Lloyd Benedict Nolan (August 11, 1902 â€" September 27, 1985) was an
American film and television actor. Among his many roles, Nolan is
remembered for originating the role of private investigator Michael
Shayne in a series of 1940s B movies.Nolan was born in San Francisco,
California, the youngest of three children of Margaret, who was of
Irish descent, and James Nolan, an Irish immigrant who was a shoe
manufacturer. He attended Santa Clara Preparatory School and Stanford
University, flunking out of Stanford as a freshman "because I never
got around to attending any other class but dramatics." His parents
disapproved of his choice of a career in acting, preferring that he
join his father's shoe business, "one of the most solvent commercial
firms in San Francisco."Nolan served in the United States Merchant
Marine before joining the Dennis Players theatrical troupe in Cape
Cod. He began his career on stage and was subsequently lured to
Hollywood, where he played mainly doctors, private detectives, and
policemen in many film roles.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."
Although Nolan's acting was often praised by critics, he was, for the
most part, relegated to B pictures. Despite this, Nolan co-starred
with a number of well-known actresses, among them Mae West, Dorothy
McGuire, and former Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Gladys Swarthout.
Under contract to Paramount and 20th Century Fox studios, he essayed
starring roles in the late '30s and early-to-mid '40s and appeared as
the title character in the Michael Shayne detective series. Raymond
Chandler's novel The High Window was adapted from a Philip Marlowe
adventure for the seventh film in the Michael Shayne series, Time to
Kill (1942); the film was remade five years later as The Brasher
Doubloon, truer to Chandler's original story, with George Montgomery
as Marlowe.
American film and television actor. Among his many roles, Nolan is
remembered for originating the role of private investigator Michael
Shayne in a series of 1940s B movies.Nolan was born in San Francisco,
California, the youngest of three children of Margaret, who was of
Irish descent, and James Nolan, an Irish immigrant who was a shoe
manufacturer. He attended Santa Clara Preparatory School and Stanford
University, flunking out of Stanford as a freshman "because I never
got around to attending any other class but dramatics." His parents
disapproved of his choice of a career in acting, preferring that he
join his father's shoe business, "one of the most solvent commercial
firms in San Francisco."Nolan served in the United States Merchant
Marine before joining the Dennis Players theatrical troupe in Cape
Cod. He began his career on stage and was subsequently lured to
Hollywood, where he played mainly doctors, private detectives, and
policemen in many film roles.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."
Although Nolan's acting was often praised by critics, he was, for the
most part, relegated to B pictures. Despite this, Nolan co-starred
with a number of well-known actresses, among them Mae West, Dorothy
McGuire, and former Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Gladys Swarthout.
Under contract to Paramount and 20th Century Fox studios, he essayed
starring roles in the late '30s and early-to-mid '40s and appeared as
the title character in the Michael Shayne detective series. Raymond
Chandler's novel The High Window was adapted from a Philip Marlowe
adventure for the seventh film in the Michael Shayne series, Time to
Kill (1942); the film was remade five years later as The Brasher
Doubloon, truer to Chandler's original story, with George Montgomery
as Marlowe.
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