Devastated: Rod Taylor, 1/11/1930 - 1/7/2015
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MsELLERYqueen2 — 11 years ago(January 09, 2015 12:40 AM)
Mostly I know him from:
an episode of
The Twilight Zone
("And When the Sky Was Opened")
Sunday in New York
(1963)
I did see
101 Dalmations
(he did one of the voices), but that was when I was a kid (theatrical re-release) and I barely remember the film
He was very talented, especially in that
Twilight Zone
episode, which was one terrifying story!
~~
JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen -
julythreeone — 11 years ago(January 09, 2015 04:22 AM)
Loved him in "The Time Machine". However, your heading of "devastated" is a bit much eh? I mean, the name was a few days shy of being 85 and he died peacefully of natural causes. It's not devastating or shocking. It's just sad that film lovers mourn the passing of one of their favorites. Death is quite natural for old people and noone can defy it. Well, unless you're Cher.
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hobnob53 — 11 years ago(January 09, 2015 09:15 AM)
Michaelnlori, I was trying to think of a way of working a line from one of Mr. Taylor's films into this tribute, and you succeeded. Very lovely and well done!
(I've corrected his date of death to January 7, confirmed this morning.) -
hobnob53 — 11 years ago(January 09, 2015 09:11 AM)
Don't worry about making typos. It goes with the territory here.
I've had to correct the thread title and my OP because we now know Mr. Taylor died Wednesday the 7th. His death simply wasn't announced until the 8th.
But a nice thought about him as a true gentleman, which I think he was.
Anyway, to your previous post, you can still be devastated when someone you've liked almost your whole life, grew up watching, dies suddenly, can't you? Age has nothing to do with it.
And besides the man himself, his death is the loss of another link to the postwar era of Hollywood, just as the death of Luise Rainer last week marked the passing of one of the very last remaining links to pre-war Hollywood. There won't be any more such people. -
hobnob53 — 11 years ago(January 10, 2015 12:53 PM)
You know, InherentlyYours, if you don't like the characterization, then just ignore it. You're in no position to question how others feel.
Your idea that, because someone was 85 (84, actually) and died of natural causes, his death cannot qualify as "sudden" is so asinine as to defy description. Do you even know the meaning of the word? From all reports Rod Taylor appeared to be perfectly fine (sure, for 84) then died quickly and unexpectedly of an apparent heart attack. That constitutes "suddenly".
Yes, you normally expect a person of 84 to have much less time left than someone of 34. But a "sudden" death has
nothing
to do with age. Old people can also die a lingering death of cancer. By your idiotic definition, age alone would render such a death "sudden". -
hobnob53 — 11 years ago(January 10, 2015 01:42 PM)
Actually, I did address the so-called issue about "devastated" in the content of my posts. You just couldn't see it.
The "other poster" didn't "call me" on it. You can't "call" someone on a matter of opinion. She respectfully disagreed, that's all. If you don't like the word, fine, that's your opinion, not some immutable truth. Is that explicit enough a response for you?
And speaking of seeing things, I see you didn't address my point about your inept definition of the word "sudden".
As to your last line, I have no idea what
But don't worry, THOSE WHO ARE "asinine" IS NOT BEYOND DESCRIPTION FOR ME
means, since it is neither a grammatical nor comprehensible English sentence. However, I'll take your advice and not worry about it.
So, you don't like "devastated" or "suddenly" in this context. That's fine, and that's too bad. Your objection is noted. I guess a person like you needs to get in the last word, so have at it. I won't be reading, replying or interested. -
BelleDameSansMerci — 11 years ago(January 10, 2015 05:21 PM)
I didn't know about Taylor's death until a few minutes ago, when I saw it on the NYT website.
Then I come here - and I find out (from your post) that Luise Rainer died too.
What a week.
Anyway, I am very saddened by his passing (especially because 85 isn't what it used to be). But at least his presence in films will continue to give pleasure to millions of people.
(Also, I can't help but think - all the time - about Maggie Smith.
I bet she really is devastated.) -
AaronCapenBanner — 11 years ago(January 09, 2015 03:23 PM)
Sad to hear of his passing, since we are losing too many actors of his caliber as time marches on
The Time Machine
is my favorite of his films that I've seen, but mention should be made about
Dark Of The Sun
, an exciting and hard-hitting adventure film that I finally got to see again from the Warner Archive DVD collection a few years back.
He also did a DVD commentary on his episode of
The Twilight Zone
called 'And When The Sky Was Opened', one of the best from the series.
God speed Mr. Rod Taylor! -
MoneyMagnet — 11 years ago(January 09, 2015 04:30 PM)
I just recently saw him in "36 Hours" - a film which I only decided to watch, coincidentally, because I'm in the process of watching all of James Garner's available films. Of course, I knew Taylor from The Time Machine and The Birds already. And now we've lost Taylor too
In "36 Hours," Taylor is playing an American-born German (Nazi) who speaks in a flawless American accent. (So ironic considering the fact he was an Australian speaking in an American accent!) He's essentially playing the second lead, but is in no way a second banana to Garner. Yet, he does not seem at all out of place in this so-called "second lead" role, a true testament to his charisma and his rock solid acting talent.
He was an actor, not a "star" and although he was less familiar a performer to me than Garner was, I now feel the urge to go back and rediscover some of HIS work.