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Paul Koslo (born June 27, 1944) is a German-Canadian actor.

Career[link]

Koslo started his career in such 1970's cult films as Nam's Angels a.k.a. The Losers, (referenced in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction), Mr. Majestyk, Vanishing Point, Joe Kidd and The Stone Killer. He also appeared opposite Charlton Heston in the SF cult-classic, The Omega Man in an unusually sympathetic co-starring role. He and fellow Omega Man costar Anthony Zerbe also appeared in Rooster Cogburn with John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn. After a solid supporting part as a Jewish concentration camp survivor in the critically acclaimed Voyage of the Damned, as well as the mayor in Heaven's Gate, he began a long run of portraying villainous types in productions such as Roots: The Next Generations, The Ransom,^[1] Love and Bullets and The Glitter Dome.

In rare, in-depth interviews with both Psychotronic Video and Shock Cinema (issue #14) magazines, Koslo spoke (mostly unfavorably) about his experiences working in several films with Charles Bronson and in The Omega Man with Heston.

Starting in the late 1970s, Koslo appeared (usually as a villain) in a string of television shows such as The Rockford Files, Quincy, M.E., Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, T. J. Hooker, The A-Team, The Fall Guy, Dallas and Hunter. More recently, along with television appearances, he has been in several independent action films (most of them straight-to-video). He was also in Loose Cannons (1990) with Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd and appeared as the Russian battle-robot pilot Alexander in the cult science fiction film Robot Jox (1990).

Personal life[link]

Koslo met his wife, Allaire Paterson-Koslo, at The MET Theatre in Hollywood, when he produced a one-woman show, Purple Breasts, a critically acclaimed play she co-wrote and starred in. They married in 1997 and have one child together.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Names You Never Remember, With Faces You Never Forget, by Justin Humphreys. BearManor Media, Albany, 2006. ISBN # 1-59393-041-0.

External links[link]

• Paul Koslo at the Internet Movie Database

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Joe Don Baker (born February 12, 1936) is an American character actor, perhaps best known for his roles as a Mafia hitman in Charley Varrick, deputy sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III in Final Justice, real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, brute-force-with-a-badge detective Mitchell in Mitchell, James Bond villain Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights, CIA Agent Jack Wade in the James Bond films GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies and the brilliant and tough NYPD Chief of Detectives Earl Eischied in television police drama, Eischied.

Biography[link]

Life and career[link]

Baker was born in Groesbeck, Texas, the son of Edna (née McDonald) and Doyle Charles Baker.^[1] He attended the University of North Texas. In 1964 he appeared on stage in Marathon '33 at the ANTA Theatre in New York City. He got his start in acting as an uncredited character in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke and as an illiterate vending machine robber in a 1969 episode of the TV series Mod Squad, but his real beginnings came when he scored the role of Steve McQueen's younger brother in Sam Peckinpah's Junior Bonner. He later starred in the 1973 film Walking Tall, directed by Phil Karlson and also starring in the filmmaker's final work, Framed, two years later. Baker was offered a cameo in the remake, but declined the offer.

His work in 1973's Charley Varrick may remain Baker's most memorable success. Baker was praised for a courageous and offbeat portrait of the sadistic hitman Molly. The film starred Walter Matthau as the bank robber Varrick, and won a British Academy Award.

Baker has given many outstanding performances in a career spanning four decades. In 1980, he became the first actor^{[citation needed]} to receive $1,000,000 to star in a television series, the short-lived Eischeid.

He was "The Whammer," a baseball player modeled after Babe Ruth, in the 1984 baseball drama The Natural that starred Robert Redford. In a scene, the Whammer takes three swings at pitches from the young Roy Hobbs to try to impress a mysterious woman they have met on a train.

In 1985, he portrayed the corrupt Chief Jerry Karlin in Fletch. In the UK, Baker is probably best known as CIA agent Darius Jedburgh from the BBC Television drama serial Edge of Darkness. He was nominated for "Best Actor" by the British Academy Television Awards, losing to his co-star Bob Peck.

