RoddyMcDowall1
From RoyalWeb
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He was placed under contract with Twentieth Century Fox, later moved to MGM. His schooling took place on the Fox lot, though he graduated at University High School in West Los Angeles in 1947. | He was placed under contract with Twentieth Century Fox, later moved to MGM. His schooling took place on the Fox lot, though he graduated at University High School in West Los Angeles in 1947. | ||
| − | The young actor proved popular in films with animals, notable "My Friend Flicka" and "Lassie Come Home." Among | + | The young actor proved popular in films with animals, notable "My Friend Flicka" and "Lassie Come Home." Among his other features as a child: "Son of Fury," "The Pied Piper," "The White Cliffs of Dover," "The Keys of the Kingdom." He also appeared as Malcolm in Orson Welles' "MacBeth." |
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| + | McDowall spent most of the 1950s in New York, making his Broadway debut in 1953 in "Misalliance." His film career enjoyed a rebirth in the 1960s notably in three epics: "Cleopatra" (as Octavian Caesar), "The Longest Day" (as a soldier), "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (as Matthew). He also spent a year on Broadway in the musical "Camelot." | ||
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| + | "I still have the actor's disease," he admitted at the time. "I always think I'll never get another job." | ||
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| + | Despite his fears, McDowall remained one of the busiest actors in films and television. His most successul film was the 1968 "Planet of the Apes," and he appeared in the ape makeup in three sequels. | ||
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| + | Among his other films: "Inside Daisy Clover," "Midas Run," "Five Card Stud," "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean," "The Poseidon Adventure," "Funny Lady," "Only the Lonely." | ||
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| + | He also became a favorite in horror films such as "Cult of the Damned," "The Legend of Hell House," "Fright Night," and "It!" | ||
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| + | In the 1980s and '90s, he worked mostly in television dramas. Among them: "The Thief of Baghdad," "The Martian Chronicles," "Alice in Wonderland," "Hollywood Wives," "Around the World in 80 Days." | ||
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| + | McDowall, who never married, was an accomplished photographer who produced five coffee-table books, starting with "Double Exposure" in 1966. He photographed his lifelong friend and co-star of "Lassie Come Home," Elizabeth Taylor, in a nude layout for Playboy magazine in 1963. A long-time student of film, he gathered one of the largest private collections of old movies. | ||
