Back to the Future still gratifying for Lloyd

If Albert Einstein had lived long enough, he might have invented the flux capacitor - a fact that wasn't lost on Christopher Lloyd.

The Back to the Future actor recalls that Einstein was a key inspiration for "Doc" Brown, the scientist who invented time travel via a souped-up DeLorean in the 1985 film. But another came from looking at an album cover of Philadelphia orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski, who was shown in front of the cosmos with his arms raised and sporting a great white shock of hair.

"I talked to (director) Bob Zemeckis about it, and he said do it," Lloyd said. "So I did it."

Lloyd, now 70, said he's proud that Back to the Future has had a lasting effect on people, and enjoys the children's movies he's focused on recently.

The actor, who is in Montana to promote his new film, has been doing voices in animated flicks like The Tale of Despereaux and live-action movies aimed at younger audiences, including Call of the Wild 3D.

He said such movies can really impact children - although it's easy to miss the serious roles he occasionally played in earlier work like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead.

"There is always the yearning, as with many actors - especially actors who are known for doing comic roles - to be a tragedian, you know, get up there and be Hamlet or King Lear," Lloyd said.

"But I like doing these. And it is very gratifying, especially in the Back to the Future series, because it seems to have the same attraction to young people as when it first came out."