Rod Taylor

[chaney]

The Aussie star of "The Time Machine" and "The Birds" had quite a tough guy rep. He was a former boxer and a stout guy who could really unload punches. He had a legendary fight scene with William Smith in "Darker Than Amber" that was said to have been half-real as they deviated from the choreography. Taylor broke Smith's ribs and Smith broke Taylor's nose. Taylor told them to keep the camera rolling and the two just started wailing on one another. Character actor Charles Napier said on the TV series "The Oregon Trail" that Smith and Taylor got carried away in another fight and he had to break them up. Interestingly, Smith and Taylor worked together quite a bit and always said they were very close friends.

When Taylor was making "Dark of the Sun" he clashed with former pro football star Jim Brown and the two eventually came to real blows. Legend has it Taylor beat up Brown, who was one of the most feared men on the planet at the time (and probably still is).

While making "The Deadly Trackers" in Mexico Taylor and co-star Richard Harris would keep getting into drunken brawls with each other and every time Taylor would beat up Harris, who had a tough guy rep himself. Taylor beat him up so bad on one occasion that they couldn't film Harris for several days. William Smith had a supporting part in the film and after he finished his role the producers kept him on at full pay for several extra weeks just to keep Taylor from beating up Harris.

[arthurbishop]

This guys sounds awesome, being an Australian you'd think I'd have heard of him but I hadn't till this site. The Darker Than Amber fight scene was great. Also this site has helped me find a lot of other tough guy actors. Is there any other good movies, TV shows etc with Rod Taylor in them?

[Bronson]

Rod Taylor is excellent especially in westerns.

Question: Was Rod ever in a movie/tv episode involving a Sheepdog or herding animals. It may not be him I am thinking of but I am trying to remember a film

Thanks

[chaney]

There's a brief scene at the beginning of Taylor's film THE HIGH COMMISSIONER (aka NOBODY LIVES FOREVER) where he plays an Australian cop who punches out a sheepherder. Might be what you're thinking of, maybe not.

Taylor's best known films are THE TIME MACHINE and THE BIRDS, where Alfred Hitchcock reportedly cast him because he said he needed a leading man with "balls". Taylor made several entertaining action films in the late 60's with DARKER THAN AMBER and DARK OF THE SUN (aka THE MERCENARIES) being the best. The latter is reportedly one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films. He gave Taylor a cameo as Winston Churchill in the recent INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS. Other solid Taylor films were THE HELL WITH HEROES, THE LIQUIDATOR (a somewhat light-hearted spy film), and the western CHUKA, where he has a big classic two-man fight with Ernest Borgnine.

The guy was very versatile. He won critical praise playing two-
fisted Irish poet Sean O"Casey in YOUNG CASSIDY, co-starred with John Wayne in THE TRAIN ROBBERS, and even starred opposite Doris Day in a couple of comedies. For whatever reason Taylor's career faltered in the 70's, perhaps due to his penchant for drinking and getting into fistfights.

He had a few entertaining shots at TV series, with BEARCATS, THE OREGON TRAIL, MASQUERADE, and THE OUTLAWS. All of them ran about a half a season but there's no reason they couldn't have caught on and been hits compared to other shows from those eras. BEARCATS is especially worth a look, with Taylor and Dennis Cole playing two Arizona adventurers who speed around in a Stutz Bearcat taking on western outlaws in 1914. It's a pretty cool show.

Taylor liked to do a lot of his own stunts, especially his fight scenes. His long-time stuntman was Louie Elias, a former UCLA football player who looked a lot like Taylor and was built along similar lines. Taylor was a little under 5'11" and went about 190. He kept fit boxing and lifting weights.

[maphillips3]

Thanks CHANEY, I did not know all of this about Mr. Taylor. I only remember him from "THE TRAIN ROBBERS", with John Wayne and Ben Johnson.

[arthurbishop]

I've really gotta get some of this guy's movies. He sounds like a great tough guy actor, the only problem is that these movies are so hard to find.