room into the hallway.

Her hospital gown isn't quite fastened all the way, and for a few frames, her bare butt can be seen, tan lines and all:

About five minutes later, bone marrow donor Herschel Millstein (Bill Macy) is explaining to visiting specialist Dr. Christine Holtz (Caroline McWilliams) why there's such bad blood between him and his brother when the brazen blonde makes another appearance:

As the actors exit screen right, the young woman's assets are still on display:

Indeed, girls just want to have fun, sometimes by letting it all hang out.

Here are the clips:

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