Lloyd Bochner

The codebreaker who ended up on the menu

It's a cookbook.

Lloyd Bochner delivered that line in 1962, and television changed forever. The episode was titled To Serve Man, part of the series The Twilight Zone, and he played a cryptographer who uncovers the terrible truth about an alien race. That scene gave him a visibility his stage training in Canada could never have provided on its own.

He was born in Toronto in 1924 and began working in radio at just eleven years old. That early experience shaped a deep voice that would become his greatest professional tool. Because Bochner never needed to shout to command authority on screen. All he had to do was adjust his tie and lower his tone.

In 1951, he joined the Stratford Festival company in Ontario. There he spent years polishing Shakespeare before making the definitive leap to the United States. But movies didn't call him to play classic leading men.

His build suited the role of a businessman with secrets or a refined villain best.

The cold charm of the villain in a tuxedo

He arrived in Hollywood in the late fifties and quickly found a foothold in film noir productions. In 1967, he appeared in Point Blank. He shared scenes with Lee Marvin under John Boorman's direction, on a shoot that aimed to break the rules of the traditional thriller. He played Frederick Carter, a role that cemented his image as an elegant but dangerous type.

And betting on that type guaranteed him steady work for decades. He appeared in nearly every hit series of the era. From Bewitched to Mission: Impossible, passing through Combat! and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. His production pace was relentless, and rarely did a month pass without his face appearing in American homes.

In 1963, he starred in the series The Richard Boone Show. It was an anthology experiment in which the same actors played different characters each week. The series ran only one season, but it helped him avoid being typecast altogether.

But the big commercial breakthrough was still to come.

In 1981, he joined the cast of Dynasty to play Cecil Colby. His character was an oil tycoon locked in a fierce rivalry with Blake Carrington. The storyline of his wedding to Alexis, played by Joan Collins, ended with a heart attack on screen that classic TV fans still remember.

That fictional death was watched by more than 20 million people in its first broadcast alone.

Return to Parody and Final Years

Bochner knew his image as a serious man was excellent material for comedy. So in 1991 he agreed to appear in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear. In the film, he poked fun at his own legacy in classic science fiction. He was seen carrying a book titled To Serve Man while trying to warn a crowd that paid him no attention whatsoever.

He kept his ability to laugh at himself until the end of his career. During the nineties, he lent his voice to Mayor Hill in Batman: The Animated Series. It was a logical choice. His vocal tone conveyed exactly the mix of politics and weariness the character needed for the city of Gotham.

In 1998 he appeared in the film Legend of the Mummy. It wasn't a major production, but it kept him working in an industry that often forgets actors of his generation. His last big-screen appearance was in 2003 with The Commission, where he played a supporting role in a story about the Kennedy assassination.

He never stopped working.

He died on October 29, 2005 at his home in Santa Monica from complications of cancer. He was 81 years old and left behind a list of more than 200 credits in film and television. The funeral was a private affair with no major media coverage.