Hollywood has some great character actors such as Dick Miller and John Goodman (both seen in this photo here). These are the people who are never truly recognized as leading men, but rather the faces of classic characters that stay with an audience long after a movie's success. There is one gentleman who contributed to many of your typical stock characters and gets little recognition for his work. That gentleman is Mr. Christopher Lloyd.
With little known about his personal life, most of what audiences know about Christopher Lloyd comes from the variety of characters he's played. Probably most revered for his role as Dr. Emmett Brown in Back To The Future, Lloyd has contributed to a much greater landscape in his career than just "The Doc." His first appearance was in Milos Formans' One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, where he played Taber. (Some people look like they came out of the womb fifty years old! I'm talking to you too, 22-year-old Gene Hackman!) Hardly noticeable in that role, he jumped between bit-parts in movies and TV westerns, notably playing The Calico Kid in the short-lived Best of the West (1981-82), until eventually he would land a part in the long-running sitcom Taxi (next to co-stars Danny Devito and Andy Kaufman). In Taxi, he played the outlandish ex-hippie cabbie Reverend Jim Ignatowski and also played himself playing that character in a cameo in Milo Forman's Man on the Moon, starring Jim Carrey.
But in 1984, Lloyd would play one of Star Trek's forgotten villains and a tribute to the make-up effects of the 1980s, bringing fans their first Klingon villain since the 1960s original series. But the big break that would keep the pay cheques coming until the end of time would be in 1985 with Back to the Future and his role as Dr. Emmett Brown, "a conductor of time" as Lloyd described it. The pairing of Lloyd and Robert Zemeckis would be the turning point in his career. It would be four years before the two would team up again (the only really notable role in that gap being Professor Plum in Clue), giving Lloyd the part of Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a half-cartoon, half-psychopath that would give children (like myself) nightmares for generations.
In 1989-90, Dr. Brown would return for the other two Back to the Future installments (second being the best, third being the worst). In 1991, he would team with wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan for Suburban Commando before undergoing an entire physical transformation into Uncle Fester for The Addams Family movies, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (former Coen Brothers' cinematographer). The mid-90s would also see him teamed with two famous child actors, first being premature teen heart-throb Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Angels in the Outfield, second being weirdo, pervert Macaulay Culkin in The Pagemaster. Lloyd played Mr. Dewey, aka The Pagemaster, as you can see in the cartoon image below.
Unfortunately, from there Lloyd's career would become mostly voice work on children's cartoons and video games, namely involving the Back to the Future franchise or some kind of homage or parody of such. The two most recent films and TV shows I can remember seeing him in are Piranha 3DD, playing an eccentric man of science (sound familiar?), and in a split-second cameo as one of the Santa Claus's coming to cheer up Charlie's mom in The Always Sunny in Philadelphia Christmas Special (which I imagine came through his friendship with Danny Devito, going back to Cuckoo's Nest).
Nowadays, people don't hear much out of Christopher Lloyd. He's gotten older. The talks of the potential Back to the Future sequels (starring Lloyd and Sarah Michelle-Gellar) were thankfully quashed. And in our technologically-driven society today, science is not such a mystery anymore. The role of a wild-eyed scientist seems somewhat out of place, with the exception of Piranha 3DD. But, in support of Mr. Lloyd's work, I still find myself quoting Dr. Emmett Brown from time to time, as well as urinating myself when I think of Judge Doom and those cartoon eyes. For those lasting impressions, I give props to Christopher Lloyd.
Enjoy this clip reuniting Back to the Future stars Christopher Lloyd, a man of few words, and Canada's own Michael J. Fox. Love these guys.
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