Martin Scorsese directed him as a private detective in 1991's Cape Fear, hired by a man (Nick Nolte) whose family is being threatened by a psychopathic ex-convict (Robert DeNiro).

While actor Carroll O'Connor was undergoing heart bypass surgery, Baker took his place on the television series In the Heat of the Night. Baker appeared as Captain Tom Dugan, a retired police captain who filled in while O'Connor's character was away at a police convention.

Baker's films Mitchell and Final Justice were lampooned on the movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. According to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, Baker was angered by the treatment of Mitchell and threatened to physically assault any of the MST3k cast or crew if he ever met them. Kevin Murphy, MST3k's Tom Servo and one of the show's head writers, has suggested that Baker was probably joking, and it did not prevent them insulting Baker and his work further in the later commentary to Final Justice.

James Bond series[link]

In 1987, Baker got the role of the villain Brad Whitaker in the Bond film The Living Daylights, starring Timothy Dalton as James Bond. In 1995 and 1997 Baker returned to the series, this time playing a different character, CIA agent Jack Wade, in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies with Pierce Brosnan as Bond. This makes Baker one of three actors to appear as both a Bond ally and a villain, the others being Charles Gray who appeared as Henderson in You Only Live Twice and as Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever and Walter Gotell who appeared as Morzeny, the Spectre Island trainer in From Russia with Love and General Gogol, head of the KGB in six films between 1977 and 1987.

The character of Wade is similar to that of CIA agent Darius Jedburgh, played by Baker in the 1985 serial Edge of Darkness. This serial was directed by Martin Campbell, who also cast Baker as Wade in GoldenEye.

In 2009, Baker delivered another performance in The Cleaner on A&E, playing an alcoholic military veteran attempting to help a friend cope with the loss of his son, hires William Banks (played by Benjamin Bratt) for assistance in order to start back down the road to sobriety.

Filmography[link]

• Cool Hand Luke (1967)
• Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)
• Adam at 6 AM (1970)
• That Certain Summer (1972)
• "Welcome Home, Soldier Boys" (1972)
• Charley Varrick (1973)
• Walking Tall (1973)
• The Outfit (1973)
• Golden Needles (1974)
• Mitchell (1975) — also a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode
• Framed (1975)
• The Pack (1977)
• Speedtrap (1977)
• Checkered Flag or Crash (1977)
• Joysticks (1983)
• Final Justice (1984) — also a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode
• The Natural (1984)
• Fletch (1985)
• Edge of Darkness (1985)
• The Killing Time (1987)
• Leonard Part 6 (1987)
• The Living Daylights (1987)
• Cape Fear (1991)
• The Distinguished Gentleman (1992)
• Citizen Cohn (1992) (HBO)
• Reality Bites (1994)
• Congo (1995)
• GoldenEye (1995)
• Panther (1995)
• The Grass Harp (1995)
• Underneath (1995)
• Mars Attacks! (1996)
• Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
• Poodle Springs (1998) (HBO)
• Vegas, City of Dreams (2001)
• Joe Dirt (2001)
• The Commission (2003)
• The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)
• Strange Wilderness (2008)
• The Cleaner (2009 - Last American Casualty - Major Larry Duren)
• Mud (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Joe Don Baker at the Internet Movie Database
• Joe Don Baker at AllRovi
• Joe Don Baker fansite (Defunct prior to 1/10)
• Joe Don Baker Tribute (Defunct prior to 1/10)

You may be looking for the plaintiff in Baker v. Wade. For the atheist computer scientist and TV-host see The Atheist Experience. For the former Anglican Bishop of Bendigo see Donald Baker

Don Baker
Birth name	Don Baker
Born	(1950-08-26) 26 August 1950 (age 61)
Origin	Sheriff street, inner city Dublin, Whitehall, Dublin County, Ireland
Genres	Rock, Blues
Occupations	Musician, singer, songwriter, actor
Years active	1960–present (musician) 1991–present (actor)
Labels	[Own Label]
Associated acts	Sonny Boy Williamson[disambiguation needed ], Sonny Terry, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake, Robert Johnson, Scrapper Blackwell, Charlie McCoy
Website	www.donbaker.ie

Don Baker (born 26 August 1950) is an Irish blues musician and actor.

