Roddy McDowall

Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall (17 September 1928 – 3 October 1998) was an English born American actor, film director, photographer, and voice artist. His roles included Cornelius, Caesar, and Galen in the Planet of the Apes film and television series. He began his acting career as a child in England, and then in the United States, in How Green Was My Valley, My Friend Flicka, and Lassie Come Home, and as an adult appeared most frequently as a character actor on radio, stage, film, and television. He served in several positions on the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the Selection Committee for the Kennedy Center Honors, as well as contributing to various charities related to the film industry and film preservation.

Early life and career

McDowall was born at 204 Herne Hill Road, Herne Hill, London, the son of Winifriede Lucinda (née Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a merchant seaman of Scottish descent. Both of his parents were enthusiastic about the theatre. He had an older sister, Virginia, who was an occasional actress. He attended St Joseph's College, Upper Norwood.

Appearing as a child model as a baby, McDowall appeared in several British films as a boy. After winning an acting prize in a school play at age nine, he landed his first major movie part in Scruffy (1938). He then appeared in films starring comedians George Formby and Will Hay, as well as in Walter Forde's thriller Saloon Bar. His family moved to the United States in 1940 due to the outbreak of World War II. McDowall became a naturalized United States citizen in 1949, and lived in the United States for the rest of his life.

He made his first well-known film appearance at the age of 12, playing Huw Morgan in How Green Was My Valley (1941), where he met and became lifelong friends with Maureen O'Hara. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and made him a household name. He starred in Lassie Come Home (1943), a film that introduced an actress who would become his lifelong friend – Elizabeth Taylor. He then appeared as Ken McLaughlin in the 1943 film My Friend Flicka. McDowall went on to appear in several other films, including The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) with Gregory Peck, and The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). In 1944 exhibitors voted him the number one "star of tomorrow".

Adult career

McDowall continued his career successfully into adulthood. By the mid-1940s, released from his studio contract, McDowall turned to the theater, taking the title role of Young Woodley in 1946 in a summer stock production in Westport, Connecticut. In 1947, he played Malcolm in Orson Welles's stage production of Macbeth in Salt Lake City, Utah, and played the same part in the actor-director's film version in 1948.

He then appeared in several roles for Monogram Pictures, a low-budget studio that welcomed established stars. Apart from Kidnapped (1948), an adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson story, the McDowall Monograms were contemporary outdoor adventures; he made seven features for the studio until the series lapsed in 1952. At an awkward age, and with no other decent movie roles forthcoming, McDowall left Hollywood to hone his craft on the Broadway stage, notably in "The Fighting Cock," "No Time For Sergeants," and Camelot with Julie Andrews and Richard Burton, and in television through the 1950s and 1960s. He also appeared on scores of broadcast radio programs during radio's Golden Age.

Having won both an Emmy (1961, for NBC Sunday Showcase) and a Tony Award (1961 in The Fighting Cock) he appeared in such television series as the original The Twilight Zone, The Eleventh Hour, Twelve O'Clock High, The Invaders, The Carol Burnett Show, Columbo, Night Gallery, Fantasy Island, Mork and Mindy, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Hart to Hart, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Hotel, Murder She Wrote and Quantum Leap.

He is well remembered for his performances in heavy makeup as various chimpanzee characters in four of the Planet of the Apes films (1968–1973) and in the 1974 TV series that followed. During one guest appearance on The Carol Burnett Show, he came out onto the stage in his "Planet of the Apes" makeup and performed a love duet with Burnett.

Film appearances included Cleopatra (1963), in which he played Octavian (the young Emperor Augustus) and was intended to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor but was disqualified when the studio accidentally submitted him for Best Actor instead.

