Sam Lloyd

Lloyd's screen career stretched across more than two decades, and it's the kind of résumé that rewards a close look. His film work includes a role in Galaxy Quest (1999), the beloved sci-fi comedy that has quietly aged into one of the genre's most affectionate send-ups, and The Brothers Solomon (2007) (Rotten Tomatoes). But television is where Lloyd really lived. The role that defined him — Ted Buckland on Scrubs — arrived in 2001 and ran through 2009, totaling 95 episodes (Scrubs Wiki). Ted wasn't a lead, wasn't even a major supporting character in the traditional sense, but Lloyd made him unforgettable: a lawyer so thoroughly beaten down by life that even his posture seemed apologetic. There's a recurring bit where Ted attempts to assert himself and immediately retreats that Lloyd played with such precise, pained timing that it stopped being a gag and started being something closer to character study. The Blanks, his real-life a cappella group, performed on the show as "The Worthless Peons" — Ted's band — which meant Lloyd's musical life and his acting life were genuinely, unusually fused. Beyond Scrubs, Lloyd built out a strong guest-star record. His appearance on Seinfeld as a man obsessed with TV Guide, his recurring role as therapist Dr. Albert Goldfine on Desperate Housewives, and his two joint appearances with uncle Christopher Lloyd — on Malcolm in the Middle (as a housing lawyer) and The West Wing (requesting White House UFO disclosures, of all things) — showed a performer who could slot into wildly different tonal registers without losing his footing (Wikipedia). He also played bass in The Butties, a Beatles tribute band. Not a household name, maybe. But the kind of actor other actors notice.