Rod Taylor died this week at age 85.
Yet another actor who I didn't know was a native of Australia.
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"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
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Yeah we were very proud of him back in the 60s especially. Although he was no Gielgud, he had style, presence and ability. He remains good friends with Tippi Hedren, and Hitchcock seems to have been jealous. There was some story about him buying his Time Machine from the 60s movie.
We usually know someone is Australian by their nasal vowels, which are very hard for an outsider to make, eg Streep trying to say 'Byebee' for baby - close but wrong, should vibrate the back of the nose, easiest way to get it is to close off the nostrils while speaking.! Rod could make our vowels sound sophisticated - that's rare.
Speaking of accents, the best line Taylor delivered wasn’t in a film; it was during an interview on Australian television in the 1970s. He was promoting his new series The Oregon Trail on The Don Lane Show. Lane was an American expat, and at some point in the interview Rod Taylor said ‘We’re just a couple of phonies, Don. You’re a phony Australian and I’m a phony Yank!’
The screenwriter on The Birds, Evan Hunter, described Taylor’s performance as “so full of machismo, you’d expect him to have a steer thrown over his shoulder”. Always enjoyed his work.
eg Streep trying to say 'Byebee' for baby - close but wrong
To be fair to Meryl Streep, she was spot on with her accent, she was almost uncanny in her exact copy of Lindy Chamberlain's accent.
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