Roddy McDowall

He represented gay Hollywood better than most.  Everyone suspected Roddy was gay from the time he was a child actor.  In observing him one might say well, if he's not gay, then he must be English.  As it turns out, he was both.   He never hid his gayness from his profession, never made up stories about himself but neither did he make a public announcement... not back in those days.  He just was.  Few actors, gay or not, were ever as popular with the acting community as Roddy McDowall. 

I occasionally drove by his house in Studio City, California, hoping to see him or the many friends who came and went most days and most hours unless he was working.  He was the host with the most at his frequent parties, many of them elaborate affairs, some just having 8-10 people over for brunch and a swim.  He did, of course, have his all-male soirees but more were probably mixed.

He was like the father confessor to his many friends and he took most of the secrets to his grave.  He was known for being very discreet except, perhaps if it involved his closest female friends, Maureen O'Hara and Elizabeth Taylor.  It seems he told them most everything and they seemed to respond in kind, especially Taylor.

He made scores and scores of movies and did television and also some Broadway and he was a huge movie fan.  Not all actors are big movie fans... to many it's just a job which they leave at the studio at the end of the day.  Not Roddy.  He couldn't talk enough about films, his and others.

He was born in London in 1928 to a Scottish merchant seaman and an occasional Irish actress who was the biggest movie fan Roddy ever knew.  His mother pushed him into show business although he likely considered it a gentle nudge because he certainly didn't fight it.  As a baby he appeared as a model whenever his mother could find something. After he won an acting prize at age nine, he began appearing in British films.  He made 16 of them, often without billing, before his family moved to California at the start of WWII.

His first American film was Manhunt (1941), a Fritz Lang war thriller.  Roddy had a small role as a kid who helps Walter Pidgeon hide from the Germans. 

Time, my fingers, and your patience would be sorely tested if I attempted to mention all of his films.  Many of them don't warrant reviewing.  He said he almost couldn't stand his life when he was not working... the result of which is he accepted most everything that was offered.  His four films after Manhunt are among his most famous and are ones that gained him a large measure of respect.  As an older adult he would have the good fortune to appear in a highly-successful movie franchise.

He worked in everything from Shakespeare to horror and rarely was top-billed as an adult actor.  Even in his early adult years he was largely a character actor.  He was usually not involved in romantic relationships in his films, which, frankly, is pretty telling.

20th Century Fox signed the bright, adult-like kid to a contract and put him in director John Ford's rather depressing coal mining story.

How Green Was My Valley.  As the son of Donald Crisp, Roddy has a central role and the adult version of his character narrates the story.  He was happy to again be appearing with Pidgeon but was even more thrilled to meet Maureen O'Hara and character actress Anna Lee, both of whom would become Roddy's lifelong friends.

Years later when I realized Valley won Oscar's best picture, I was, I guess, appalled.  I thought it was over-rated but to think it won over such films as Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, The Lady Eve, Suspicion and The Little Foxes is simply mind-boggling.  But I digress...

He did receive top billing in his next two films, both animal stories.  My Friend Flicka (1943) was probably every kid's dream movie because who didn't want to live on a ranch and own a horse?  Little hearts of audience members were racing because the filly that Roddy's character is given becomes ill and nearly dies.  But the colorful story has a happy ending... breathe... breathe.  In real life, Roddy hated the horse playing the adult Flicka because she happened to also hate him and was mean.  Three years later the kid would star in the sequel, Thunderhead, Son of Flicka.

MGM offered him the second animal story and one of the most famous films in which Roddy would appear... Lassie Come Home (1943), the first (and best) of several films to star the beloved collie but the only one in which Roddy was to have a role.  The story involves a poor Scottish family that must sell its expensive dog to make ends meet, the son who has a broken heart and the dog that won't stay away.  After an arduous trip (the main part of the story) to return home, when the worn-out and shabby-looking collie arrives at her young master's school as the 3 o'clock bell rings, tell me you're not wiping your eyes.  

