Harold Lloyd’s Explosive Photo Shoot
American actor, comedian, and stunt performer Harold Lloyd had numerous appearances in silent comedies. Between 1914 and 1947, Lloyd, one of the most important silent film comedians, produced approximately 200 comedic pictures, both silent and "talkies." His bespectacled "Glass" figure was a resourceful, aspirational go-getter who embodied the American spirit of the 1920s.
History has demonstrated that when safety procedures are not properly observed, risky antics can become fatal. Just consider Brandon Lee's unfortunate situation on the Crow set. A marketing stunt gone bad caused silent cinema star Harold Lloyd to suffer a catastrophic injury years earlier.
He worked hard to launch his career before becoming a silent film legend. He was taking some advertising shots in 1919. There was a crate of props in the studio that contained prop bombs. Nobody discovered that some of those bombs weren't fakes but rather items that were dumped from an earlier movie because they were too dangerous. In essence, they were fake bombs that someone had made. One of the bombs was delivered to Lloyd for his photographs. He held it for photographs after lighting it with his own cigarette. When it burst, it blew off the middle of his right hand.
