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Rod Taylor
Highest Rated: 100% Hotel (1967)
Lowest Rated: 0% The V.I.P.s (1963)
Birthday: Jan 11, 1930
Birthplace: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
With a career spanning six decades, Australian actor Rod Taylor had many opportunities to prove his abilities as a performer in film, TV, theater and radio. Born in the suburban town of Lidcombe in New South Wales, Australia, Taylor had early exposure to the creative arts from his mother, a writer of more than a hundred children's stories, and his father, a construction contractor who also worked as a commercial artist. Taylor picked up his father's knack for visual design, working at Mark Foy's department store painting window displays as he studied graphic arts at East Sydney Technical and Fine Arts College. Undeniably, however, Taylor also loved acting. In his spare time he would take drama classes and participate in small-scale theatrical productions like "Julius Caesar" at the Independent Theatre in 1950 and "The Vigil" at John Alden Co. in 1951. Taylor got married around this time to a woman named Peggy Williams, though he would later remark that they were far too young at the time to create a healthy marriage. He wavered between his two crafts until he had a formative experience watching a performance of "Richard III" by none other than Sir Laurence Olivier and his touring Old Vic theatre troupe. Taylor was so inspired by the production that he made up his mind to pursue acting full time. He would continue to act on stage, but Taylor found still more success acting in radio dramas, which soon became his full time occupation. He starred in such popular radio shows as "The Dambusters," "Tarzan," "Blue Hills," Such Men are Dangerous," "No Lullaby for Lise," and many more, before he won the Rola award for his performance on "O'Sullivan's Bay" in 1954. Recently divorced from Williams, Taylor parlayed his win into a trip to Hollywood, where he set to work breaking into the mainstream film industry. He found many outlets early on, appearing on shows like "Studio 57" (DuMont, 1954-58) and in films like "World Without End" (1956) and "The Catered Affair" (1956) before his big break came in 1960, with a starring role in George Pal's adaptation of "The Time Machine" (1960). The film's success skyrocketed Taylor's fame to a new level, and he would appear in several more prominent movies from that period, including "The Birds" (1963). The iconic Hitchcock thriller would come on the heels of Taylor's second marriage to Mary Hilem, with whom he would give birth to a daughter, Felicia, in 1964. While this marriage would also end in divorce, in 1969, Taylor's career remained successful, with roles in landmark films and TV shows like "Zabriskie Point" (1970), and the series "Bearcats!" (CBS, 1971). He would be married again in 1980 to Carol Kikumura, a woman Taylor had dated back in the early '60s before she relocated to Las Vegas. After rekindling their relationship, he and Kikumura's union would last for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, Taylor found ongoing success throughout the '80s on the shows "Masquerade" (ABC, 1983-84) and "Falcon Crest" (CBS, 1981-89). The '90s found Taylor acting in movies like "Open Season" (1995) and on shows like "Walker, Texas Ranger" (CBS, 1993-2001) and "Murder, She Wrote" (CBS, 1984-1995). His last appearance on screen was as the great Winston Churchill in the explosively popular Quentin Tarantino film "Inglorious Basterds" (2009). Taylor died in Los Angeles on January 7, 2015. He was 84 years old.
