Vermont-born actor Sam Lloyd Jr. was a television comedy staple, co-starring for eight seasons on “Scrubs” and cameoing on series ranging from “Mad About You” to “Modern Family.”
Yet before his death last week, the 56-year-old found himself in a real-life drama.
Lloyd was celebrating the birth of his son Weston (named after Lloyd’s hometown) a year ago when he complained of headaches he figured came from a new parent’s lack of sleep. A doctor, suggesting Lloyd might have a sinus problem, ordered a CT scan. That, in turn, revealed a brain tumor and discovery of cancer in the lungs, liver, jaw and spine.
Lloyd somehow stayed positive, rooting for the New England Patriots in the winter of 2019 even as a hospital nurse asked him to “cheer quieter.”
“What are they gonna do — kill me?” he told family and friends.
Former “Scrubs” producer Tim Hobert soon created a “Help Sam Lloyd Beat Cancer” GoFundMe campaign so the public could post messages and pledge money for medical expenses. Within hours, dozens of worldwide media outlets ranging from People magazine to the Paris Match had reported about the campaign’s $100,000 fundraising goal, which 3,500 fans and friends exceeded in two days.
“I am overwhelmed,” Sam posted on the page. “And I am beyond grateful to all of you.”
Lloyd responded well enough to resulting surgery, chemotherapy and radiation that he visited Vermont last summer to play the same annual Beatles tribute band gig he has for a quarter century. He then received several television roles last fall that qualified him for Screen Actors Guild health insurance and returned to New England this past winter to perform at Hartford, Connecticut’s Playhouse on Park.
Finishing in February, Lloyd was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital for brain swelling. He faced multiple emergency surgeries before slipping into a two-month coma and dying April 30.
“For 13 months Sam lived life to the fullest, treasuring every moment,” Hobert wrote on the GoFundMe page. “He saw his son, Weston, turn 1, he was able to hold his mom’s hand as she took her last breath, and as Sam always loved to say, ‘He made music along the way.’”
Lloyd’s wife Vanessa was by his bedside at the end.
“Sam left his body with his heart full of love, knowing how many people all over the world were rooting for him,” she said in a statement. “His soul never has and never will go out of existence.”
News of Lloyd’s death has sparked headlines from the New York Times to the Los Angeles Times, all noting his role as “Scrubs” character Ted Buckland and appearances on other shows as diverse as “Desperate Housewives,” “Seinfeld” and “The West Wing.”
“Rest In Peace to one of the funniest actors I’ve ever had the joy of working with,” “Scrubs” star Zach Braff tweeted. “Sam Lloyd made me crack up and break character every single time we did a scene together. He could not have been a kinder man.”
For all the “Help Sam Lloyd Beat Cancer” campaign’s reach, the first comment and contribution came from Weston, where Lloyd’s father, fellow actor turned lawmaker Sam Lloyd Sr., settled the family in 1961 after deciding to trade a gritty New York life for the Green Mountains.
Lloyd Jr. returned to his hometown’s Weston Playhouse over the years to perform with his father, who died in 2017, and his uncle Christopher Lloyd, most famous for hair-pulling antics in the “Back to the Future” movie trilogy.
“As Sam’s mom would say, we never know where the journey of life will take us,” Lloyd’s wife said in her statement. “And as Sam told me on our wedding day, quoting The Beatles, ‘in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.’”
