Lloyd Nolan

Nolan's obituary in the Los Angeles Times contained the evaluation, "Nolan was to both critics and audiences the veteran actor who works often and well regardless of his material." A number of Nolan's films were light entertainment with an emphasis on action. His most famous include: Atlantic Adventure; costarring Nancy Carroll; Ebb Tide; Wells Fargo; ''Every Day's a Holiday, starring Mae West; and Bataan'' starring Robert Taylor. Nolan also contributed solid and key character parts in numerous other films. In Johnny Apollo (1940) he was a charismatic but finally self-serving and murderous gang boss. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, with Dorothy McGuire and James Dunn, he played a lonely beat policeman. In later years he gave a notable performance as a straight talking doctor who ultimately rails against small-town hypocrisy in the 1957 film Peyton Place with Lana Turner. ==Television==

Later in Nolan's career, he returned to the stage and appeared on television to great acclaim in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, for which he received a 1955 Emmy award for portraying Captain Queeg, Nolan co-starred from 1968 to 1971 in the pioneering NBC series Julia, with Diahann Carroll, who was the first African American woman to star in a non-servant role in her own television series. In his later years, Nolan appeared in commercials for Polident. == Personal life ==

Nolan married Mell Efrid in 1933. They had a daughter Melinda who gave them two grandchildren, and a son Jay. The couple remained married for 48 years until Efrid's death in 1981. In 1983, Nolan married Virginia Dabney, with whom he remained until his death. Nolan’s son Jay Nolan had autism and was institutionalized at a private institution at age 13. He died at age 26 from choking while eating. When Lloyd Nolan went public in 1972 about his son's autism, it was revealed that Jay was one of the first children in the United States to be diagnosed with the condition. In 1973, Nolan testified to Congress urging that autism be recognized as a developmental disability. Nolan is credited with having convinced Ronald Reagan to sign California's bill mandating education be provided to children with autism. Nolan founded the Jay Nolan Autistic Center (now known as Jay Nolan Community Services) in honor of his son, and was chairman of the annual Save Autistic Children Telethon. In 1964, Nolan spoke at the "Project Prayer" rally attended by 2,500 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The gathering, which was hosted by Anthony Eisley, a star of ABC's Hawaiian Eye series, sought to flood the United States Congress with letters in support of mandatory school prayer, following two decisions in 1962 and 1963 of the United States Supreme Court which struck down mandatory school prayer as conflicting with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Joining Nolan and Eisley at the rally were Walter Brennan, Rhonda Fleming, Dale Evans, Pat Boone, and Gloria Swanson. At the rally, Nolan asked, "Do we permit ourselves to be turned into a godless people, or do we preserve America as one nation under God?" Eisley and Fleming added that John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Roy Rogers, Mary Pickford, Jane Russell, Ginger Rogers, and Pat Buttram would also have attended the rally had their schedules not been in conflict. Nolan appeared alongside Ronald Reagan during the 1976 New Hampshire presidential primary in which he nearly scored an upset against President Gerald Ford. he was 83. He is interred at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. ==Filmography==

Film Television ==Radio appearances==