LOS ANGELES — Norman Lloyd, a versatile actor who played the title role in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Saboteur” and later starred on television on “St. Elsewhere” during the 1980s, died Tuesday. He was 106.

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Lloyd’s death was confirmed by his friend, producer Dean Hargrove, Variety reported.

“His third act was really the best time of his life,” Hargrove said.

Lloyd was an actor, producer and director, who was handpicked by Hitchcock to play villain Frank Fry in the 1942 movie, “Saboteur,” the Los Angeles Times reported. His character memorably fell to his death from the top of the Statue of Liberty in the film’s iconic ending, Variety reported.

On television, Lloyd was best known for his role as the kindly Dr. Daniel Auschlander on NBC’s “St. Elsewhere” from 1982 to 1988, the Times reported.

Lloyd’s character was fighting a battle with liver cancer and supposed to die in the show’s fourth episode, the newspaper reported.

“But somehow the character caught on,” Lloyd told The Associated Press in 1985. “The joke around the show is that he’s got the longest remission in history.”

Lloyd returned to the screen in 1989 as the reviled, cruel headmaster in “Dead Poet’s Society,” Entertainment Weekly reported.

Lloyd later played Dr. Isaac Mentnor on the 1998-2001 science-fiction TV series “Seven Days” and also had recurring roles on “Wiseguy” and “The Practice,” according to Entertainment Weekly.

After starring in “Saboteur,” Lloyd played character parts in 21 films over the next 10 years, including Hitchcock’s “Spellbound,” Jean Renoir’s “The Southerner,” Losey’s “M,” Charlie Chaplin’s “Limelight” and Lewis Milestone’s “A Walk in the Sun,” the Times reported.

Lloyd’s career was hampered during the 1950s when he was suspected of having communist ties, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He went to Broadway to direct the 1954 musical comedy “The Golden Apple.”

Thanks to Hitchcock’s influence, Lloyd was not blacklisted.

On television, Lloyd worked with Hitchcock, directing 19 episodes of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” from 1957 to 1962, according to the Times. From 1962 to 1965, Lloyd was executive producer for “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.”

From the 1960s until the early 1980s, Lloyd produced and directed several television series, including “Columbo.” He shared an Emmy Award in 1970 for his work in “The Name of the Game,” Variety reported.

Lloyd was born Norman Perlmutter in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Nov. 8, 1914, Entertainment Weekly reported. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Lloyd graduated from high school at 15 and dropped out of New York University as a sophomore, according to the Times.

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