Lloyd Bridges was an American actor born in 1913 in San Leandro California. His career in acting started on Broadway where for a short period he was a minor actor in several plays. However, his first serious foray into film came when he started as a contract actor for Colombia Pictures. These roles consisted of a series of B-movies and side characters that did not amount to a good paycheck. In 1942 he left the company to enlist in the Coast Guard where he would continue to serve in the reserves even after the war.
Finally back from enlistment Bridges got his first leading role in the Universal film, Secret Agent X-9. He slowly was able to work his way up in film until 1950 when he was blacklisted by the House of Un-American Activities Committee for a brief time. They forced him to admit to being involved with the Actor's Laboratory Theatre which had alleged communist ties. However, he eventually flipped and began cooperating with the committee earning him a favorable position in Hollywood.
In his post-blacklist career Bridges was able to start staring in syndicated TV shows. One of these shows was Sea Hunt in which he played the main character, Mike Nelson. Sea Hunt cemented his commercial success as an actor and was pivotal in getting him back onto television screens around America. Later in the '80s and early '90s, he was able to switch to hugely popular comedy films such as Airplane which demonstrated the versatility and quality of acting. He died at the age of 85 after a very successful career.
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