Rod Taylor star of “The Birds” and “The Time Machine” is dead at 84

Rodney Sturt “Rod” Taylor was born on January 11, 1930 in a suburb of Sydney, Australia. He was the only child of a construction worker (William Sturt Taylor) and commercial artist and writer of children’s books Mona Taylor (née Thompson).

Taylor trained as a commercial artist, but got the acting bug after seeing Laurence Olivier on the stage in Australia while he was on tour.

The actor came to America to pursue his career and was signed to a long-term contract with M-G-M. During this period he had supporting roles in A Catered Affair, Raintree County, and Giant (sometimes billed as Rodney Taylor).

His big break came when he was cast in the George Pal production of H.G. Wells’s classic The Time Machine (1960). Another great part came his way in 1963 when director Alfred Hitchcock cast Taylor as Mitch Brenner in the thriller The Birds (1963), costarring Hitchcock discovery ‘Tipi’ Hedren, Suzanne Pleshette, and Jessica Tandy. Other starring roles would come Taylor’s way including Sunday in New York (1963), costarring Jane Fonda and Cliff Robertson, the all-star The V.I.P.s, and the John Ford production of Young Cassidy (1965), costarring Julie Christie and Maggie Smith. In the late 1960s, Taylor costarred with Doris Day in two popular film comedies: Do Not Disturb (1965) and The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). He was top-billed in the all-star production of the Arthur Hailey bestseller Hotel (1967).

In the 1970s, Taylor had roles in television, including the lead in Bearcats! From 1988 to 1990 Taylor had a recurring role on Falcon Crest starring Jane Wyman. Taylor’s last major film role was a cameo as Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds (2009).

Taylor would have celebrated his 85th birthday on Sunday January 11.

Book Review: And the Winner Really Is by Ken Grout

Available at Amazon

And the Winner Really Is: The Definitive Ranking of the Greatest Actors and Actresses in Oscar History by Ken Grout. Mixing statistics, motion picture history, and some common sense, Grout has come up with an interesting formula to determine who is the real Oscar champ.

Grout’s book considers all Academy Award winning actors and actresses as well as those nominees who never actually won the award (you see, using Grout’s system, you earn points for each nomination). That’s why Irene Dunne (nominated five times, but never a winner) ranks higher on the list than Clark Gable (nominated 3 times with one win).

To deal with ties, Grout came up with some steps. Here are four that helped crown the champions: Number of Career Wins, Number of Career Nominations, Career Performances in Best Picture Winners, and Career Performances in Best Picture Nominees.

Fan favorites like Cary Grant (two nominations and no wins—honorary Oscars don’t count) and Maureen O’Hara (no nominations, one honorary Oscar) don’t make the list at all. The book also includes the top “Never-Won’s.” According to Grout’s research, “There are twenty-four individuals in Oscar history who have been nominated for at least four competitive acting Oscars,” but haven’t won. Who do you think tops this list? Hint: It’s a man. In fact number two is also a man and a good friend and professional rival of number one.

Sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland have three Best Actress Oscars between them.

Grout charts the dominance of Bette Davis from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. He also adds some fun stats like who are the greatest families in Academy Award history. Spoiler alert: It’s the Fondas: Jane, Henry, and Peter. What Oscar winner is also a champion at the box office?

If you love the Oscars and the movies, you’ll have a ton of fun with And the Winner Really Is. It’s already found a place in my group of movie reference books. I know I’ll be referring to it for years to come.

And the Winner Really Is is available for purchase from Lemonyyellow Books and Amazon.