Photos
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches | Unknown (Character) | - | 2018 |
89% |
|
Inglourious Basterds | Winston Churchill (Character) | $120.5M | 2009 |
No Score Yet |
|
Kaw | Doc (Character) | - | 2007 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | High Commissioner | Unknown (Character) | - | 2004 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy | General Sorenson (Character) | - | 1998 |
37% |
|
Welcome to Woop Woop | Daddy O (Character) | $35.5K | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Point of Betrayal | Ted Kitteridge (Character) | - | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Open Season | Billy Patrick (Character) | $5.2K | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Palomino | Bill King (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Outlaws | Sheriff Jonathan Grail (Character) | - | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hot Spot | Commander (Character) | - | 1985 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | A Time to Die | Jack Bailey (Character) | - | 1983 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Vortex | Christopher Tauling (Character) | - | 1982 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story | Edward Adeane (Character) | - | 1982 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy | "Black Jack" Bouvier (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hellinger's Law | Judge Carroll (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | On the Run | Mr. Payatta (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet |
|
Cry of the Innocent | Steve Donegin (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Jamaican Gold | Marian Casey (Character) | - | 1979 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Picture Show Man | Palmer (Character) | - | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Oregon Trail | Evan Thorpe (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | A Matter of Wife... and Death | Shamus McCoy (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hell River | Marko (Character) | - | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Treasure Seekers | Marian Casey (Character) | - | 1974 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Deadly Trackers | Frank Brand (Character) | - | 1973 |
33% |
|
The Train Robbers | Grady (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Trader Horn | Trader Horn (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Heroes | Bob Robson (Character) | - | 1972 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Family Flight | Jason Carlyle (Character) | - | 1972 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Powderkeg | Hank Brackett (Character) | - | 1971 |
64% |
|
Zabriskie Point | Lee Allen (Character) | - | 1970 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bearcats | Hank Brackett (Character) | - | 1970 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Man Who Had Power Over Women | Peter Reaney (Character) | - | 1970 |
No Score Yet |
|
Darker Than Amber | Travis McGee (Character) | - | 1970 |
67% |
|
Dark of the Sun | Curry (Character) | - | 1968 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Hell With Heroes | Brynie MacKay (Character) | - | 1968 |
No Score Yet |
|
Nobody Runs Forever | Scobie Malone (Character) | - | 1968 |
No Score Yet |
|
Chuka |
Chuka (Character), Producer |
- | 1967 |
100% |
|
Hotel | Peter McDermott (Character) | - | 1967 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Liquidator | Boysie Oakes (Character) | - | 1966 |
57% |
|
The Glass Bottom Boat | Bruce Templeton (Character) | - | 1966 |
No Score Yet |
|
Young Cassidy | John Cassidy (Character) | - | 1965 |
No Score Yet |
|
Do Not Disturb | Mike Harper (Character) | - | 1965 |
83% |
|
36 Hours | Major Walter Gerber (Character) | - | 1964 |
40% |
|
Fate Is the Hunter | Capt. Jack Savage (Character) | - | 1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Seven Seas to Calais | Sir Francis Drake (Character) | - | 1963 |
No Score Yet |
|
A Gathering of Eagles | Col. Hollis Farr (Character) | - | 1963 |
100% |
|
Sunday in New York | Mike Mitchell (Character) | - | 1963 |
0% |
|
The V.I.P.s | Les Mangrum (Character) | - | 1963 |
94% |
|
The Birds | Mitch Brenner (Character) | - | 1963 |
98% |
|
One Hundred and One Dalmatians | Pongo (Voice) | $91.3M | 1961 |
No Score Yet |
|
Colossus and the Amazon Queen | Pirro (Character) | - | 1960 |
76% |
|
The Time Machine | George (H. G. Wells) (Character) | - | 1960 |
No Score Yet |
|
Ask Any Girl | Ross Tayford (Character) | - | 1959 |
67% |
|
Separate Tables | Charles (Character) | - | 1958 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Step Down to Terror | Mike Randall (Character) | - | 1958 |
10% |
|
Raintree County | Garwood B. Jones (Character) | - | 1957 |
40% |
|
World Without End | Herbert Ellis (Character) | - | 1956 |
88% |
|
Giant | Sir David Karfrey (Character) | $183.9K | 1956 |
17% |
|
The Catered Affair | Ralph Halloran (Character) | - | 1956 |
No Score Yet |
|
Top Gun | Lem Sutter (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Virgin Queen | Cpl. Gwilym (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | King of the Coral Sea | Jack Janierno (Character) | - | 1953 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Walker, Texas Ranger | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1996-1997 |
No Score Yet | 89% | Murder, She Wrote | Tom Dempsey (Guest Star) | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Falcon Crest | Frank Agretti (Character) | 1981-1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Masquerade | Mr. Lavender (Character) | 1983-1984 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tales of the Unexpected | Paul Duveen (Character) | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bus Stop | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1961 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Zane Grey Theatre | Unknown (Character) | 1960 |
92% | 96% | The Twilight Zone | Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes (Character) | 1959 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cheyenne | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1955 |