Baker was born in Whitehall, Dublin. He is a singer-songwriter who plays the harmonica and the guitar. He appeared in several films, his most notable appearance being in In the Name of the Father. He also published harmonica instruction books and videos.

In August 2008, he starred in RTÉ's reality show Fáilte Towers,^[1] finishing in a respectable third place, earning huge amounts of money for his charity "Health Action Overseas". After the show, Baker asked fellow contestant Donna (from Donna and Joseph McCaul) to perform a concert with him at the Helix the following month.^[2]

Discography[link]

• Almost Illegal
• Duckin' & Divin
• Miss You
• No Regrets "Live in Concert"
• Four for the Road with Jimmy McCarthy, Mick Hanly and Finbar Furey
• Born With the Blues
• Just Don Baker
• No Nonsense

Bibliography[link]

• The Winner in Me
• Beginning Blues Harp
• Beginning Rock Harp
• Famous Harmonica Styles
• Complete Harmonica Techniques
• Learn to Play Blues Harmonica
• Soodlums Harmonica Pack

Filmography[link]

• In the Name of the Father (1993)
• On the Nose (2001)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Don Baker at the Internet Movie Database
• Rattlebag Don Baker in conversation with RTE's Myles Dungan
• Under the Influence Don Baker in conversation with Joe Jackson

Blues related links

• Beginning Blues Harp with Don Baker DVD
• Famous Harmonica Styles
• J'Apprends L'Harmonica Blues
• Methode Intégrale des Différentes Techniques de l'Harmonica

Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson (1973)
Born	Charles Dennis Buchinsky (1921-11-03)November 3, 1921 Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	August 30, 2003(2003-08-30) (aged 81) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950 - 1999
Spouse	Harriet Tendler (1949–67; divorced); 2 children Jill Ireland (1968–90; her death); 2 children Kim Weeks (1998–2003; his death)

Charles Bronson (November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003), born Charles Dennis Buchinsky ^[1] was an American actor, of Polish^[2] and Lithuanian^[3] background, best known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series. He was often cast in the role of a police officer or gunfighter, often in revenge-oriented plot lines. During his career, Bronson had a long-term partnership with directors Michael Winner and J. Lee Thompson.

Early life and World War II service[link]

Bronson was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky (or Buchinskas) in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny Mountain Coal region north of Johnstown. During the McCarthy hearings, he changed his last name to Bronson, fearing that Buchinsky sounded "too Russian".^[4]

He was one of 15 children born to a Lithuanian immigrant^[5][6] father of Lipka Tatar ancestry, and a Lithuanian-American mother.^{[7][8][9][10]} His father^[5][11] hailed from the town of Druskininkai (or Druskienniki). His mother, Mary Valinsky, whose parents were from the Lithuania was born in the anthracite coal mining town of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania.

Bronson was the first member of his family to graduate from high school.^[5] As a young child, Bronson did not initially know how to speak English and only learned it in his teens.^[6] Bronson's father died when he was 10, and he went to work in the coal mines. Initially, Bronson worked in the office of a coal mine, later in the mine itself.^[5] He worked there until he entered military service during World War II.^[5] He earned $1 per ton of coal mined. His family was so poor that, at one time, he reportedly had to wear his sister's dress to school because he had nothing else to wear.^[12][13]

In 1943, Bronson enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and served as an aerial gunner in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, and in 1945 as a B-29 Superfortress crewman with the 39th Bombardment Group based on Guam. He was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds received during his service.^[14]

