page_title: Rod Taylor
section_title: Hollywood
hierarchical_section_title: Rod Taylor / Career / Hollywood
caption_attribution_description: Photo of Rod Taylor as journalist Glenn Evans and Lloyd Bochner as Inspector Neil Campbell from the television program Hong Kong.
context_page_description: Rodney Sturt Taylor was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including The Time Machine, The Birds, Sunday in New York, 36 Hours, The Glass Bottom Boat, Hotel, Chuka, The Hell with Heroes, and Zabriskie Point.
context_section_description: Taylor soon landed roles in television shows such as Studio 57 and the films Hell on Frisco Bay (1955) and Giant (1956). In 1955, he guest-starred as Clancy in the third episode ("The Argonauts") of the first hour-long Western television series, Cheyenne, an ABC program starring Clint Walker. Taylor and Edward Andrews played gold seekers Clancy and Duncan, respectively, who are best friends until they strike it rich, only to see Native Americans release their gold dust to the wind. The episode was a remake of the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Taylor was considered for one of the leads in Warner Bros. Television's Maverick.
  Toward the end of 1955, Taylor unsuccessfully screen tested to play boxer Rocky Graziano in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Somebody Up There Likes Me after James Dean's death, but his use of a Brooklyn accent and physical prowess in the test impressed the studio enough to give him a long-term contract. At MGM, he played a series of support roles in The Catered Affair (1956), Raintree County (1957), and Ask Any Girl (1959). He had a significant role in Separate Tables (1958), which won Oscars for two of its stars, David Niven and Wendy Hiller. He also made a strong impression guest-starring in an episode of The Twilight Zone titled "And When the Sky Was Opened" (1959).
caption: Taylor (seated) with Lloyd Bochner in the TV series Hong Kong, 1961
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