When Rod Taylor died, his obituary described him as “a Hollywood hellhole, a hard-drinking, women-loving man, a fighter who enjoyed giving candid interviews peppered with four-letter words.”
The Australian actor's biographer, Stephen Fagg, said it was all true.
“Rod Taylor was a cruel, misogynistic man,” said the Australian writer who wrote the book “Rod Taylor: An Australian in Hollywood” He told Fox News Digital.
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Rod Taylor, seen here with Tippi Hedren in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, died in 2015. He was 84. (Alfred G. Hitchcock Productions/Album/Alamy)
“The obituary data was correct,” Fagg said. “He was a typical Australian of his generation. He loved to drink. He started working in radio and a lot of actors would meet at the local pub while between jobs… He was a very sociable person, and alcohol was a thing.” A big part of that.”
Rod Taylor and Anna Capri in a scene from the movie “Darker Than Amber” circa 1970. (Stanley Bielecki Film Collection/Getty Images)
“He had a drinking problem,” Fagg claimed. “A lot of actors of his generation did that. It was… socially acceptable at the time.”
He made a movie called “VIPs.” With Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor At the height of paparazzi mania. And obviously everyone was bringing the whiskey back at 9 a.m….it was a different time.”
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starred alongside Rod Taylor in the movie “The VIPs.” (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
Taylor's rugged good looks made him a leading man in films ranging from westerns to romantic comedies. While his breakthrough came in 1960 with The Time Machine, he later starred in the film The 1963 horror classic “The Birds.”
Alfred Hitchcock originally wanted English-born actor Cary Grant in The Birds. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
“The role was originally written for Cary Grant,” Fagg explained. I think whenever Alfred Hitchcock wrote a movie, he would say: Let's write it for Cary Grant. However, hiring Cary Grant was expensive, so (the studio) chose the cheaper option… Rudd was famous, but he wasn't a big star.
“The lead female role was written for Grace Kelly, who had retired by then,” Fagg said. “She was married to Prince Rainier of Monaco, (and) she wasn't going to retire. So, Hitchcock discovered Tippi Hedren.”
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Stephen Fagg spoke to several sources in his book, including Tippi Hedren. Rod Taylor, who knew the book was being written, declined to participate. (Universal Studios/Getty Images)
For his book, Fagg interviewed the 94-year-old actress, who is the mother of Melanie Griffith and the grandmother of Dakota Johnson.
“She spoke very highly of the way Rod helped her because she was a newcomer,” Fagg said. “It really helped her. I think they had great chemistry in the movie. It was a difficult shoot for her because she was new, but also because she had to spend a lot of time…being attacked by birds.”
English director Alfred Hitchcock with a stuffed crow in a promotional photo for his film The Birds. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
“And I think Rudd fits into the world of Alfred Hitchcock very well. It's a great shame that he and Hitchcock never worked together again,” Fagg added.
Tippi Hedren has credited Rod Taylor for supporting her on the set of The Birds. (John Springer/Corbis Collection via Getty Images)
As Taylor rose to fame, his strong personality caught the attention of actresses, keeping him busy as a sought-after bachelor in Hollywood.
“He was a very handsome man,” Fagg said. “He took advantage of that in Hollywood. I think it's fair to say he lived a very active single life for a long time. It took several marriages to find the right one, which happens sometimes.”
A woman sits on Rod Taylor's back in a scene from The Man Who Had Power Over Women, circa 1970. (AFCO Embassy/Getty Images)
“Rod Taylor had a number of high-profile romances,” Fagg shared. “One of the highlights of that time was with Anita Ekberg, who famously danced in the Trevi Fountain in the movie La Dolce Vita.”
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At one point, Rod Taylor was engaged to Anita Ekberg. She died in 2015 at the age of 83. (Tom Kelly/Getty Images)
“They were engaged, they would fight a lot in public, and the paparazzi would follow them… They were a combustible couple… There was a lot of excitement, but there was a lot of turmoil. In the end, both of them couldn't hold it together.” But the moment they broke up, they both got involved with other people very quickly.