Acting career[link]

Early roles, 1951–1959[link]

After the end of World War II, Bronson worked at many odd jobs until joining a theatrical group in Philadelphia. He later shared an apartment in New York with Jack Klugman while both were aspiring to play on the stage. In 1950, he married and moved to Hollywood where he enrolled in acting classes and began to find small roles. Bronson's first film role — an uncredited one — was as a sailor in You're in the Navy Now in 1951. Other early screen appearances were in Pat and Mike, Miss Sadie Thompson and House of Wax (as Vincent Price's mute henchman Igor).

In 1952, Bronson boxed in a ring with Roy Rogers in Rogers' show Knockout. He appeared on an episode of the Red Skelton Show as a boxer in a skit with Skelton playing "Cauliflower McPugg". In 1954, Bronson made a strong impact in Drum Beat as a murderous Modoc warrior, Captain Jack, who enjoys wearing the tunics of soldiers whom he has killed. Eventually captured by Alan Ladd's character, he is sent to the gallows.^{[citation needed]}

In 1954, during the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) proceedings, he changed his surname from Buchinsky to Bronson at the suggestion of his agent, who feared that an Eastern European surname might damage his career.^[15] He took his inspiration from the Bronson Gate at Paramount Studios, situated on the corner of Melrose Avenue and Bronson Street.^{[citation needed]}

Bronson made several appearances on television in the 1950s and 1960s, including a 1952 segment, with fellow guest star Lee Marvin, of Biff Baker, U.S.A., an espionage series on CBS starring Alan Hale, Jr.. Bronson had the lead role of the episode "The Apache Kid" of the syndicated crime drama Sheriff of Cochise.

He guest-starred in the short-lived situation comedy, Hey, Jeannie! and in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: And So Died Riabouchinska (1956), There Was an Old Woman (1956), and The Woman Who Wanted to Live (1962). He starred alongside Elizabeth Montgomery in The Twilight Zone episode "Two" (1961) and played a killer named Crego in Gunsmoke (1956). He appeared in five episodes of Have Gun - Will Travel (1957–63).

Many of his filmographies state that he appeared in the 1958 Gary Cooper film Ten North Frederick, although this is a matter of some dispute.^[16] In 1958, he was cast in his first lead role in Roger Corman's Machine-Gun Kelly, a low-budget, though well received, gangster film.

He scored the lead in his own ABC's detective series Man with a Camera (from 1958 to 1960), in which he portrayed Mike Kovac, a former combat photographer freelancing in New York City. Frequently, Kovac was involved in dangerous assignments for the New York Police Department.^{[citation needed]}

Success, 1960–1968[link]

Bronson gained attention in 1960 with his role in John Sturges' western The Magnificent Seven, where he played one of seven gunfighters taking up the cause of the defenseless. During filming of this movie, Bronson was a loner who kept to himself, according to Eli Wallach.^[17] He received $50,000 for this role.^[18] This role also made him a favorite actor of many Soviets, among them Vladimir Vysotsky.^[19][20] Two years later, Sturges cast him for another Hollywood production, The Great Escape, as a claustrophobic Polish prisoner of war nicknamed "The Tunnel King" (coincidentally, Bronson was really claustrophobic because of his childhood work in a mine). In 1961, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his supporting role in a TV episode with the title "Memory in White".^[21]

In 1963, Bronson co-starred with Richard Egan in the NBC Western series Empire, set on a New Mexico ranch. In the 1963–1964 season he portrayed Linc, the stubborn wagonmaster in the ABC series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, where he starred together with Dan O'Herlihy and then twelve-year-old Kurt Russell. In the 1965-1966 season, he guest-starred in an episode of The Legend of Jesse James, starring Christopher Jones in the title role. In 1965, he guest starred as a demolitions expert in an episode of Combat. In The Dirty Dozen (1967), he played an Army death row convict conscripted into a suicide mission. In 1967, he played Ralph Schuyler in The Fugitive episode "The One That Got Away".

