Rod Taylor dies at 84; star of Hitchcock's 'The Birds' -- latimes

When actor Rod Taylor started out in his native Australia in the early 1950s, he won an acting award that included a round-trip ticket to London.  But when the flight stopped in Los Angeles, he got off the plane and stayed, launching a prolific six decades in Hollywood.

After a relatively short period of struggle, he was in major films, acting opposite Elizabeth Taylor in the 1956 classic "Giant," starring in the hit 1960 adaptation of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" and playing the male lead in Alfred Hitchcock's revered 1963 thriller "The Birds."

Taylor, 84, died of natural causes Wednesday at home in Beverly Hills, said Carol Taylor, his wife of 35 years.

Although he never rose to being a top-level star in Hollywood, he amassed nearly 100 credits, including dramas such as "The V.I.P.s," with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton; biopics such as John Ford's "Young Cassidy," in which he played playwright Sean O'Casey; a couple of light-comedy Doris Day movies; and animation in which he was the voice of Pongo in Disney's 1961 "101 Dalmatians."   Read More on  Rod Taylor
Rod Taylor, star of The Birds, dies aged 84 - BBC

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