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“He also had a lesser-known affair with Maggie Smith,” Fagg said. The actress who died in September This year he was 89 years old.
“She's not the type of person you associate with him, but he admired her talents, as most people were,” Fagg said. “He said he had fallen in love with her and was ready to marry her, but she did not want to do it.
“He was a very handsome man. He took advantage of that in Hollywood. I think it's fair to say he lived a very active single life for a long time.”
Maggie Smith and Rod Taylor starred in the 1965 film “Young Cassidy.” (FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)
“He also had an affair with Francis Nouwen… and several other co-stars… He was a handsome man and he was a Hollywood movie star. I think that gives you a lot of opportunities, and he took a lot of chances.” they.”
Stephen Fagg's book Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood is out now. (Bear Manor Media)
Taylor was romantically linked to Inger Stevens, Merle Oberson, Nikki Schenk, Rhonda Fleming, Tora Satana, and Nicola Michaels – to name a few.
Before his third marriage to Carol Kikumura, which lasted from 1980 until his death in 2015, Taylor was described as “commitment shy” and preferring “casual romances on movie sets.”
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Rod Taylor holding actress Yvette Mimieux in his arms, circa 1960. (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Taylor's tough, gentle personality even made him a candidate to play 007 – at least according to him.
“Rod Taylor always said he had woken up For the role of James Bond“I don't know how seriously he was being looked at. I think a lot of people were considering it at the time. He wasn't one of the front runners, that's for sure,” Fagg said.
Scottish actor Sean Connery as James Bond. Rod Taylor once claimed he was cut out for the role of 007. (Getty Images)
“It was in TV show called “Hong Kong” Which… It only ran for one season, but it was very, very popular… He played this sophisticated journalist in Hong Kong. This is a very good trial of James Bond. You can look at that and say, “I can see how it would have been looked at.”
Rod Taylor starred in the TV series “Hong Kong”, which was very popular in his native Australia. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
He voiced Pongo in the 1961 Disney film, “101 Dalmatians.”
During his time in Hollywood, Taylor also developed a close relationship with John Wayne, with whom he co-starred in the 1973 film The Train Robbers.
“They both like to drink, they both like to talk, they both like to play poker,” Fagg said. “John Wayne was regularly beating Rod Taylor at poker, but he would forgive him debts. They got along really well. They were both very loud types…they liked to have all-night drinking sessions and play poker and have a good time.. “They were friends until John Wayne's death in 1979.”
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The cast of “The Train Robbers”, from left, Ben Johnson, Christopher George, Rod Taylor, Ann-Margret and John Wayne. (Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
“These were two men who loved life,” Fagg added.
When his film career began to decline, Taylor turned to television. He also began producing and co-producing his own subsequent films and television shows, carefully investing his earnings in safe securities that would ensure a comfortable retirement.
Later in life, Quentin Tarantino convinced Taylor to come out of retirement for this He played Winston Churchill in the movie Inglourious Basterds.
Rod Taylor and his wife attend an Ireland Fund tribute to Gene Kelly on November 8, 1990, in Beverly Hills, California. (Ron Galella Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
“Rod Taylor's final years were happy years,” Fagg said. “He finally found true love with his wife at the time… He had a very difficult life… A lot of his contemporaries died young because they didn't treat themselves well. Fortunately, his wife, Carol, was a dancer. She made him practice yoga and eat well, “I think it prolonged his life.”
Rod Taylor pioneered the Australian-New Zealand invasion of Hollywood that would come to include actors Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Nicole Kidman (born in Hawaii to Australian parents), Geoffrey Rush and Russell Crowe. (John Springer/Corbis Collection via Getty Images)
“He was content in his last few years,” he said. “He also held on to a lot of his money… He was smart enough to do that. Not a lot of movie stars did at the time, and he was able to do that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
