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ROD TAYLOR, THE suave Australian actor whose brawny good looks made him a leading man for films ranging from Westerns and romantic comedies to thrillers like Hitchcock’s The Birds, has died. He was 84.
Taylor died in Los Angeles on Wednesday, his daughter, Felicia Taylor, told the Los Angeles Times.
Taylor’s breakthrough came in 1960 with “The Time Machine,” George Pal’s special effects marvel in which Taylor’s dogged British inventor transports himself into a future where he witnesses world wars, nuclear annihilation and, finally, the rise of a new society.
From there, his career went on to blossom in Westerns (“The Train Robbers” with John Wayne), thrillers (Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”), dramas (John Ford’s “Young Cassidy”) and romantic comedies (“Sunday in New York” with Jane Fonda and “Do Not Disturb” and “The Glass Bottom Boat” with Doris Day).
A curiosity was the 1970 “Zabriskie Point,” Italian Michelangelo Antonioni’s venture into American filming. A murky attack on American mendacity that was filmed largely in Death Valley, it was a failure.
As his film career began to wind down, Taylor turned to television, where such series as “Hong Kong,” ”Bobcats,” ”The Oregon Trail,” ”Masquerade” and “Outlaws” won him a new audience, although most of his shows lasted no more than a season. He also appeared in “Falcon Crest” toward the end of its run in the late ’80s and voiced Pongo in Disney’s “101 Dalmatians.
He began to produce and co-produce his later films and TV series, carefully investing the earnings in safe securities that ensured a comfortable retirement.
Later in life, Quentin Tarantino convinced Taylor to come out of retirement to play Winston Churchill in “Inglorious Basterds.”
Taylor was a pioneer of the Australian-New Zealand invasion of Hollywood that would come to include actors Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Nicole Kidman (born in Hawaii to Australian parents), Geoffrey Rush and Russell Crowe and directors Bruce Berenson, Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford, Baz Luhrman, Rob Marshall and Peter Jackson.
Taylor toiled to lose his Aussie accent, substituting it with a middle-Atlantic one that allowed him to play either American or English roles. In his early roles he was known as Rodney Taylor.
He had made two films in his native Australia. The second, “Long John Silver,” attracted the notice of the giant US talent agency MCA, which summoned him to Hollywood in 1955.
“They thought they were going to get a look at the Australian Marlon Brando,” he commented in 1970. “Well, here was this tough boy in his too-tight English tweeds.”
The agency turned Taylor down, and he hired an independent agent who found him secondary roles in important films.
He played Debbie Reynolds’ fiance in “The Catered Affair,” Elizabeth Taylor’s failed suitor in “Giant,” and Eva Marie Saint’s would-be lover in “Raintree County,” and had brief roles in “Separate Tables” and “Ask Any Girl.”
As his star rose, Taylor earned a reputation as something of a Hollywood hellion, a hard-drinking, womanizing, combative man who enjoyed giving outspoken interviews punctuated with four-letter words.
Born in Sydney, Australia, he first sought a career as an artist before trying his hand at acting in small theatrical productions, which led to movie offers.
“I started out as a beatnik,” he explained in 1977. “I was a painter and a sculptor … I was a commercial illustrator in Australia for a while. I’m serious about my work.”
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That man was a true legend. A real movie star who ate up the screen. Made a number of movies in Ireland and was never less than a real talent. Never really hit the heights but he was still cool enough to do a turn for Tarantino in Inglorious B*stards a couple of years ago. Could have watched him in anything.
I’d say the time machine would be one of his best performances when he has to face the morlocks. When I was a child they frightened the life out of me and gave me terrible nightmares. I look at the film now and laugh at how badly they look.
I had nightmares for years about the Morlocks.
‘The Time Machine’ was my own favourite.
Remember when He was on the late late show with Oliver Reed, & Gay Byrne goaded the two of them into arm wrestling on the studio floor….??
ps. Rod Taylor won.
The Late Late was mighty back then …. most of the guests were piddled !
Yeah, – like the night Oliver Reed was trying to get the leg over Susan George.
Thanks for the memories. And he was sooooo handsome to boot.
Morlocks!
Was great in the movie ‘Hotel’ as well..and in the ‘VIP’s'… old school actor who did it as it should be done.
He opened waterford city shopping centre with gay Byrne in the mid to late 70′s…remember thinking as a child ooh that’s the guy from bobcats which was shown on rte.obviously shooting one of his irish movies at the time.loved him in time machine another where he played a mercinary fighting in the Belgian Congo.
The Mercenaries, that and the Time Machine were his best movies
Great movie.
I used to love watching him in “Bearcats” years ago, what a show.
For me ” The Birds” from his movies and “Bearcats ” from his tv series.
A great old-style actor who never quite achieved the success and accolades he deserved. The Time Machine is one of my favourite films head and shoulders above the more recent remake.
The Time Machine is a movie ill always watch when its on telly, he was excellent in it. Don’t know why that descendant of H.G Wells had such a problem with it, probably more loyal to the book than his noughties version was
Sad news
Birds is it ?
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