Roddy McDowall

British films

After appearing as a child model as a baby, and winning an acting prize in a school play at age nine, McDowell started appearing in films, including I See Ice (1938) with George Formby and Hey! Hey! USA (1938) with Will Hay.^[6]

Early US films

McDowall and his sister were brought to the United States by their mother after the outbreak of World War II. He became a naturalised United States citizen on 9 December 1949^[6] and lived in the United States for the rest of his life.

McDowall served in the U.S. Army Reserves, and after basic training, was assigned to the 67th Armored Infantry Battalion, 13th Armored Division of the U.S. Army's Organized Reserve Corps headquartered in Los Angeles. Later, he was assigned to the 63rd Infantry Division. McDowall served from 1946 to 1954, spanning from the end of World War II to the end of the Korean War.^[7] He then served in the 77th Infantry Division from 1960 to 1962.^[7]

McDowall's American film career began with the 1941 thriller Man Hunt, directed by Fritz Lang. It was made by 20th Century Fox, which also produced McDowall's next film, How Green Was My Valley (1941), on which he and Maureen O'Hara became lifelong friends. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and McDowall's role as Huw Morgan made him a household name.^[6]

Stardom

Fox promoted McDowall to top billing for On the Sunny Side (1942), and he was top billed again for an adaptation of My Friend Flicka (1942). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer borrowed McDowall for the star role in Lassie Come Home (1943) with Elizabeth Taylor, who became another lifelong friend, and kept him for a leading role in The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). In 1944, exhibitors voted McDowall the number-four "Star of Tomorrow"^[8] after which Fox gave McDowall another starring vehicle: Thunderhead – Son of Flicka (1945).

Theatre

McDowall turned to the theatre, taking the title role of Young Woodley in summer stock in Westport, Connecticut, in July 1946.^[9] In 1947, he played Malcolm in Orson Welles's stage production of Macbeth in Salt Lake City, and reprised the role in the actor-director's film version in 1948.^[6]

Monogram Pictures

McDowall then signed a three-year contract with Monogram Pictures to make two films a year.^[10] He starred in seven films at Monogram, for which he also worked as associate producer, including Kidnapped (1948), an adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson story, wherein he played David Balfour.^[11]

1950s: Television and theatre

After relocating to New York City, McDowall became a frequent presence in live television drama, appearing in numerous televised plays and anthology series throughout the 1950s. He also had a significant career on Broadway, including a production of Misalliance (1953) that he said "broke the mould" in how he was judged as an actor.^[12] Ira Levin's No Time for Sergeants (1955–57) was a major hit,^[13] followed by a critical success with Compulsion (1957–58) based on the Leopold and Loeb case, after which McDowell won a Tony Award for Peter Brook's The Fighting Cock (1960).

1960: Return to Hollywood

McDowall enjoyed another big hit on Broadway with the musical Camelot (1960–63), which starred Julie Andrews and Richard Burton.^[14] He took part in a TV production of The Tempest (1960) alongside Burton and Maurice Evans,^[15] before appearing in his first film in almost a decade, The Subterraneans (1960), followed by Midnight Lace (1960). He was also seen in The Longest Day (1962) prior to his portrayal of Octavian in Cleopatra. He worked in film throughout the decade, notably in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Inside Daisy Clover (1965), and 5 Card Stud (1968), though his most memorable role was as Cornelius in Planet of the Apes. He went on to appear in three sequels and the TV spin-off.

McDowall continued to work regularly in television, including his Emmy-winning turn in Sunday Showcase and a production of The Power and the Glory (1961) with Laurence Olivier, George C. Scott, and Julie Harris.

1970s-1990s

McDowall made his lone effort as a director with The Ballad of Tam Lin (1970).^[16] As an actor, he was in Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), and Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). In addition to his television work, most significantly in Columbo, he made his third Apes film as Caesar, son of his earlier character, Cornelius, in 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. He took supporting roles in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972)^[17] before his final Apes film, Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). During the short-lived TV spin-off of Planet of the Apes (1974), he made a guest appearance on The Carol Burnett Show in his Planet of the Apes makeup and performed a love duet with Burnett.^[18]

Asked about his career in a 1975 interview, McDowall said, "I just hope to keep working and in interesting things."^[19] For the rest of his life, he alternated between features, TV films, and guesting on TV series, including Overboard, on which he also served as executive producer.

In 1989, he said, "I feel as Henry Fonda did that every job I get may be my last. I'm one of those creatures born to be working. I feel better when I'm working. I don't like it when I'm not working and I've never worked as much as I want to."^[20]

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1993, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.^{[citation needed]}

In one of his final public appearances, McDowall hosted the MGM Musicals Tribute at Carnegie Hall in 1997.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

McDowall served for several years in various capacities on the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organisation that presents the Academy Awards (Oscars), and on the selection committee for the Kennedy Center Awards. He was chairman of the Actors' Branch for five terms. He was elected president of the Academy Foundation in 1998, the year that he died. He worked to support the Motion Pictures Retirement Home, where a rose garden named in his honour was officially dedicated on 9 October 2001. It remains part of the campus.^[21]

Photographer and author

McDowall received recognition as a photographer, working with Look, Vogue, Collier's, and Life. His work includes a cover story on Mae West for Life and the cover of the 1964 Barbra Streisand album, The Third Album. He took the photograph when Streisand performed on The Judy Garland Show in October 1963.

He published five books of photographs, each featuring photos and profile interviews of his celebrity friends interviewing each other, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Judy Holliday, Maureen O'Hara, Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, and others, starting with Double Exposure in 1968.^[22][23]

Sexuality and relationships

McDowall never married nor had children. In Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars (2012) by Scotty Bowers, a famous Hollywood procurer, Bowers named McDowall as one of his homosexual clients.^[26]

McDowall was in a relationship with Montgomery Clift for several years in the early 1950s.^[27][28] They were introduced by Elizabeth Taylor.^[29] During the two-and-a-half years that Clift stayed away from films, McDowall's career was nonexistent.^[30][31] He devoted himself entirely to Clift and moved from Los Angeles to New York to be closer to his idol.^[32] McDowall reportedly attempted suicide after their break-up.^[33] Nevertheless, he showed no bitterness and remained one of Clift's loyal friends.^[34] McDowall starred with Clift in his final picture, The Defector. Clift later stated that he could never have finished the film without McDowall's moral support.^[35]

Death

In April 1998, McDowall was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died at his home in Studio City, Los Angeles, California, on 3 October 1998, aged 70.^[36] His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean on 7 October 1998, off Los Angeles County.^[37] Dennis Osborne, a screenwriter, cared for McDowall in his final months, and was quoted as saying, "It was very peaceful. It was just as he wanted it. It was exactly the way he planned."^[38]

Film

Television