LOS ANGELES — Archives immortalizing silent-film comedian Harold Lloyd in more than 3,000 photographs and 85 scrapbooks have been donated to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.
The collection includes pictures and papers documenting Lloyd's life and more than 200 films. The items include family portraits, photos of Lloyd with other celebrities including Babe Ruth and Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and shots from almost all his feature films.
"Memorabilia like this from the silent era are extremely rare and utterly crucial to the record of Hollywood's history," said Robert Cushman, photo curator of the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library.
The items, donated by Lloyd's granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd, were in good condition, he added.
Lloyd, who was born in Nebraska in 1893 and died in Beverly Hills in 1971, was a founding member of the Motion Picture Academy, which presents the annual Oscar ceremony.
Although his work has been overshadowed by his flamboyant contemporary Charlie Chaplin, Lloyd was also a comedic innovator during the silent era who specialized in "thrill gags."
With his gaunt features and thick glasses, Lloyd usually played goodhearted, mischievous characters who would slide down ladders, jump onto moving cars or dangle from the hands of a clock tower (in the 1923 film "Safety Last").
Other films included more than 60 "Lonesome Luke" comedies between 1915 and 1917, 1918's "Two-Gun Gussie," 1921's "A Sailor-Made Man" and 1924's "Girl Shy."
Although he continued to work in talking motion pictures, the bulk of his career was spent in silent films. He drifted out of filmmaking, but worked as a producer on a handful of films through the 1960s.