Rare Lloyd Bridges ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ Performance Unearthed

A rare performance by Lloyd Bridges on The Ed Sullivan Show has been unearthed. The clip from February 25, 1962 features the actor performing a medley of songs from Guys and Dolls, including “My Time of Day” and “I’ll Know.”

Though Bridges is most regarded for his roles on the screen, the clip highlights the actor’s lesser-known stage career. Three years prior to the Ed Sullivan performance, Bridges played the gambler Sky Masterson in a 1959 production of Guys and Dolls in New York’s Central Park. The production itself received mixed reviews but Bridges’ performance was received well by the likes of The New York Times.

Bridges got his start working in stock companies and appeared in a 1937 broadway adaptation of Othello as well as other New York productions including A Comedy of Good and Evil (1938) and Suzanna and the Elders (1940).

Bridges signed with Columbia Films in 1941 and kicked off a career in film and television. He appeared in many action movies including the 1945 World War II film A Walk in the Sun and High Noon, a 1952 Western starring Gary Cooper.

His breakout role was as Mike Nelson, the former Navy frogman who was the protagonist of Sea Hunt, an underwater adventure series that ran for 156 episodes from 1957 to 1961. After Sea Hunt, Bridges starred in The Lloyd Bridges Show and later The Loner, Joe Forrester, and Paper Dolls.

Bridges returned to Broadway in 1953, appearing in Leonard Kantor’s three-character play Dead Pigeon and replaced Barry Nelson in a 1967 production of Cactus Flower. Bridges received late-career acclaim for a role in the 1980 parody film Airplane!.

Watch more archival videos from The Ed Sullivan Show on the program’s official YouTube channel.