Lloyd Hamilton

Who was Lloyd Hamilton?

Lloyd Vernon Hamilton was a major silent film comedian. Hamilton is best remembered as the stocky half of silent comedy's "Ham and Bud", and later, his own series of short comedies. Hamilton's skill was admired by his fellow comedians, thus contributing to his reputation as a comedian's comedian—according to Oscar Levant, Charlie Chaplin singled him out as the one actor of whom he was jealous, Buster Keaton in an interview praised him as "one of the funniest men in pictures," while Charley Chase, who early in his career had directed Hamilton in a number of short subjects, stated that he would often ask himself "how would 'Ham' Hamilton play this?" before shooting a scene.

In his solo comedies, the husky Hamilton adopted the persona of a slightly prissy, overgrown boy, and his films often have surreal touches: in The Movies he tearfully bids goodbye to his mother to go to the city, turns his back on the family farm, and steps directly into the city which is right next door. In Move Along he neatly lays his trousers in the street, to have a steamroller press them. Few of Hamilton's silent comedies survive; they were produced by Educational Pictures, which suffered a laboratory fire in 1937. Those of Hamilton's films that do exist are often prized by comedy collectors and silent-film enthusiasts.