European roles and rise with United Artists, 1968–1973[link]

Bronson made a serious name for himself in European films. In 1968, he starred as Harmonica in Once Upon a Time in the West. The director, Sergio Leone, once called him "the greatest actor I ever worked with", and had wanted to cast Bronson for the lead in 1964's A Fistful of Dollars. Bronson turned him down and the role instead launched Clint Eastwood to film stardom.

Even though he was not yet a headliner in America in 1970, he helped the French film Rider on the Rain win a Hollywood Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The following year, this overseas fame earned him a special Golden Globe Henrietta Award for "World Film Favorite - Male" together with Sean Connery. In 1972 he began a string of successful action films for United Artists, beginning with Chato's Land, although he had done several films for UA before this in the 1960s (The Magnificent Seven, etc.). One film UA brought into the domestic mainstream was Città violenta (also known as The Family), an Italian-made film originally released overseas in 1970. Despite the cutting of eight minutes from the original version, it firmly established Bronson as a major star in the 1970s.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Death Wish series and departure from UA, 1974–1980

Bronson at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival

Bronson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

One of Bronson's most memorable roles came when he was over the age of 50, in Death Wish (Paramount, 1974), the most popular film of his long association with director Michael Winner. He played Paul Kersey, a successful New York architect. When his wife is murdered and his daughter sexually assaulted, Kersey becomes a crime-fighting vigilante by night. It was a highly controversial role, as his executions were cheered by crime-weary audiences. After the famous 1984 case of Bernhard Goetz, Bronson recommended that people not imitate his character. This successful movie spawned sequels over the next 20 years, in which Bronson also starred.

In 1974, he starred in the film adaptation of the Elmore Leonard hard-boiled gangster-meets-his-match in a farmer saga, Mr. Majestyk. For Walter Hill's Hard Times (1975), he starred as a Depression-era street fighter making his living in illegal bare-knuckled matches in Louisiana, earning good reviews. Bronson's highest box-office was 4th in 1975, beaten only by Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand and Al Pacino.^[22] His stint at UA came to an end in 1977 with The White Buffalo.

Cannon Films era and final roles, 1981-1994[link]

He was considered to play the role of Snake Plissken in Escape from New York (1981), but director John Carpenter thought he was too tough looking and too old for the part, and decided to cast Kurt Russell instead. In the years between 1976 and 1994, Bronson commanded high salaries to star in numerous films made by smaller production companies, most notably Cannon Films, for whom some of his last films were made. Many of them were directed by J. Lee Thompson, a collaborative relationship that Bronson enjoyed and actively pursued, reportedly because Thompson worked quickly and efficiently. Thompson's ultra-violent films such as The Evil That Men Do (Tri-Star, 1984) and 10 To Midnight (1983) were blasted by critics, but provided Bronson with well-paid work throughout the 1980s. Bronson's last starring role in a theatrically released film was 1994's Death Wish V: The Face of Death. He also played in The Indian Runner (1991) with Dennis Hopper and Viggo Mortensen.

Bronson became very popular in Japan in the early 1990s with the bushy eyebrowed TV critic Nagaharu Yodogawa hosting 1-2 seasons of his films every year on NTV, one of the main TV channels in Japan.

Personal life[link]

His first marriage was to Harriet Tendler, whom he met when both were fledgling actors in Philadelphia. They had two children before divorcing in 1965.

Bronson was then married again to British actress Jill Ireland from October 5, 1968^[23] until her death from breast cancer at age 54 in 1990. He had met her in 1962, when she was married to Scottish actor David McCallum. At the time, Bronson (who shared the screen with McCallum in The Great Escape) reportedly told him, "I'm going to marry your wife". The Bronsons lived in a grand Bel Air mansion in Los Angeles with seven children: two by his previous marriage, three by hers (one of whom was adopted) and two of their own (another one of whom was adopted). After they married, Jill usually played his leading lady, and they starred in 14 movies together.

