Rod Taylor
Rod Taylor
Rodney Sturt "Rod" Taylorwas an Australian actor of film and television. He appeared in over 50 films, including roles in The Time Machine, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Seven Seas to Calais, The Birds, Sunday in New York, Young Cassidy, Dark of the Sun, The Liquidator, Darker Than Amber, The Train Robbers, and Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds as Winston Churchill, which was his final film appearance...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth11 January 1930
CountryAustralia
Art doesn't feed me or fill the void when I am not working. If I haven't worked for six months, I can't paint.
Anyway, when I was a kid, I dutifully went to the Sydney Technical and Fine Arts College.
I am a poor student sitting at the feet of giants, yearning for their wisdom and begging for lessons that might one day make me a complete artist, so that if all goes well, I may one day sit beside them.
The most important thing in my life is my work.
So I went and did an audition and became the biggest radio actor in Sydney, and that's how it all started.
I'd much rather turn down a starring role in a bad picture and do a small role in a very good picture.
Dore Schary was then head of the studio and he wanted to change my name.
I was one of the first of the uglies. Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter... were very pretty fellows, and that was the trend. I was one of the first of the uglies to get lucky.
When I said I no longer wanted to be a painter, that I wanted to be an actor, the first thing I did was get a stinking job in an insurance building.
When people think it's successful, I'm grateful. When they don't - OK, I'll try again.
I married at a tender age during my early stage and radio struggles.
I pray and try every day to be a better actor.
I did well as an actor in Australia, and then Paramount invited me over... to have a look at me.
But I did a lot of boxing and I was captain of an Australian surf club.