"Every role I get is always a challenge. I can read a script and say, 'Oh, I can do that!' and then when I start working on it, I suddenly realize that I had no idea what I was getting into. Then I have to really work hard!"
Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938 in Stamford, Connecticut) is an American character actor. From Reverend Jim to a Star Trek villain, there's really nothing outside of his range.
He's best-known for playing zany characters or eccentrics (to his chagrin), most notably the crackpot Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the Back to the Future franchise. Among his other theatrical roles are Uncle Fester in the the live-action Addams Family movies and the nefarious Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Most of Lloyd's recent roles have been guest appearances or supporting roles, most likely due to his age.
In sharp contrast to his on-screen characters, the real-life Lloyd is a laconic man who rarely gives interviews.
He is not to be confused with an Executive Producer on Frasier and Modern Family with the same name, but the producer once expressed a desire to meet him to hand over misdirected fan mail.
Roles of Note
- Max Taber, one of the psychiatric patients in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. His first film role, appearing alongside Jack Nicholson and future Taxi costar Danny DeVito.
- "Reverend" Jim Ignatowski in Taxi.
- Deputy Towfield in Goin' South, where he teams up with John Belushi, Ed Begley Jr., Danny Devito and Jack Nicholson.
- Arrogant Insufferable Genius artist Phillip Semenko in the second-season finale of Cheers, "I'll Be Seeing You", Part 1 and Part 2.
- Dr. Emmett Lathrop "Doc" Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy.
- He reprised this role for the 1991 ride, the 1991-1993 animated series (appearing during the live-action educational segments that bookend each episode; the animated portions had Dan Castellaneta filling the role), and the 2010 video game.
- In 2006, he reprised the role for a DirectTV commercial
, as part of a series of ads featuring characters from classic films. - In 2011, he played the character once again for a series of TV commercials for, of all things, an electronics store in Argentina.
- From 2012-2013, he voiced Doc in three Robot Chicken sketches.
- In 2014, he reprised the role once again in Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West, hiding the DeLorean in a barn.
- He reprised the role yet again in the 2015 video game LEGO Dimensions.
- He reprised his role (along with Michael J. Fox as Marty) in a brief 30th anniversary sketch on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
- He was once again the Doc in the 30th anniversary Blu-ray exclusive short "Doc Brown Saves The World", explaining why the real 2015 was drastically different from the 2015 of Back To The Future Part II.
- When October 21, 2015 actually arrived, he reprised his role in a "special message" on YouTube to mark the occasion.
- Merlock in DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp.
- Professor Plum in the film adaptation of Clue.
- Uncle Fester in The Addams Family theatrical films.
- Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
- Drew Blanc blurred the lines between cartoon and reality in the video game Toonstruck.
- Jimmy the Gentleman Thief in Twenty Bucks.
- Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. (His premier theatrical role, a case of Playing Against Type going incredibly right.)
- Henry Sikorsky in The Dream Team, co-starring Michael Keaton and Peter Boyle.
- Dennis Van Welker in Camp Nowhere.
- The Jackal in Deadly Games.
- Sam Howard in a made-for TV adaptation of The Ransom of Red Chief, co-starring Michael Jeter as Bill Driscoll.
- The White Knight in Alice In Wonderland
- Rasputin in the Don Bluth animated film Anastasia.
- The Hacker in Cyberchase, a role spanning 130+ episodes over 20 years.
- Al the head angel in Angels in the Outfield.
- The eponymous Martian in the remake of My Favorite Martian
- Dr. Cletus Poffenberger, the creator of Mixmaster and something of a Doc Brown Expy, in Tremors: The Series
- As Charlie, is subject to Hulk Hogan's extraterrestrial antics in Suburban Commando.
- Uncle Fred in When Good Ghouls Go Bad
- Smitty, the retiring groundskeeper in the King of the Hill episode "Care-Takin' Care of Business".
- The Woodsman in Over the Garden Wall
- The Old, narrator King Graham in King's Quest.*
- Master Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts III: Re𝄌Mind and Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory*
- Retired FBI agent David Mansell in Nobody.
- Train Conductor in Next Stop, Christmas.
Minor parts
- The psychologist that leads Sarah to admit her love for Chuck in Chuck.
- The mortician in Hey Arnold! The Movie
- John Bigbooté in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
- An uncredited Jesse James in the 1977 French western Another Man, Another Chance.
- Legendary Comic artist Ross Moore in NUMB3RS episode "Graphic".
- Mr. Goodman, the marine biologist in Piranha 3D
- The gangster Pieces in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead.
- Professor B.O. Beanes in the Amazing Stories episode "Go to the Head of the Class."
- Portrays aged rock-legend and personal hero of Walter, Roscoe Joyce, of the semi-fictional band Violet Sedan Chair in an episode of Fringe.
- Lero Sombrero in The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure.
- Grandpa Montgomery in The Haunting Hour episode "Grampires".
- Walter, the titular character's paternal grandfather in Malcolm in the Middle.
- Willie B in Flakes.
- A Back-Alley Doctor visited by Johnny in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.
- Milton in Going in Style
- Horus in Dead Before Dawn.
- Constitutional scholar Lawrence Lessig in The West Wing.
- A Psychopathic Willy Wonka, of all things, in the "Funny or Die" short, "Gobstopper"; a horror parody of the cult-classic Gene Wilder film.
- A young, pre-stardom Lloyd guest-starred on two different episodes of Barney Miller, "The Harris Incident" and "Open House".
- He played a live action version of Rick (Rick C-1.21) from Rick and Morty for an Adult Swim trailer.
- Commissioner Helgait, the traitorous former Separatist security chief of Plazir 15 in The Mandalorian: Chapter 22.
- Played Buford in Tankhouse.
Tropes related to his roles
- Funny Character, Boring Actor: His characters tend to be larger than life. Anyone who's worked with him comes away saying that he's a pretty quiet, shy, unassuming man.Thomas F. Wilson: "What's Christopher Lloyd like?" Kinda quiet.
- Guttural Growler: His iconic voice is quite raspy and deep.
- Money, Dear Boy: Got a lot less selective in picking roles after a fire destroyed his home in 2008.
- Mr. Exposition: One of his greatest talents as an actor is his ability to go into long tangents of pure exposition without the audience losing interest.
- Playing Against Type:
- As Judge Doom in particular. Who Framed Roger Rabbit remains one of the few movies where he plays a truly evil and ruthless villain, although this was made around the same time as most of those other films.
- Master Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts counts too, as he's an anti-villain who uses people for his own means and stops at nothing to try to meet his goal of controlling the Darkness.
- Commander Kruge is also quite as far removed from Doc Brown as you can get.
- What Could Have Been:
- He was the first choice for the role of the Master in Doctor Who: The Movie before Eric Roberts was cast. However, he was turned down due to the fact that he was considered "too expensive". Ironically, Roberts turned out to be even more expensive to hire than him.
- He was the runner-up for the part of J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy before the casting of J.K. Simmons.
- He had discussions for the role of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs before Anthony Hopkins was cast.
- Younger Than They Look: It wasn't until he started getting into his 70's that he actually looked his age, always seeming to be 10-20 years older. The 1985 Doc Brown originally had extensive old age make-up that was frankly barely noticeable.