When filming they would load up the entire family and take them along to Europe or wherever the filming took place, maintaining a close family. They spent time in a colonial farmhouse on 260 acres (1.1 km²) in West Windsor, Vermont.^[24] Jill Ireland raised horses and provided training for their daughter Zuleika so that she could perform at the higher levels of horse showing. The Vermont farm, "Zuleika Farm", was named for the only natural child between them. During the late 1980s through the mid 1990's Bronson regularly spent winter holidays vacationing with his family in Snowmass, Colorado.^{[citation needed]}

In December 1998, Bronson was married a third time to Kim Weeks, a former employee of Dove Audio who helped record Ireland in the production of her audiobooks. They were married for five years until Bronson's death.

Death[link]

Bronson's health deteriorated in later years, and he retired from acting after undergoing hip-replacement surgery in 1998. He also suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his final years. Bronson died of pneumonia at the age of 81 on August 30, 2003, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He is buried near his Vermont farm.

Filmography[link]

Feature length films made for television[link]

• This Rugged Land (1962)
• Luke and The Tenderfoot (1965)
• The Meanest Men in the West (1967) advertised as starring Bronson with Lee Marvin, this "feature film" was actually cobbled together from two different episodes of the TV series The Virginian, one episode featuring Bronson, the other Marvin, so the two actors do not actually share any scenes together, despite the repackaging editors' efforts to suggest otherwise^[25]
• The Bull of the West (1971) like The Meanest Men in the West before it, this "feature-length movie" was stitched together from multiple, unrelated episodes of The Virginian, with largely confusing results^[26]
• Raid On Entebbe (1976)
• Act of Vengeance (1986)
• Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991)
• Donato and Daughter (1993; also known as Under Threat in the UK)
• The Sea Wolf (1993)
• 100 years of the Hollywood Western (1995) documentary
• A Family of Cops (1995)
• Breach of Faith: A Family of Cops 2 (1997)
• Family of Cops 3 (1999)

Selected Television Series appearances[link]

• The Public Defender "Cornered" (CBS, 1955) as Nobby Bullaid
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents "And So Died Riabouchinska" (1955)
• The Millionaire "The Jerry Bell Story" E-85 {27 February 1957} as Jerry Bell
• Have Gun - Will Travel "The Man Who Wouldn't Talk" (27 September 1958) as Chris Sorenson
• The Untouchables
• "The Death Tree" (15 February 1962) as Yanosh Kolescu
• Bonanza "The Underdog" S06/Ep12 {1964} as Harry Starr

Gunsmoke Season 1 E 28 "The Killer" 1955-56

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	World War II portal
	United States portal

• List of Tatars

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charles Bronson

• Charles Bronson at the Internet Movie Database
• Charles Bronson at AllRovi
• The Charles Bronson Homepage Good fansite with comprehensive photo gallery
• Japanese fansite
• The Best Battles of Charles Bronson Photo gallery at AMCtv.com

Rod Taylor
Taylor as Glenn Evans with Lloyd Bochner as Inspector Neil Campbell in Hong Kong, 1961.
Born	Rodney Sturt Taylor (1930-01-11) 11 January 1930 (age 82) Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1953–present
Spouse	Peggy Williams (1951–54) Mary Hilem (1963–69) Carol Kikumura (1980–present)

Rodney Sturt "Rod" Taylor (born 11 January 1930)^[1] is an Australian actor of film and television. He has appeared in over 50 films, and is well known for his roles in the science fiction film The Time Machine (1960), and in the Alfred Hitchcock horror movie The Birds (1963).

