Rod Taylor (born Rodney Sturt Taylor on January 11, 1930) is an Australian-born film and television actor. His middle name comes from his great-great grand uncle, Captain Charles Sturt, a famous Australian explorer.

Born in Lidcombe, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, Taylor was the only child of William Sturt Taylor, a steel construction contractor, and Mona Stewart Taylor, a writer of plays and children's books.

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 '70s.

Equally adept at light comedy and drama, his best-known films are the 1963 Hitchcock classic The Birds, and the 1960 version of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. Other films include Sunday in New York (1963), Fate is the Hunter (1964), Young Cassidy (as the young Sean O'Casey, 1965), Darker Than Amber (1970), The Picture Show Man (1977), and Cry of the Innocent (1980).

Personal Life

Married three times, Taylor is the father of statuesque New York City WNBC Channel 4 anchorwoman, Felicia Taylor.

A life-long painter, he has homes in southern California, and in his native Australia.

Filmography

Taylor's film roles include:

• Welcome to Woop Woop (1998)
• Open Season (1996)
• Point of Betrayal (1995)
• Time Machine: The Journey Back (1993) Short
• Cry of the Innocent (1980)
• The Picture Show Man (1977)
• A Matter of Wife and Death (1976)
• The Train Robbers (1973)
• Trader Horn (1973)
• The Deadly Trackers (1973)
• Darker Than Amber (as Travis Magee) (1970)
• Zabriskie Point (1970)
• The High Commissioner (1969)
• Dark of the Sun (a.k.a. The Mercenaries) (1968)
• Hotel (1967)
• Chuka (1967)
• The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
• Do Not Disturb (1965)
• Young Cassidy (1965)
• The Liquidator (1965)
• 36 Hours (1965)
• Fate Is the Hunter (1964)
• The Birds (1963)
• The V.I.P.s (1963)
• Sunday in New York (1963)
• A Gathering of Eagles (1963)
• 101 Dalmatians (as Pongo) (1961)
• The Time Machine (1960)
• Ask Any Girl (1959)
• Separate Tables (1958)
• Raintree County (1957)
• Giant (1956)
• The Catered Affair (1956)
• World Without End (1956) debut

TV shows

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

• Hong Kong (1960)
• Bearcats (1971)
• The Oregon Trail (1976)
• Masquerade (1983)
• Outlaws (1986)

Among semi-regular appearances or multiple episodes:

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

External links

• The Complete Rod Taylor site [[1]]