|
|
Post by ripper on Jan 9, 2015 10:01:56 GMT
Sad to hear that Australian actor Rod Taylor had passed away at the age of 84. For Vault members he is probably best remembered for his roles in The Time Machine (1960) and The Birds (1963). He also starred in a very good episode of The Twilight Zone "And when the Sky was Opened," as well as an Italian sword and sandal movie and a Bondesque spy thriller, both from the 1960s. RIP Rod.
|
|
|
|
Post by Craig Herbertson on Jan 9, 2015 12:32:31 GMT
Sad to hear that Australian actor Rod Taylor had passed away at the age of 84. For Vault members he is probably best remembered for his roles in The Time Machine (1960) and The Birds (1963). He also starred in a very good episode of The Twilight Zone "And when the Sky was Opened," as well as an Italian sword and sandal movie and a Bondesque spy thriller, both from the 1960s. RIP Rod. He was great in The Time Machine which is a brilliant film |
|
|
|
Post by pulphack on Jan 12, 2015 7:54:05 GMT
A bit forgotten in later years - his name never seems to come up much - but made some cracking movies in the sixties. Apart from those mentioned, well worth a watch are The Liquidator, in which he plays John Gardner's Boysie Oakes, the accidental war hero mistaken for a crack killer and recruited to intelligence. Taylor is great at bluster and cowardice, being really a meek soul who hires professional assassin Eric Sykes to carry out his hits. The Gardener books are well worth a read, too. And then there's Nobody Runs Forever from 1968, which as a film drags a bit, but has great performances from Taylor and Lilli Palmer - Taylor is an Aussie cop delegated to look after the Aussie High Commissioner in London who is under threat of assassination. There's some lovely intrigue involving Taylor, Palmer, and an attempt to knock off the HC during a singles match at Wimbledon. It sags in the middle, but that's no fault of the actors who are great. Must search it out as haven't seen it for years now but really remember it fondly.
Wasn't Taylor one of the first Aussie actors to really crack Hollywood (do we count Errol Flynn here?)?
|
|
|
|
Post by jamesdoig on Jan 12, 2015 8:34:15 GMT
Wasn't Taylor one of the first Aussie actors to really crack Hollywood (do we count Errol Flynn here?)? Christ, I didn't even know he WAS Australian until I saw the obituaries. Errol Flynn, of course, was a great Tasmanian. There's a terrific photo of him dancing with an aging Dulcie Deamer, Queen of Bohemia, still decked out in her leopard skin outfit. |
|
|
|
Post by mcannon on Jan 13, 2015 1:22:36 GMT
Wasn't Taylor one of the first Aussie actors to really crack Hollywood (do we count Errol Flynn here?)? Christ, I didn't even know he WAS Australian until I saw the obituaries. Errol Flynn, of course, was a great Tasmanian. There's a terrific photo of him dancing with an aging Dulcie Deamer, Queen of Bohemia, still decked out in her leopard skin outfit. While I knew that Taylor was Australian, one thing I learned from his obits was that he was related to Charles Sturt, one of the most notable of the 19th Century European explorers of Australia - there are things named after him all over the place. As well as "The Time Machine" and "The Birds", Taylor was also in one of my favourite early "Twilight Zone" episodes, "And When the Sky Was Opened"; I watched it again just a few weeks ago. He also played John McDonald’s "Travis McGee" in a 1970 film, "Darker Than Amber" - I’ve always pictured Taylor when reading one of the McGee novels. As for other early Aussie actors who cracked it in Hollywood Peter Finch may have become well-known before Taylor - I'm not sure - and Frank Thing played a few heavies around the late 1950s, such as Pontius Pilate in "Ben Hur". Mark |
|
|
|
Post by pulphack on Jan 13, 2015 5:55:09 GMT
I'd forgotten Finch was Australian! His first movies look like they were Australian, although I now know he was born in London and went to Aus at age 10 (I cheated and googled imdb). The majority of his films are Brit movies, but looking at the list he seemed to go to Hollywood at around the same time as Taylor - I suspect Rod got there first, and certainly made more US movies than Finch who was forever coming back to the UK for the likes of Sunday Bloody Sunday.
Being a Brit who watched too many movies on TV as a kid, do I dare mention the name of Chips Rafferty, who I humbly adored in The Overlanders? Like Bill Kerr, he got stuffed with archetype Aussie roles over here, but he could do the business given the chance.
|
|
|
|
Post by mcannon on Jan 13, 2015 7:03:20 GMT
I'd forgotten Finch was Australian! His first movies look like they were Australian, although I now know he was born in London and went to Aus at age 10 (I cheated and googled imdb). The majority of his films are Brit movies, but looking at the list he seemed to go to Hollywood at around the same time as Taylor - I suspect Rod got there first, and certainly made more US movies than Finch who was forever coming back to the UK for the likes of Sunday Bloody Sunday. Being a Brit who watched too many movies on TV as a kid, do I dare mention the name of Chips Rafferty, who I humbly adored in The Overlanders? Like Bill Kerr, he got stuffed with archetype Aussie roles over here, but he could do the business given the chance. Yeah, while he'd be pretty much unknown to the current generation (he died around 1971, from memory) Rafferty was something of an Australian screen icon, and his best roles, like "40,000 Horsemen", still hold up well today. He was a passionate, long-term advocate for the domestic Australian film industry, and it's a pity he didn't live to see its revival in the 1970s. He was also in "Wake in Fright", which has recently had a restored DVD reissue and revival. While it doesn't have any supernatural elements, it's a hell of a horror movie. Mark |
|
|
|
Post by jamesdoig on Jan 13, 2015 7:30:23 GMT
He was also in "Wake in Fright", which has recently had a restored DVD reissue and revival. While it doesn't have any supernatural elements, it's a hell of a horror movie. One of my favourite flicks, and surely one of Donald Pleasance's best roles. |
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jan 13, 2015 8:54:24 GMT
"Wake In Fright" is one of Nick Cave's favourites too. Back in the 'nineties he hosted a screening at the Scala Cinema in Kings Cross (the English one), first and only time I've seen the film. Was very favourably impressed. I think it is also known as "Outback"?
|
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Jan 13, 2015 9:15:44 GMT
Another good Rod Taylor film is The Mercenaries aka Dark of the Sun (1968). Like other Taylor films, it used to turn up fairly regularly on TV in the 70s and 80s, but Time Machine and The Birds apart, they don't seem to be shown like they used to.
|
|