Early life[link]

Taylor was Born on 11 January 1930 in Lidcombe, a suburb of Sydney, the only child of William Sturt Taylor, a steel construction contractor and commercial artist, and the former Mona Thompson, a writer of more than a hundred short stories and children's books. His middle name comes from his great-great grand uncle, Captain Charles Sturt, a British explorer of the Australian Outback in the 19th century.

Taylor attended Parramatta High School and later studied at the East Sydney Technical and Fine Arts College. For a time he worked as a commercial artist, but decided to become an actor after seeing Laurence Olivier in an Old Vic touring production in Australia.^[2]

Career[link]

Australia[link]

Taylor acquired extensive radio and stage experience in Australia where his radio work included a period on Blue Hills and a role as Tarzan. Earlier in his career he had to support himself by working at Sydney's Mark Foys department store designing and painting window and other displays during the day.^[3] In 1951 he took part in a re-enactment of Charles Sturt's voyage down the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers, playing Sturt's offsider, George Macleay. A short documentary, Inland with Sturt (1951), was based on it. Taylor also appeared in a number of theatre productions for Australia's Mercury Theatre.

Taylor made his feature film debut in the Australian Lee Robinson film King of the Coral Sea (1954), playing an American. He later played Israel Hands in a Hollywood-financed movie shot in Sydney, Long John Silver (1954), an unofficial sequel to Treasure Island. Following these two films, Taylor was awarded the 1954 Rola Show Australian Radio Actor of the Year Award,^[4] which included a ticket to London via Los Angeles; but Taylor never made it to London.

Hollywood[link]

Taylor soon landed roles in television shows such as Studio 57 and the films Hell on Frisco Bay (1955) and Giant (1956). In 1955, he guest-starred in the third episode ("The Argonauts") of the first hour-long western television series, Cheyenne, an ABC program starring Clint Walker. Taylor and Edward Andrews played gold seekers Clancy and Duncan, respectively, who are best friends until they strike it rich, only to see Native Americans release their gold dust to the wind. The episode was a remake of the film Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Taylor was considered for one of the leads in Warner Bros. Television's Maverick.

Towards the end of 1955, Taylor unsuccessfully screen tested to play boxer Rocky Graziano in MGM's Somebody Up There Likes Me but his use of a Brooklyn accent and physical prowess in the test impressed the studio enough to gain him a long-term contract. At MGM he played a series of support roles in The Catered Affair,^[5] Raintree County (1957) and Ask Any Girl (1959). He had a significant role in Separate Tables (1958), which won Oscars for two of its stars, David Niven and Wendy Hiller. He also made a strong impression guest starring in "And When the Sky Was Opened" (1959), an episode of The Twilight Zone.

Stardom[link]

Taylor's first leading role in a feature film was George Pal's adaptation of H. G. Wells science-fiction classic The Time Machine (1960)

In the 1960–61 television season, Taylor starred as foreign correspondent Glenn Evans in the ABC dramatic series Hong Kong. His principal co-star was Lloyd Bochner. The program faced stiff competition on Wednesday evenings from NBC's Wagon Train and only lasted one season. He voiced Pongo the Dalmatian in Disney's animated One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), and also guest-starred on Marilyn Maxwell's short-lived ABC series Bus Stop (also 1961). In 1962, he starred in an episode of The DuPont Show of the Week (NBC) ("The Ordeal of Dr. Shannon"), an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel, Shannon's Way. Taylor starred in Alfred Hitchcock's horror/thriller The Birds (1963) with Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette.

During the mid-60s, Taylor worked mostly for MGM, where his credits included Sunday in New York (1963), Fate Is the Hunter (1964), 36 Hours (1965), Young Cassidy (1965), The Liquidator (1965) and The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). He began to change his image towards the end of the decade to more tough guy roles such as Chuka (which he also produced, 1967), Dark of the Sun (aka The Mercenaries, 1968), Nobody Runs Forever (1968) and Darker than Amber (1970).

