Rod Taylor

Rodney Sturt Taylor (born January 11, 1930) is an Australian-born film and television actor.

Life

Born in Lidcombe, a suburb of Sydney, Taylor was the only child of William Sturt Taylor, a steel construction contractor, and the former Mona Stewart, a writer of plays and children's books. His middle name comes from his great-great grand uncle, Captain Charles Sturt, a famous British explorer of Australia.

He attended Sydney Technical and Fine Arts College before deciding to become an actor after seeing Laurence Olivier in an Old Vic touring production in Australia. After acquiring radio and stage experience in Australia (his radio work included a stint on Blue Hills), Taylor moved to the United States in 1954, where he became a leading man in feature films of the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1955, Taylor guest starred in the third episode entitled "The Argonauts" of the first hour-long western television series, Cheyenne, an ABC program starring Clint Walker. Taylor and Edward Andrews played gold seekers Clancy and Duncan, respectively, who are best of friends until they strike it rich, only to see Native Americans release their gold dust to the wind.

In the 1960-1961 television season, Taylor starred as a foreign correspondent Glenn Evans in the ABC series Hong Kong. His principal costar was Lloyd Bochner. The program faced stiff competition on Wednesday evenings from NBC's Wagon Train.

In 1961, Taylor guest starred on Marilyn Maxwell's short-lived ABC series Bus Stop. In 1962, he starred in an episode of The DuPont Show of the Week (NBC) entitled The Ordeal of Dr. Shannon, an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel, Shannon's Way.

Equally adept at light comedy and drama, Taylor's best-known films are the film version of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine (1960) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). Other films include Sunday in New York (1963), Fate is the Hunter (1964), Young Cassidy (as the young Sean O'Casey, 1965), The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) with Doris Day, Darker Than Amber (1970), The Picture Show Man (1977), and Cry of the Innocent (1980). In 1993, Taylor hosted the documentary Time Machine: The Journey Back, directed by Clyde Lucas. At the end of the special, there was a mini-sequel, written by David Duncan, the original writer of the George Pal classic. Taylor recreated his role as George, reuniting him with Filby (Alan Young).

Married life

Married to third wife Carol Kikumura, Taylor is the father of former CNN financial reporter Felicia Taylor (born 1964), from an earlier marriage.

A life-long artist, he had homes in southern California and in Australia.

Partial filmography

TV shows

Taylor has had several lead roles in television, from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. Among his TV shows are

• The Twilight Zone (1959, CBS)
• Hong Kong with co-star Lloyd Bochner (1960, ABC)
• Bearcats! (1971, CBS)
• The Oregon Trail NBC television movie (1976)
• The Oregon Trail as Evan Thorpe, a widower taking his three children from their Illinois farm to the Pacific Northwest by way of the Oregon Trail (1977, NBC)
• Masquerade (1983)
• Outlaws (1986)

Among semi-regular appearances or multiple episodes:

• Playhouse 90
• General Electric Theater
• Walker, Texas Ranger
• Murder She Wrote
• Falcon Crest

External links

• Rod Taylor at the Internet Movie Database
• The Complete Rod Taylor site