Heywood R. Floyd

Heywood R. Floyd

Dr. Heywood R. Floyd is a fictional character in the Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke. He first appears in 2001: A Space Odyssey as one of the astronuts on the mission to track the source of an alien artifact found on the moon. After the events that took place in 2001: A Space Odyssey, he is the protagonist of 2010: Odyssey Two and 2061: Odyssey Three. He is portrayed by William Sylvester in the first film and Roy Scheider in the second film.

Heywood Floyd was born in 1956 in the USA. By 1999, he is chairman of the National Council of Astronautics, in charge of overseeing all American spaceflight operations. He has two daughters (only one in the movies, born 1994) and was widowed when his wife Marion died in a plane crash (this is not mentioned in the movie adaptations and Marion is still alive, though never seen, during the events depicted in 2001: A Space Odyssey).