Roddy McDowall

McDowall as a child actor

Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (September 17, 1928–October 3, 1998) was a British actor.

Early life

McDowall was born in London in Herne Hill to a Scottish father, Thomas Andrew McDowall, and an Irish mother, Winifred. Both his parents were enthusiastic about the theatre. He also had a sister, Virginia.

McDowall made his first film appearance at the age of ten. It was as "Huw" in How Green Was My Valley (1941) that he made his name, and he appeared in many other films as a child actor, including The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) and Lassie Come Home (1943) where he co-starred (in what would be one of many occasions) opposite lifelong friend Elizabeth Taylor.

Career

McDowall was one of the few child actors to continue his career successfully into adulthood, but it was usually in character roles, notably in four of the five original Planet of the Apes movies (1968 – 1973) and the TV series that followed. Other film appearances included Cleopatra (1963), It! (1966), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974). Fright Night (1985) and Overboard (1987). He also appeared on stage and was a frequent guest star on television, appearing on such series as the original Twilight Zone, The Carol Burnett Show, Fantasy Island and Quantum Leap.

McDowall as an adult

He played a character villain, "The Bookworm", in the camp 1960s TV series Batman and had an acclaimed recurring role as The Mad Hatter in Batman: The Animated Series. His final acting role in animation, if indeed not overall was for an episode of Godzilla: The Series in the episode "Dreadloch".

During the 1990s, McDowall became active in film preservation and was active in the preserving of Cleopatra (1963), (in which he co-starred) which had been severely cut by 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck after skyrocketing production costs.

McDowall served for several years in various capacities on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that presents the Oscar. He was Chairman of the Actor's Branch for five terms. He was elected President of the Academy Foundation the year he died.

Private life

In 1974, the FBI raided the home of McDowall and seized the actor's collection of films and television series. His collection consisted of 160 16 mm prints and over 10,000 videocassettes (this was before the era of VCRs and VHS tapes). McDowall had bought Errol Flynn's home movies and the prints of his directorial debut Tam Lin (1970) starring Ava Gardner, and transferred them all to tape for longer-lasting archival storage.

McDowall was forthcoming about some of the individuals he had dealt with on the black market: Rock Hudson, Dick Martin and Mel Torme were some of the celebrities that were interested in his creations. No charges were pressed against McDowall.

He also received recognition as a photographer and published five books of photographs, one being of his celebrity friends such as Elizabeth Taylor and Judy Garland.

He died in Studio City, California from lung cancer at the age of 70, the guardian of many secrets (nefarious and otherwise) that Hollywood holds. One of his last public appearances was when he accompanied the then-88 year old actress, Luise Rainer, the earliest awardee of a Best Actress Oscar who attended that year's telecast, which featured all the living previous Oscar winners who were willing and able to attend (more than 70 did).

External links

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*Profile at glbtq.com
*Documents from the 1974 FBI Raid