It was the film on which Roddy met 10-year old Elizabeth Taylor and they were friends forever more.  She always said he probably knew more about her than any one else ever.  The times they experienced together could be a posting all by itself.

He stayed around MGM to make The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) as the younger version of Irene Dunne's son.  It is a sentimental WWII story of an American woman who reminisces (via flashback) about how she came to England.  It was enormously popular, helped in no small part by its title song.

Roddy was around 16 when he made Dover and he was definitely feeling his oats, left over, perhaps, from those horsey flicks.  Horsing around were scheduled into daily activities whenever he could manage it.  I've wondered how he managed it on this film when two of his costars were gay Van Johnson and bi Peter Lawford.  During rest periods there was also Taylor who had a small role.

Chased by Elizabeth Taylor

This was also the time, those middle teen years, that many child stars lose their footing in Hollywood.  Actually, Roddy did, too.  After having such good fortune in a string of films, he suddenly found himself making B films and he didn't like it.  So he waved goodbye to sunshine and oranges and moved to New York when he was around 19.

During the 1950's he made just a few movies but instead appeared on Broadway in several plays but mostly he was on television... one helluva lot of it.  Thankfully most of it was on those prestigious anthology series such as Playhouse 90 and Kraft Theater.  For the rest of his life, he would appear in more television than any other medium.

After a run in Camelot with Richard Burton and Julie Andrews and just in his early 30's, McDowall returned to California and bought his Studio City pad where he would live basically for the rest of his life.  The 60's would provide work in films that were generally popular, so his star was particularly shiny.  By and large, I saw these films before I saw those from his childhood.

With good buddy Tab Hunter

The Subterraneans (1960) was not at all well-received, except, perhaps, by beatniks, as they were called at the time, the social misfits who hung out in coffee bars and spouted poetry and philosophy and got involved in artsy things and life was measured by whether it was cool or not.  You dig?  Jack Kerouac isn't in it but George Peppard is and he's why I saw it.  He plays a guy looking for some place to belong or at least land and comes across the title stars, some of whom are Leslie Caron, Janice Rule and McDowall as a poet.  

Midnight Lace (1960) stars Doris Day as a London housewife who is being stalked by an unknown crazy.  Before the discovery of who it is, we meet a number of possible suspects, McDowall being one of them.

He is one of scores of famous actors appearing in cameo roles in Darryl Zanuck's ambitious WWII spectacle, The Longest Day (1962).  MacDowall and Richard Burton asked Zanuck if he could possibly fit them in so they could do something while another movie they were making was famously suffering from interminable delays.

If you were an adult at the time, you would likely know that film was Cleopatra (1963). McDowell was glad to be working again with his beloved Taylor, but the truth is with the weight of the film, her health and Burton, she didn't have much time for McDowall.  He warned her about getting involved with Burton, saying it would never work.  He, however, was superb as Octavian Caesar, one of the best adult roles.  It's been said that he should have been nominated for an Oscar but Fox messed up in submitting his name correctly.  

Shock Treatment (1964) has McDowall at the center of the story as a mental patient who has killed a wealthy woman and may or may not have made off with a million dollars of her money.  Others in the story may have different motives in finding out if he has the money.  Stuart Whitman, Carol Lynley and Lauren Bacall costar.

As one of many in The Greatest Story Ever Told, one of many in the comedy The Loved One and one of few in the Disney comedy That Darn Cat (another animal story), all in 1965, he made two oddly enjoyable films.

Inside Daisy Clover (1965) is the story of ordinary tomboy who is astonishingly groomed as a glamorous movie star.  She is played by Natalie Wood with Christopher Plummer, Robert Redford, Ruth Gordon and MacDowall as those in her orbit.  It was a super bomb.  I think the cast alone should have prevented that but I liked it because it was a Hollywood story.

Let's call Lord Love a Duck (1966) quirky.  Hell, the title should get you thinking that way.  Some claim it's much beyond that.  Our boy got rare star billing in the dark comedy about a oddball who is transfixed by a teen beauty (Tuesday Weld) and decides to murder her mother who is standing in the way of her daughter's happiness.  

