Safety Last provided one of Lloyd's iconic images

Sony Pictures has bought the rights to nearly his entire body of work and plans to release them in US cinemas.

Fresh prints of The Freshman and Safety Last are among those due for re-release next year.

Lloyd began his film career in the 1910s acting in short movies before progressing to feature length films and then talkies.

Lloyd, well known for his bespectacled Glass Character role , was a contemporary of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in a career which spanned 35 years. Dangling

He performed in more than 200 films before his death from cancer in 1971 at the age of 77.

An image of him dangling from a clocktower from the film Safety Last has become an icon of the era.

Among his other characters were Willie Work and Lonesome Luke, although Glass Character was his most prolific on screen persona.

Sony's deal includes nearly all of Lloyd's back catalogue including short films, silents and talkies.

It also includes Welcome, Danger, which was originally shot as silent movie but later released with sound.