Other films included It! (1966), in which he played a Norman Bates-like character reminiscent of Psycho; The Poseidon Adventure (1972), in which he played Acres, a dining room attendant; The Legend of Hell House (1973), in which he played a physical medium assigned to a team attempting to crack the secret of the Belasco House; "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", "That Darn Cat!", Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, Scavenger Hunt (1979) in which he played valet Jenkins, Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun (1982), "Funny Lady", Class of 1984 (1982), Fright Night (1985), in which he played Peter Vincent, a television host and moderator of telecast horror films, and Overboard (1987 with Goldie Hawn) in which he played a kind-hearted butler.

McDowall appeared frequently on Hollywood Squares and occasionally came up with quips himself. McDowall played "The Bookworm" in the 1960s American TV series Batman and he had a recurring role as "The Mad Hatter" in Batman: The Animated Series, as well as providing his voice to the audiobook adaptation of the 1989 Batman film. He also played the rebel scientist Dr. Jonathan Willoway in the 1970s science fiction TV series, The Fantastic Journey, based on the Bermuda Triangle. He had a substantial part in Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles." McDowall's final acting role in animation was for an episode of Godzilla: The Series in the episode "DeadLoch". In A Bug's Life (1998), one of his final contributions to motion pictures, he provides the voice of the ant "Mr. Soil".

During the 1990s, McDowall redoubled his passion for film preservation and participated in the restoration of Cleopatra (1963), He amassed a personal library of over 1000 books on Hollywood and Broadway history. In 1997, he hosted the MGM Musicals Tribute at Carnegie Hall. McDowall served for several years in various capacities on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organisation that presents the Oscar Awards, and on the selection committee for the Kennedy Center Awards. He was Chairman of the Actors' Branch for five terms. He was elected President of the Academy Foundation the year that he died. He also worked tirelessly to support the Motion Pictures Retirement Home, where a rose garden is now named in his honour.

McDowall received recognition as a photographer, working with LOOK, Vogue, Collier's and LIFE, including a cover story on Mae West for LIFE, and published five books of photographs, each featuring photos and profile interviews of his celebrity friends interviewing each other, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Judy Holliday and Maureen O'Hara, Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, and several others. His home was the setting for countless first Friday of the month parties, where dozens of Hollywood stars, from Silent Picture sirens, and Hollywood Heyday stars like Bette Davis, and Greta Garbo, and Shirley MacLaine, to contemporaries like Johnny Depp, Steve Martin, and Billy Bob Thornton, would gather for food and conversation, in the style of 18th century French Salons, and away from prying paparazzi.

One of his last public appearances occurred when he accompanied the actress Luise Rainer to the 70th Oscar ceremony, and performing as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden in 1997/98.

Personal life

Although McDowall made no public statements about his sexual orientation during his lifetime, a few authors have claimed that he was gay.

In 1974, the FBI raided the home of McDowall and seized the actor's collection of films and television series in the course of an investigation of film piracy and copyright infringement. His collection consisted of 160 16 mm prints and more than 1,000 video cassettes, at a time before the era of commercial videotapes, when there was no legal aftermarket for films. McDowall had purchased Errol Flynn's home cine films and the prints of his own directorial debut Tam-Lin (1970) starring Ava Gardner and transferred them all to tape for longer-lasting archival storage. McDowall was quite forthcoming about those who dealt with him: Rock Hudson, Dick Martin and Mel Tormé were just a few of the celebrities interested in his film reproductions. No charges were filed against McDowall.

Death

On 3 October 1998, McDowall died of lung cancer at his home in the Studio City district of Los Angeles. "It was very peaceful," said Dennis Osborne, a screenwriter friend who had cared for the actor in his final months. "It was just as he wanted it. It was exactly the way he planned." Before he died, he had many of his friends visit him in his home, including a famous reconciliation between Elizabeth Taylor and Sybil Christopher (Richard Burton's first and second wives). He was cremated through the Neptune Society Columbarium, "No ostentatious funeral or formal memorial service," were Roddy's wishes. Elizabeth Taylor, probably one of his dearest and closest friends, held a memorial gathering at her house with about 100 of Roddy's friends approximately a month after his death.