In 1968 his old studio, Fox, signed him on to play Cornelius in Planet of the Apes.  As with most of the actors he was unrecognizable but that voice was still distinctive.  It was a whopping worldwide success and spawned a number of sequels with McDowall appearing in three of them.

Waiting to be called before the cameras

He had always been an avid photographer.  He usually had a camera handy on his film sets and he loved taking pictures of his movie star friends.  In 1968 his coffee table book Double Exposure was published.  Its general theme was to have a beautiful picture taken by MacDowall of a famous friend with commentary about that friend from some other famous friend.  It was a clever idea, the the photographs are gorgeous and it caught on like wildfire, resulting in four more similar books over the years.

During a few years in the 70's he took videos of famous friends who were guests at his beach parties.  They're fun, not the best quality as I recall but all available on YouTube.

He was, not surprisingly, gaga over famous actresses and one of his favorites was Ava Gardner.  Because he was so enthralled and wanted to work with her, he took the unusual step to become a director.  The film is called Tam Lin (1970).  Cast and crew flew to England to film a fairytale-like story of an aging but still beautiful woman who uses her wealth and some witchcraft to control a younger group of friends.

Co-starring Ian McShane, Joanna Lumley and Stephanie Beacham, it's been said that MacDowall ran into problems with American-International over interpretation and he lost control of the film.  He envisioned it as a horror story and they wanted something else and they won.  It was not a success in the slightest although some years later it was restored as McDowall originally envisioned.  It would turn out to be his only directorial assignment.

Once again he joined a large cast to film another blockbuster.  Make that super blockbuster... the first of the so-called disaster epics, The Poseidon Adventure (1972).  When the ship overturns and a group of people sets off to find an exit against great peril, MacDowall, as a steward, is the first one killed.

In 1974 the FBI raided his home and seized his enormous collection of films and TV projects.  They were investigating piracy and copyright issues.  He felt he did nothing wrong but was annoyed at the invasion of his privacy and the attendant bad publicity but ultimately no charges were filed.

It seemed that when the Poseidon overturned, so did his film career.  He still worked in movies but most of them are B or C pieces.  He did a lot of television and a fair amount of voice work.  I loved his voice and obviously so did others.

In 1995 he joined still another large cast, including Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau for The Grass Harp, one of those little gems of a film featuring an assortment of southern folk.  It is based on a Truman Capote story and a total delight.

It's My Party (1996) is another film I have always treasured but this one is largely very sad in dealing with a couple, one of whom is dying of AIDS, who throw a final party for their many friends.  A large group of gay or gay-friendly actors were on board acting their little hearts out.  It's the last McDowall film I have seen.

He said he simply loved movies... even the bad movies.  And he always saw as many as he could.  He was as tireless in other capacities as he was as an actor in 130 films.  He worked for years for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars) in several capacities.  He supported the Motion Picture Retirement Home in Woodland Hills with his usual passion.  He was on the selection committee for the Kennedy Center Awards.   He was about the best ambassador for Hollywood that anyone could hope for.

He was by all accounts a great friend and he had many of them all over the world.  He was an incredibly gifted storyteller but he never particularly gossiped about others, certainly not in any indecent way... well, except, perhaps, with La Liz.  He was trusted and respected and people loved being in his company.  I rather thought of him as the Noel Coward of Southern California.  I've never known him to be in a committed relationship. 

He will forever be known for those unaffected, poignant, tear-inducing performances as a child... especially his first American movies.  He said it wasn't acting to me.  At those ages, it was just living.  It all seemed so real to him.  Those values, he said, had great influence in shaping my character.  Considering his true mark was made in films when he was a child, he could have fallen by the wayside as so many others had.  But he endured for decades, mainly in supporting roles, but he endured.

He was out, of course, to his many friends but never so with the public or the press.  I'm a great believer in the private existence of public figures, he liked to say.  He never doubted that some of the public accurately guessed that he was gay and he didn't care.  Others probably didn't get it... they just thought he was English.

Roddy McDowall died of cancer at age 70 in 1998 in his beloved Studio City home.


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