He was also reportedly up for the role of Caucasian martial artist Roper in the Bruce Lee vehicle Enter the Dragon (1973). The film was directed by Robert Clouse, who had also directed Taylor in the 1970 film, Darker than Amber. However, Taylor was supposedly deemed too tall for the part, and the role instead went to John Saxon.^[6]

Later career[link]

In the 1970s, Taylor turned again to television. He starred in Bearcats! (1971) on CBS and in The Oregon Trail (1976) on NBC. He had a regular role in the short-lived spy drama series Masquerade (1983), and played one of the leads in the equally short-lived series Outlaws (1986). From 1988 to 1990, Taylor appeared in the CBS drama series Falcon Crest as Frank Agretti, playing opposite Jane Wyman. In the mid 1990s, he appeared in several episodes of Murder, She Wrote and Walker, Texas Ranger.

In 1993, he hosted the documentary Time Machine: The Journey Back. At the end of the special came a mini-sequel, written by David Duncan, the original writer of the George Pal film. Taylor recreated his role as George, reuniting him with Filby (Alan Young).

Taylor returned to Australia several times over the years to make films, playing a 1920s travelling showman in The Picture Show Man (1977), and a paid killer in On the Run (1983). In 1997, he played the foul-mouthed redneck "Daddy-O" in the black comedy Welcome to Woop Woop.

Taylor came out of retirement for the small but important role of Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009).^[7] In preparation for the role, Taylor watched dozens of DVDs with footage of Churchill in order to get the Prime Minister's posture, body language, and voice, including a lisp, correct.

Personal life[link]

Married to third wife Carol Kikumura since 1980, Taylor is the father of CNN financial reporter Felicia Taylor (born 1964), from his acrimonious second marriage to model Mary Hilem (1963–69). His first wife was model Peggy Williams (1951–54).

He now lives in New York City.

Filmography[link]

TV series[link]

as regular[link]

Taylor has had several lead roles in television, from the early 1960s to the early first decade of the 21st century. Among his TV shows as a regular are:

• Hong Kong with co-star Lloyd Bochner (1960, ABC)
• Bearcats! (1971, CBS)
• The Oregon Trail as Evan Thorpe, a widower taking his three children from their Illinois farm to the Pacific Northwest by way of the Oregon Trail (1977, NBC)
• Masquerade (1983)
• Outlaws (1986)

Guest appearances[link]

• Studio 57 (1955) – "The Last Day on Earth", "The Black Sheep's Daughter"
• Lux Video Theatre (1955) – "Dark Tribute", "The Browning Version"
• Cheyenne (1955) – "The Argonauts"
• Suspicion (1957) – "The Story of Marjorie Reardon"
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (1958) – "A Thing to Fight For"
• Studio One (1958) – "Image of Fear"
• Lux Playhouse (1958) – "The Best House in the Valley"
• Playhouse 90 (1958–59) – "Verdict of Three", "The Great Gatsby", "The Long March", "The Raider", "Misalliance"
• The Twilight Zone (1959) – "And When the Sky Was Opened"
• Zane Grey Theater (1960) – "Picture of Sal"
• Goodyear Theatre (1960) – "Capital Gains"
• General Electric Theater (1960) – "Early to Die", "The Young Years"
• Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1960) – "Thunder in the Night"
• Bus Stop (1961) – "Portrait of a Hero"
• The DuPont Show of the Week (1962) – "The Ordeal of Dr. Shannon"
• Walker, Texas Ranger
• Murder, She Wrote
• Falcon Crest

Documentaries[link]

• Inland with Sturt (1951)
• The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1985)
• Time Machine: The Journey Back (1993)
• All About the Birds (2000)
• Not Quite Hollywood (2008)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rod Taylor at the Internet Movie Database
• http://paracinema.net/back-issues-subscriptions/issue-6/May/June/July/August,2009. Feature article: Rod Taylor – Hollywood Time Traveler
• Rod Taylor Australian theatre credits at Ausstage
• Rod Taylor at National Film and Sound Archive