Editing Rod Taylor (section)

{{Short description|Australian actor (1930–2015)}}
{{For|other similarly named people|Rod Taylor (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| image              = Rod Taylor - 1963.jpg
| name               = Rod Taylor
| caption            = Taylor in ''[[The V.I.P.s (film)|The V.I.P.s]]''  (1963)
| birth_name         = Rodney Sturt Taylor
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1930|1|11|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Lidcombe]], [[New South Wales]], Australia
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2015|1|7|1930|1|11|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Beverly Hills]], [[California]], US
| resting_place      = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]], [[Hollywood Hills]], [[California]], US
| education          = [[University of New South Wales]]
| occupation         = Actor
| years_active       = 1951–2009
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Peggy Williams|1951|1954|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Mary Hilem|1963|1969|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Carol Kikumura|1980}}
}}
| children           = [[Felicia Taylor]]
| website            = {{URL|rodtaylorblog.com}}
}}
'''Rodney Sturt Taylor''' (11 January 1930&nbsp;– 7 January 2015) was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including ''[[Young Cassidy]]'' (1965), ''[[Nobody Runs Forever]]'' (1968), ''[[The Train Robbers]]'' (1973), and ''[[A Matter of Wife... and Death]]'' (1975).

Taylor was born in [[Lidcombe, New South Wales|Lidcombe]], a suburb of [[Sydney]], to a father who was a steel construction contractor and commercial artist and a mother who was a children's author. He began taking art classes in high school, and continued in college. He decided to become an actor after seeing [[Laurence Olivier]] in an [[The Old Vic|Old Vic]] touring production of ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]].''

His first film role was in a re-enactment of [[Charles Sturt]]'s voyage down the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers, playing Sturt's offsider, [[George Macleay]]. At the time, he was also appearing in a number of theatre productions for Australia's [[Mercury Theatre (Australia)|Mercury Theatre]]. He made his feature film debut in the Australian [[Lee Robinson (director)|Lee Robinson]] film ''[[King of the Coral Sea]]'' (1954). He soon started acting in television films, portraying several different characters in the 1950s [[anthology series]] ''[[Studio 57]]''.

He started to gain popularity after starring in ''[[The Time Machine (1960 film)|The Time Machine]]'' (1960), as H. George Wells. He later starred in the [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] film ''[[One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]'' (1961), voicing Pongo. In one of his most famous roles, he played Mitch Brenner in ''[[The Birds (film)|The Birds]]'' (1963), directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]]. By the late 1990s, Taylor had moved into semiretirement. His final film role was in [[Quentin Tarantino]]'s ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'' (2009), portraying [[Winston Churchill]] in a cameo.